TAKING RISKS IN YOUR 20’S: ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH JOSH GOTTESMAN & AKUL BALI
On Thursday, October 7th, MCMP met with Josh Gottesman and Akul Bali, the Co-Founders of Privee Labs INC. Both former Michigan grads and Google employees developed Privee, an ad-free, private social media platform where subscribed members can win money through themed contests. As of right now the app is being tested by a small cohort and will be soft-launching in Ann Arbor soon. The vision is to build a better, healthier social media, something that can actually make you happy.
Rather than serving ads and monetizing user data, Privee has a subscription business model. . The app is privacy preserving and will not track members across the internet like the major social media companies today. Josh and Akul took inspiration from common social media platforms such as Instagram, Reddit, and Tinder for design purposes. For example, there is a feed with people you can follow by favoriting accounts you want to keep up with, a community with public accounts, a profile with an “about me” section, and the contests tab. Members can enter contests by submitting a photo, video, or text post for the corresponding contest theme. They can also submit their own contest ideas to run live on Privee. Users vote on who should win and receive the cash prize.
Both Josh and Akul quit their jobs at Google to pursue Privee. Their lives are now devoted to it as they build Privee and learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Topics they touch on include how to build and hire technical teams, learning to design a product and bringing it to market, and how to get an audience hooked by a product.
As of now, Josh and Akul are taking a grassroots approach to marketing by spreading awareness through events, specific contests, and video campaigns. They plan to later do a mass media strategy to garner more consumers. Privee is currently looking for early users and campus ambassadors - go to their website for more information.
Josh and Akul gave MCMP members useful advice on protecting their data and mental health, like using browsers that can protect your data and putting time-bounds on social media consumption. They stressed trying to not use social media as a method of comparison and to use social media platforms where there is more of a choice in what you see, like Redditt. On a different note, Josh and Akul provided MCMP with career advice as members begin their internship and job search. In order to get the most out of an internship, they advised members to be upfront about what they want to get out of it, to have good communication, to take advantage of making connections and network within the company, and to get a good sense of what is going on in the company to see if it is a good fit for the future.
Josh and Akul left MCMP motivated to use their 20’s as a time to explore and take risks as it may be the best time in their careers to do so. Both entrepreneurs definitely proved their passion, hard work, and courageousness as they have begun their journey towards building a safer, more positive social media environment.
—— October 12, 2021 by Kristina Gurgone
