Startup Spotlight #18: Popl

Popl is the fastest way to share your social media and contact information.

Aug 10, 2020

I got the chance to speak with Jason Alvarez-Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Popl, about what he’s working on at his startup, and any advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs.

Jason Alvarez-Cohen is the CEO and co-founder of Popl. His background in tech and a love for meeting new people led him to develop a product that combines both of these passions. While working as a software engineer at Boeing, I attended a social event in Hollywood where I learned about a new technology called near field communications (NFC). I then saw an opportunity to combine my skills and interest and launched Popl.

Popl has gone viral. We now have Popls in 125+ countries, millions of followers, and an ambassador network of over 5,000 people who love the brand and want to help grow the Popl family.

In an increasingly digital world, Alvarez-Cohen and his Popl team love that they are encouraging people to make real, in-person connections, rather than just “swiping left and right” or “sending a DM.”

Startup Spotlight: Popl

Popl cofounder Jason Alvarez-Cohen.

Problem: In many scenarios, exchanging social media and contact info can be slow or awkward, such as the situation being too loud to orally exchange information, too ephemeral to type on a smartphone, or too casual for business cards. Popl addresses those situations and creates opportunities for more in-depth and instant sharing of any type of digital information.

Market: Ten billion business cards are printed each year. The average person has about seven social media accounts. Those two market sizes are proxies for Popl’s market opportunity.

Solution: Popl is changing the way that people interact. Our focus is to make connecting fast, reliable (no more missed connections), and fun using technology that is now becoming universal.

Team: My co-founder is Nick Eischens. He was in my fraternity at UCLA, and we share an apartment in LA.

Recent Success:

Alvarez-Cohen: We’ve been successful in several aspects of our company. The aspect that I would like to highlight is our success in building market awareness via social media platforms, especially TikTok. Over the past few months, we have garnered over 100 million views and have gained almost 2 million followers on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook. Tiktok is what launched our company from just being known amongst friends, to being known globally.

Our focus on social media is also what led us to our third partner Jeremy Greenfield. A 35-year-old serial entrepreneur and former founder that helped enable me and Nick to be in rooms that we didn’t have access to as two 23-year olds fresh out of college.

Shoutout to my friend Ishmael Samuel for connecting good people.

Author’s Note: Check out content on Ishmael Samuel and his startup, Paragon, here:

Recent Struggle:

Alvarez-Cohen: The hardest part of my job as CEO is not software development, marketing, finance, operations, or anything else you would expect. It’s managing the talented people on our team. People who start or join startups are typically ambitious, strong-willed, and opinionated. Keeping our team happy, motivated, and focused is by far my most challenging responsibility. I’m learning that to successfully manage our team, I need to keep us focused on the overarching goal of company success. However, I’m also learning that sometimes, I have to swallow my pride, take the high road, and go with the flow to keep the team happy, united, and productive.

Founder Advice:

Alvarez-Cohen: “You have to temporarily live a life that most people won’t, to live a life that most people can’t.”

This quote means a lot to me as I work long days nonstop building a company that I love. As a technical CEO, I usually don’t have time for software development during the day, so 8 PM to 3 AM is my time to develop and continue innovating our platform. This quote reminds me that the hard work and long hours will pay off, and I hope that this can inspire other entrepreneurs who are working non-stop to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Your hard work will not go unnoticed and will turn into value for you in one way or another.

Technical advice to fellow entrepreneurs:

If you have a daunting software project or task, what helps me immensely is simply breaking up the project into bite-sized chunks and just tackling one at a time. It may seem like simple (almost obvious) advice, but many builders don’t do this and consider the project as one big obstacle on their todo list.

Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:

Alvarez-Cohen: Here are three founders you should check out next!

Zach Rash, Founder of Cyan Robotics: Cyan Robotics offers cheap, convenient robot delivery of goods.
Jacob Pace, Founder of Flighthouse: Flighthouse is a leading entertainment brand and production studio for next-gen audiences.
Hunter Isaacson., Founder of Leadr: Leadr is a privately held technology company based in Los Angeles focusing on "Gamified Reward Driven Social Media."

Who should I profile next? Leave your suggestion in the comments:

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