Pitch Please

00:00.00
mike_flywheel
Welcome everybody to the pitch please podcast where we spotlight canada's best startups elevator pitches and the people behind them. We're here today with Yuri Kaplan from ad mass welcome to the show Euri.

00:15.18
Yuri Kaplan
Um, pleasure being here mike.

00:17.38
mike_flywheel
You're maybe let's get started with a bit about your role at Admas and maybe some background on what brought you here in how you started admas.

00:24.78
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, sure thing. So I'm yurie Kaplan I'm the founder and Ceo of admas in terms of kind of what got me here I guess it's a bit of a journey but definitely the major reason behind me building admas is both my experience. Which comes from a software development background and over 10 years of digital marketing experience where I kind of join both to create a startup and the second is ultimately my passion and and vision and and that is redefining what influencer marketing means and creating a very. Authentic, trustworthy. Ah advertising experience for consumers and brands alike.

01:09.37
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. So you took a bunch of your own background of things that you've basically been deep in and brought them together. What do you love most about what you're doing now.

01:18.55
Yuri Kaplan
I Mean a lot I think startup life is um, it's something that's been inherently in my blood for for a very long time not genetically speaking nobody in my family is an entrepreneur really? Um, but.

01:32.36
Yuri Kaplan
Even since a young age I was always trying to find ways to kind of innovate if you will I was playing bingo with my grandma at 8 years old and instead of just playing bingo I created this marketplace where people would purchase items depending on what how many bingos they win and. Um, then I started a landscaping company I was in business competitions and in in high school. Um, so it's always been kind of within me I never went far with the landscaping company was to buy a truck and then after I bought it I I went to school forgot all about the company type deal. But. It was always inherently I wanted to do something beyond I wanted to figure out something create kind of a mix between creativity and business. Um, and then I did join digital marketing industry about 2009 when I was selling Google ads and I've done it with social media ads and and various industries and. Combining all of that. What I have learned um into a potential innovative solution that helps brands that that helps consumers that truly see delivering value. Um, it's very exciting. It's exciting to have something in your own hands you're not relying on a 9 to 5 you you can work 8000 hours and you see that you've worked 8000 hours and it's driven more and than if you worked 40 hours like it's all in your own hands and of course there's external circumstances. There's economic climate. There's you know people shutting you down and telling you how things aren't going to work and.

03:01.86
Yuri Kaplan
Um, but but among those there is those chances to kind of stop smell the roses and realize like at the end of the day you're building something with your bare hands. Um, you know your bare mind. And creating this this solution that could change the world in a positive way and I think that's a very exciting thing that that makes me feel really good about what I do.

03:20.28
mike_flywheel
Your passion for the entrepreneurial journey really shines through what would you say was like the the start of that What inspired you early on to become an entrepreneur whether it be with the landscaping company with the Bingo or what you're doing now with admas.

03:40.70
Yuri Kaplan
That's an interesting you know topic I think I think it started with the fact that I wanted to make some money and doing you know mowing it went from mowing lawns delaying some lawns to planting some trees and and I saw okay. You know this way I can get paid. It's funny because I I remember I applied to like Mcdonald's like everybody else was and I didn't get hired and and so I just gave up on trying to apply to Tim Horton and Mcdonald's and I just for some reason I just wouldn't get hired I don't know if it was my resume writing skills or what so. Just took matters in my own hands and I started you know, hustling landscaping and um from there I just continuously kind of did things and eventually I would have a job but that passion of doing something outside of my day job never died down and I found that it opened up my. My perspective to the opportunity of having a business so I took business courses I remember doing a business competition. Um, and I mean I've lived in Ontario so I got the fourth place in Ontario first place and in my city for the competition and it kind of sparked that like hey maybe I can do this? Um I got like in a word from the hamilton chamber commerce and. It got me kind of excited about the opportunity that lays there. So then my mind wouldn't stop. Um I started looking at innovation everywhere and funny some of those innovations you know, clearly other people were thinking about him because I saw that they were actually.

