RocketClub is a platform allowing startup companies to distribute shares to their users.
Founded by two serial entrepreneurs and MIT alums, the platform aligns the long-term goals of creators and users. On the platform, startups solve the user acquisition and growth problem by getting users who are incentivized with a stake in the company to help promote, adopt, and give product feedback.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Rocket Club all about?
RocketClub is a website where anyone can earn startup shares in the products they love. We give everyone access to ownership in startups without requiring any money to invest or the skills to work at one. On the otherside, we help startups build a community and accelerate towards product-market fit via user feedback, engagement, and promotion.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
RocketClub is my fourth startup. After selling my previous company, I wanted to solve a problem I faced at my first two companies. RocketClub is what I wanted for myself, a way to incentivize my own network with our success and connect with people who believed in my ideas. My cofounder and MIT classmate, Paul Chen, previously faced similar challenges at his previous companies and we went straight to work after I pitched him the idea.
Q: What are some of the projects you are working on right now?
We’re always talking to new startup companies who are looking to build a community thru RocketClub. After launching our first two batches of companies in ‘food/travel’ and ‘social networking/entertainment’ on our platform, we are looking at launching a batch of ‘health/fitness’ companies.
Q: What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
Our goal is to help the companies on our platform succeed. Connecting interesting and innovative companies with passionate users is our main focus. For us, growing our company means having more successful campaigns on our platform and building brand awareness among early adopters and early-stage companies.
Q: How do you bring ideas to life?
Talk is cheap. I just get started. The easiest way to bring an idea to life is to pull up a notepad, Word processor, Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop, programming IDE, or what have you. The easiest way to start is to start creating.
Q: What’s one trend that really excites you?
Crowd ownership excites me. The Internet has changed the game for creators and consumers around the world. Both the creator and consumer are empowered with more tools and choice than ever in the last 5-10 years. The next interesting trend will be when creators and consumers start to have a real stake or interest in the platforms they use and help generate value for.
Q: What were the top 3 mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
- Timing is everything in the technology business. You need to have a vision for the future, and need to start at the right time, not too late or too early.
- Get mentorship, advice, and feedback as often as possible. Talk to as many people as you can about your business.
- Don’t hire any cofounders unless you are 100% certain vision and goals are aligned.
Q: How do you go about marketing your business, and what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
Social media works best for us. It’s the cheapest and most effective if you have something real and authentic to share and talk about.
Q: What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur – and why?
- Persistence is everything. Its real when people say you don’t fail until you give up in business.
- The second most important thing is to learn from your mistakes. Persistence is foolhardy when coupled with not learning from mistakes.
- The third skill would be to stay flexible. Not everything will go your way, being able to improvise, cut corners, change decisions on the fly is really important.
Q: What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
- My most important tool is gmail including all its google lab plugins such as multiple inboxes, as well as mailtrack.io and rapportive extentions.
- Optimizely is incredible for A/B testing our website and figuring out what messaging helps us convert our users at every step of our conversion funnel.
- Mixpanel allows us to track what every visitor on our website is doing on our website. It allows us to slice and dice our data to find out which features on the website are working better than others.
Q: What are three books you recommend entrepreneurs to read?
- ‘Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion’ by Robert Cialdini
- ‘Tribal Leadership – Leveraging Natural Groups to Build Thriving Organizations’ by Dave Logan
- ‘The Innovators Solution’ by Clayton Christensen
Q: What is your favorite entrepreneurship quote?
‘Disruptive innovation shrinks inequality, by bringing to lower-income consumers things only rich consumers had access to before’ -Clayton Christensen
Q: How can our community get in touch with you?
Email me directly at erik [at] rocketclub.co OR tweet me @rocketclubco
Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rocketclub
AngelList: https://angel.co/rocketclub
