I recently joined an amazing startup here in Philadelphia called Contap, as their marketing lead.
Some Background On My Obsession With Networking
Since graduating college, I’ve always been into networking and meeting new people. This increased exponentially after I left the field of journalism and entered into the business world. Networking became, and still is, a crucial part of my business development activities.
I’ve always loved business cards, since I was young, I always designed my own business cards. In high school I studied the business card culture in Japan and that fascinated me even more with connecting and networking.
Flash-forward to 2006, I had just joined Mobile Mini, so networking and connecting with business owners (construction and otherwise) became a crucial part of my business. This only increased when I opened up Goldstein Media in 2007, and then as an entrepreneur, I faced the reality of connecting with new people all the time. Over subsequent years, I’ve tried lots of different technologies (apps, binders,. gadgets, gizmos) to keep my contacts organized. I found a great app called FullContact, which I used to this day, to keep my contacts up-to-date across my email accounts.
But, something was missing. As much as I loved the business card, I wanted something that would utilize the power of my smart phone and integrate my social platforms, documents, etc,. Enter Contap.
When Seth Met Jason
I first discovered Jason Craparo, the CEO and founder, when I read an article in a local technology blog, where they were outlining the early version of Contap. I wrote a message in the comments and Jason and I met up for coffee. During this meeting, Jason shared with me the vision for what Contap was going to be in the future, I wanted in. This was more than a year ago. The team at Contap has been heads-down completely redesigning and rebuilding the application from scratch. Now we’re in July 2016, funding is coming in from all over the country. I’ve accepted the position of Marketing Lead (contract for now).
So What Exactly Is Contap?
“We’re a Philadelphia-based startup focused on revolutionizing the way people connect and share information,” Jason says. “We want our app to be the go-to app used at networking events across the world and facilitate every new connection that happens. Wherever connections are made (happy hour, conference, Meetup event), that’s where we want to be.”
Users load up their contact info, documents, CRM, social platforms, etc. and when they meet new people they can easily tap on whatever icons they’d like to share with their new Contap. All their Contaps are then stored in the app, and they can easily call, text, email, view social media, and documents right from the app. If you want to add a new Contap to your Salesforce.com, simply tap on the CRM button and they’re added. More CRM integrations and more cloud-based document storage options (Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, iCLoud) are on the roadmap as well as other social networks and functionality.
Think sharing Instagram, Twitter, cell phone with the happy hour crowd, but Linkedin, Resume, Website, and Business number at a networking event. Two different audiences, separate information.
The app is now available on the Google Play store for Android, with iOS version coming in a few weeks.
I’d love for you to try out Contap and let me know what you like, dislike, would want to change, etc. Post your thoughts below or email me directly at em.patnoc@kcabdeefpatnoc.
http://phillytechorg.wistia.com/medias/ytz50mdcxe?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=600