05:05.39
Yuri Kaplan
Being made and they were making people millions and billions of dollars and I'm like hey I thought of that idea. Yeah, you know clearly there was 100 other people who thought of it but the fact that I also thought of it made me think maybe there's something here. Maybe I can do something maybe I can't change the world through innovation and I think from there kind of just. I couldn't stop but I couldn't imagine just wanting to do only a 9 to 5 I want to be a business owner I want to change the world for innovation.

05:30.80
mike_flywheel
You got drawn in you got drawn in by the curiosity dry out and drawn in by the the inspiration to change the world around you now as an entrepreneur today Yuri like what would you say is a company you look up to and why.

05:47.35
Yuri Kaplan
Um, so the company I mean I definitely look up to y combinator. Um I consider it they consider themselves too. They say oh we're still consider ourselves a startup which is interesting because I mean they've helped. The the valuation of their companies like over $600000000000 now and and climbing very quickly. So interesting way to think of yourself as a startup at that point still but I think what inspires me is the way that they brought opportunity into the world. Um, and they helped. Scale so many companies that who knows where they would have been if y combinator wasn't there. Maybe they would have been the same place but maybe they weren't um if you hear it some some of the stories of the the startups like airbnb or some of the greatest startups in the world. You know, um, they've had a very interesting and. Difficult journey that felt like a nonstop boxing match in their own words and hearing about that. Not only does that inspire people. But also it makes you realize like wow who knows how they have helped accelerate the innovation within the world today. So it's kind of like. 1 aspect is wow they've already done all of this and the other aspects. What are they doing today because although the people are listening to these on Youtube on podcasts and how many people are they inspiring today that will actually facilitate even if they don't get in into y combinator which it's not easy. Obviously but how many people are they.

07:18.89
Yuri Kaplan
Inspiring through this journey through this education through their communities through their startup schools. Um I think I think it's incredible. What they're doing and you know I I hope that one day I can motivate people like they motivate me.

07:33.75
mike_flywheel
That That's Cool. It's actually like ah not not a common company I would have guessed someone would say and so it's interesting to see your unique perspective on how they're enabling how they themselves have grown. And how it stays really true to the roots around everything that you've sort of talked about passionately which is entrepreneurship and and changing the world around you. Um, maybe what we'll do is we'll we'll pivot into actually talking about how you're changing the world around you and the way we like to start this part off is to learn a little bit about your startup but the best way to do that. Before we dive deeper is to hear your best elevator pitch and so yuri your pitch please.

08:12.51
Yuri Kaplan
The elevator fits the good old elevator trades. Um, so at admas we help companies increase customer loyalty and save money on advertising by turning the customers into powerful communities of brand advocates that rave about them on social media. Um, so that's you know the quick 1 sentence a little bit of a long sentence delivery elevator pitch if you will but I was hoping to highlight that with an example if that's okay so.

08:35.29
mike_flywheel
Yeah, let's do it.

08:40.16
Yuri Kaplan
I'd like to use you as the guinea pig here and what is the recent most recent brand that you purchase online preferably an Apparel brand just to make the example easier.

08:48.15
mike_flywheel
Most recent apparel brand that I purchased online I think it actually might have been lulu Lemon to be honest.

08:57.64
Yuri Kaplan
Perfect. It's funny because I always use a little lemon as an example, um, so imagine after you, you got your item delivered by lululemon about 2 3 days later again, an email saying hey would you like a 20% discount on your next purchase. Um. You say? Yeah sure I mean why not I like little lemon. Um you right? So you get directed to the click lay link in the email you get directed to this landing page and it tells you all you have to do is post an ah photo of yourself wearing the outfit tag lule lemon include hashtag lululemon.

09:17.61
mike_flywheel
Um, yeah, why would they want that.

09:32.47
Yuri Kaplan
Um, on Instagram and you'll get your 20% discount you do you verify that you've done it and you receive your 20% discount so you can buy more outfits. That's basically what we do in a nutshell.

