Elevator Pitch: Pop!

Elevator Pitch is a regular feature on Lifehacker where we profile startups and new companies and pick their brains for entrepreneurial advice. This week, we’re talking with Chris Koch and Chad Stephens from Pop!.

In 128 words or less, explain your business idea.

Pop! is a new way for consumers to safely store and control who and what has their personal data online. Using the mobile app, they only need to input their personal data once, and then fill in any online form with the click of a button. All information is stored securely on the device.

When consumers need to update their information — a new credit card or mailing address, for example — they only need to make one change and Pop!, under their instruction, can automatically send the new information out to Pop! partners.

We charge businesses a small fee each time a user updates their data. With Pop!, businesses can regain the estimated 10 to 25 per cent of revenue lost every year due to poor data quality.

What strategies are you using to grow and finance your idea?

Pop!’s success depends on the number of users we have signed up to the app, which will in turn influence the number of Pop! partners we get on board, so we’ve been firmly focused on growing both of these areas.

We recently officially launched the app to consumers with a competition which actually involved Chris swallowing a small computer. Anyone who downloaded the app sent their entry inside Chris’ body — to demonstrate you can Pop! your data literally anywhere in the world. It was a bit of fun and it helped propel the app to #2 in Australian free apps on the day.

On the partners’ side, we’ve been in active discussion with a number of household names in banking, retail, government, travel and e–commerce.

We sold our previous consumer data management business, 1Form, to REA Group earlier this year in order to be able to focus our efforts on Pop!, so we’re lucky enough to have been able to finance our own ideas. We received some initial seed funding from a group of Carsales.com.au executives, including co-founder and CEO Greg Roebuck, who continue to advise Pop!.

What’s the biggest challenge facing your business?

One other perhaps less sexy thing Pop! does is map forms on the internet, so that when users ‘pop’ their data into a form it accurately fills it. This is essentially a never-ending (albeit noble!) quest, as we need to constantly be on the front foot as new forms are created as the world’s businesses move online and evolve. Whilst it’s a challenge, it’s one we humbly accept!

Aside from that, our major challenge is helping people to regain control of the sheer volume of data they already have spread out online.

How do your differentiate your business from your competitors?

There are plenty of personal data stores, auto-fill products and data quality management systems out on the market. Pop! is unique because we provide all of these functions in the one solution. We are the only product that allows users to instantly and proactively send their updated data to businesses all at once and we think that’s why Pop! has such a big opportunity.

What one phone, tablet or PC application could you not live without?

Other than Pop!… the ‘Authentic Weather’ app… look it up!

What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t be afraid to fail, instead be afraid not to try!

Want to see your startup featured in Elevator Pitch? Get in touch using our contact form.