Build Mode is backwith another episode! Thisseasonishighlighting lessons learned from the world of go-to-market strategies. Startup Battlefield editorIsabelle Johannessen sat down with Luna co-founderJas Schembri-Stothartand Untapped Solutions founder Andre Peart for their unique perspectives onreachingnichecustomersegments following their own candidacy during the 2024 Startup Battlefield competition.
If our first episode, withDeon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI,we explored what it takes to create a company with a customer-first approach. And in our second episode,we’rediving into guerrilla tactics and experiments that worked inreaching twovery differenttarget audiences: teenage girls and formerly incarcerated workers.
ForLuna, which is a well-being app for girls, the difficulty in reaching that audience was clear: Neither co-founderswere teenage girls anymore. To get the feedback and insights they needed,Schembri-Stothart and her team toured U.K. schools, “basically getting grilled” by students and getting harsh but clear feedback and even interest in helping build their app. They in turn became the beginning of a swarm of brand ambassadors, who were both “behind thescenesqueens” working on the app itself and creators making socialcontentto promote the app, becoming a go-to-market team of their own and setting up activations at major events like Taylor Swift concerts, where they knew their target audience would be gathered en masse.
Untapped Solutions had a different challenge. As the “LinkedIn for the formerly incarcerated,” Peart had to find a way to make sure that the platform couldactually bedeployed into the many places wherecurrently or formerlyincarceratedindividuals could access it in order to help themattainemployment. And to do that, in a spacelargely untouchedby tech solutions, they hit the speaking circuithard, andeven began their own NationalReentryCoalition and their own event, which kicked off this April.That, alongside partnerships with agencies working with the 600,000 people released fromprisonannually, has led to an increasing ubiquity.
“We’re in almost every prison system,” Peart said. “Soif you’re on a tablet, you already have Untapped.”
For the full episode’s worth of insights, check out the video above, or listen and subscribe to Build Mode wherever you like getting your favorite podcasts. And ifyou like whatwe’redoing, give us a review—or if you have feedback about the show, reach out to us at po******@********ch.com.