09:46.56
mike_flywheel
That's super cool. So who who is generally the people that use this like who's the purchaser of and user of admass is it. The companies can you can you talk a little bit more about that.

09:55.21
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, of course so we definitely we focus on consumer package. Good companies. Especially the reason I said online is because ecommerce is just great. We can deliver values so much quicker for any ecommerce brand. Um, so we've worked with other brands like banana boat. We've worked with Napoleon Barbecue we've worked with some some brands like that as well um as well as a lot of agencies that that have these brands. Um, we have some some larger brands now that we can't disclose the name just yet, but they are globally recognized brands. Um. And where we're very excited about that where we deliver the most value is ecommerce space because first of all as I just mentioned you get a discount you go you right away buy more products so instead of the traditional you know influencer marketing methodology or even regular traditional media. You automatically get a repeat sale from the customer for this advertising so that's already you're ready to have money guaranteed in the bank. Um, unless you know your product isn't something a customer wants. But then they're not going to post about it anyway. So therefore you're not going to be charged by using our solution as a brand. Now um, in terms of the consumer. Um, we actually like that's the unique part about our technology is we we've created an a ah and Ai technology that automates this whole process so because a brand doesn't have to manually verify each post What I mean is every single consumer can possibly.

11:23.80
Yuri Kaplan
Potentially use this as long as they're a consumer that's purchased a product they can potentially use that and every post then delivers additional recognition kind of the reason behind it is that um the the average consumer has mostly friends and family among their followers now. A recommendation by a friend and family member. It's 5 times more likely to drive a purchase than an influencer or any other um, advertising channel. So not only are you getting that repeat purchase now you're also getting potential huge exposure um three four new customers just from from that post. Um, and I often say this in a pitch. But after all, you know who would you rather trust that Kim Kardashian or your best friend recommending a product. They love.

12:09.39
mike_flywheel
That's fair now and how did this like before we dive deeper into the product. How did this get started like where was the aha moment and actually even curiously the way and how all of this works Today is this how admas started.

12:26.89
Yuri Kaplan
Not at all, not even close. So um, going into it. You know I've had a passion for business but I don't specifically like come from it and Mba background or anything like that. So my knowledge of unique value proposition were quite small when I started I pretty much you know me and my co-founder are both tech. We're developers. It was easy for us to spin off a product. We saw huge potential in the influencer space because I know the advertising industry and seeing that it's the fastest growing medium all the the potential in the influencer space and there's huge opportunity. It's growing at 32 % a year huge opportunity. Um, unlike I I decided okay, let's start. Ah, better influencer marketing platform right? Um, so we did and we were scaling it quite quickly. We scaled to like a database of 150000 influencers and it was growing quite quickly. A lot of brands were registering. But we felt and it wasn't just us like we participated in a pitch competition where there was a huge marketing expert. She owns a very big advertising agency and she was a partner with the pitch competition. She evaluated our uvp. She said it was terrible and you know I use that um that that amazing feedback to. Spend a little bit more time with her and some of the agency experts there I requested more time with her I showed her tons of appreciation for everything she's done and all the feedback she provided and you know instead of being like hurt like what do you mean? I have no uvp I'm like no, you're right? like we're not taking off how do we do this and she she pointed out like.

