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2023-10-10

Headquarters

Los Angeles, CA 🌴

Employee Count

31

Year Founded

2020

Amount raised

$2.5M Seed

Business model

Premium subscription for individuals, B2B enterprise software for teams

Early traction

$10M ARR 🤯, 3.5k teams as customers including Disney and Google, 1M+ professionals using Popl, 2k downloads daily

Setting the Scene
  • In the whirlwind of networking events and business dinners, you cross paths with hundreds of professionals.

  • However, keeping track of these connections proves challenging.

    • The majority of business cards you receive end up misplaced.

    • Many of your LinkedIn follow-up messages go unanswered.

  • This week’s company provides a contact sharing and management platform for individuals and teams to track leads.

In a Sentence

Popl is a digital business card solution for individuals and teams to manage their networks and leads.

  • Individuals: With QR codes or NFC tap technology, users can exchange contact cards that auto-generate in the phone's contact app.

  • Teams: Catering to both enterprises and small teams, Popl provides a streamlined solution for tracking and managing employee contacts and ensuring customer leads are cataloged.

Bulleted Version

Think of Popl as the Apple Pay for networking; a simple tap transfers contact info into a team’s centralized CRM, with connections tracked much like those on a credit card statement. 🤑
Due Diligence
What We Like
  • 📈 Market positioning: Popl is well-positioned in the growing customer relationship management market, where CRM adoption is becoming the business standard.

  • ⬆️ Traction: With a notable ARR of $10M, a remarkable 100% retention rate among enterprise clients, and 90% of customers being inbound, Popl's early traction demonstrates both PMF and scalability.

    • This is further underscored by top-tier customers including Disney, Google, and multiple NBA teams.

  • 🙏 Unifying contact management: Only 10% of leads and 12% of paper business cards find their way into company contact lists.

    • Popl ensures that all connections are not only seamless but also integrated into company databases.

Potential Risks
  • 🔁 Employee turnover: While Popl Teams facilitates the acquisition of multiple users simultaneously, customer retention at the individual level may pose a challenge if a user leaves their current employer.

  • 💻 Virtual shift: In today’s increasingly digital environment, where many events and professional interactions occur virtually, Popl's primary focus on in-person contact sharing may limit its applicability.

  • 📊 Market competition: The digital business card and contact management market has several emerging players offering complementary solutions.

    • Popl needs to continuously innovate and differentiate its offerings to maintain a competitive edge.

Founder Profile
JA
Jason Alvarez-Cohen, Co-Founder & CEO
Forbes 30 Under 30, previously a software engineer at Boeing, Ticketmaster and UCLA.

NE
Nick Eischens, Co-Founder & COO
Forbes 30 Under 30, UCLA grad with experience in supply chain management and global distribution.

Comps

WhyPopl

By focusing on team and enterprise-oriented solutions, Popl has managed to position itself to outgrow other digital business card offerings. 🤝

*Nothing in this content constitutes investment or legal advice. Conduct independent diligence and consult professional advisers before making investment decisions.*

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