13:55.93
Yuri Kaplan
Fact is everybody's doing it right? like everybody has an influencer marketing platform. There is 1 being created 3 4 every 3 4 days and the the traditional influencer marketing platform. What is it. It's you have a pool of influencers. Um, you register for that pool of influencers. Ah, sorry for that influencer marketing platform. You have to find influencers who match and you know fit your audience you collaborate them with them. There's contracts. There's this that back and forth if you send them the product because most of them don't have the product um and at the end of the day. Um. That that's what the traditional influencer marketing solution is and it doesn't make you stand out and we've tried different ways of keeping true to that traditional influence marketing platform like at 1 point we were doing ah more local influencers who have smaller followings but it still didn't feel right like something didn't feel right. Um, and looking at where the industry is progressing the industry's progressing to smaller and smaller influencers because they're more authentic. So one day you know the aha moment it was the the big pivot that we did if you will I was at a firehouse sells restaurant with my dad and me myself I have 300 followers on Instagram like nothing right I wouldn't. I couldn't register for an influencer marketing platform I actually don't have enough followers. So I I was fascinated by this firehouse subs decor. Um I was just like they're decor. They're subs great too. But I had to take some photos and especially was a family event with my dad. So I I wanted to take photos.

15:28.48
Yuri Kaplan
And when I did all of a sudden my Instagram like blew up I've never seen so many people wondering. Okay, where is this restaurant. What is this plays. Wow it looks cool where how can I eat there and that was my like click my eureka moment I'm I'm looking for a uvp and there it is there I I am a brand advocate right? So why? not harness this opportunity. So the challenge at that point was okay I have 300 followers. You can't manually verify that so we have to develop a technology that ultimately automates this process by verifying that what the brand wants the customer to post is what the customer is posting. And that means you know, analyzing the post the image, the caption. All the things making sure everything is according to to government compliance and regulations and there's kind of you know a bunch of technical mama jumbo in the middle of that. But at the end of the day it means that we're facilitating the highest level of growth and brand protection for the brand when customers post about them. And we increase customer loyalty because customers now feel appreciated for recommending the brands that they use and love.

16:28.12
mike_flywheel
So at it at its core. What is the the problem that you're solving is it the actual problem of how to go drive Scalable Microin Influencer campaigns or is it actually the. Auditing of it in a way like what's the core of the problem. Then what is what is Admas uniquely positioned to provide here in in that Eureka Moment. So.

16:52.20
Yuri Kaplan
So I think it's a 2 wo-tier problem. So as mentioned huge opportunities $16000000000 market influencer marketing growing at 32 the challenge is that because it's such a fast growing market. There is a lot of an authenticity in the place in space. Ah, in fact, about 13% of all influencer marketing dollars are lost on fake followers and 87% of consumers believe that influencers don't even use the products that they promote so it lacks a lot of authenticity and it weighs billions of dollars for brands. Um, and billions to come because it's growing so fast right? So it's a growing problem. So the natural solution. It's an obvious solution. Okay, why don't we use smaller influencers smaller people like what is influence ultimately influence. There's kind of this misconception. Oh an influencer is somebody who has a lot of followers. But no like if you look at the dictionary definition of influence. It's who can influence the people around them right? So in reality those are the everyday consumers because they have mostly friends and family so they can influence a higher percentage of the population. Um, and therefore that makes for the most cost effective. Advertising and we've proved that our case studies show that we're 3 to 4 times better than any influencer marketing platform out there in terms of engagement return on on investment in in terms of earned media value and all of those things but beyond that so that's a first problem.

18:19.41
Yuri Kaplan
So okay, let's use everyday. Consumers. How so that's a second tier problem is that you actually can't do that manually and the whole industry right now works on a manual verification process. We're the first and only company who verifies posts automatically using Ai there's. Companies that deliver a verification. Of course there's agencies live on that. Um, but nobody's actually developed a technology like ours and that is the kind of the second tier problem that we're solving so the the manual verification. The automation. The ability to actually harness the opportunity of these everyday social media users who have less than 2000 followers without that we wouldn't have without our technology. We wouldn't be able to do that and without using those social media users that have less than 2000 followers. The everyday consumer. Um, your. Lacking full opportunity for authenticity in your influencer marketing endeavors and and solutions.

19:22.80
mike_flywheel
Yeah, it's Cool. You're you're solving the problem in a unique way by offering them the ability to do something and then a way to track it and validate it which is which is super neat now in in this space. Um. Who would you say are your competitors or are there competitors in this space and.

19:37.44
Yuri Kaplan
So I mean there is influencer marketing platforms I was recently actually for a business plan writing this out something like 14000 companies out there are doing influencer marketing now and there's a new platform being created every 2 to 3 days for for creator marketing or. Our influencer marketing because there's so much opportunity in the space. There was $800000000 raised last year for influencer marketing platforms. It's huge. It's growing really fast and it's going to keep growing. Um, but there isn't a single company that is actually doing what we're doing in terms of automated verification. Um, so in that space we don't yet have a single competitor. We were the first to market there and what that gives us is a unique opportunity to potentially turn although those 14000 indirect competitors into potential customers as long as we move fast enough of course.

20:28.80
mike_flywheel
Yeah, no I was just thinking that whether they're the customers or the people paying them or the customers who wish to validate what they're paying for at scale. Um I think as people try to do more with less funds. They have to be really pointed. At making sure those funds are delivering the results they expect. So. It's super interesting Now you obviously don't have to review all of your trade secrets but like at a high level How how does admass work.

20:56.83
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, of course so imagine going back to the Lulu Lemon example um you posted something with Lula Lemon you come back? you verify what if it didn't include the hashtags dimensions. What if you didn't disclose the fact that Lululemon was was giving you something in exchange like a discount which is a huge problem like that that's an increasing problem in the influencer world is um, the lack of government compliance by Fdc regulations and competition act. It's very important to disclose a relationship like that. And everyday consumer they don't do this for a living. That's a huge difference between what we do and your traditional influencer. An influencer runs their account as a business they're hoping to make a living off of it. Consumers will never make a living with using admas they will get discounts. They will get to buy more products. They might get a trip to Paris if they promote l'real but there is things like um there there isn't anything you know like that that we can. Ah, create a whole living off of it. So for them. They don't know how to post about the brand and we provide the proper tools and feedback to say. For example, say you didn't disclose the relationship because you wouldn't know that you need to we say like hey why don't you please? Ah you know so.

22:17.44
Yuri Kaplan
Say that you're actually receiving a discount in exchange for a ludolemon say. Thank you Ludo lemon for providing me a discount or or something like that to make sure that everything is government compliant and then the second part of that is image as well. We we give education to the consumer to make sure that the log was visible. They might genuinely post and and want to post a great photo. But maybe they didn't have the logo visible enough. Maybe they forgot to tag lu the lemon. Maybe they forgot to do something again. Consumers who post about brands they use in. Love they want to put that brand in a good light or else. They wouldn't post about it anyway, um, not for a discount not for anything. It doesn't matter. But they have to be given the proper tools to facilitate the highest level of growth and brain protection and that's ultimately where we come in with our ai verification of of caption of image and all of those fine details to ensure all that.

23:06.80
mike_flywheel
Got it so you pick up the hashtags comb through everything and are able to use image recognition to say are these things true now. You're also talking a little bit about I guess it's the brand led campaign and best practices of things they need to include in the. Campaign that they're running to give out the discount hey make sure you do Xyz as you post that way. We can kind of validate so there's a little bit of things that users have to do and then your tool helps capture that across the web now what? what platforms does this work with today admas. So.

23:43.60
Yuri Kaplan
Um, so it it ultimately we built it so it integrates into social media campaigns. It integrates into email flows. So. It's very dynamic we. We are ah currently developing like a shopify integration direct. Um, it's. You know it's launched. It's in beta companies are liking it. But in reality what we're trying to do is create a platform where it can sync you know into anything whether that would be via landing page or other formats like. Um, it shouldn't be limited to because there are so many ecommerce platforms and a lot of websites are custom so we don't want companies to be limited and we don't want it to be like a hefty integration and and necessarily want it to be like a plug and play solution. Um, so anybody can really use it ultimately. Um, there is a landing page and they can integrate that into their marketing channels. However, they wish amplifying it and basically closing that last mile of of media channels um with ah validated testimonials from their customers who who. Their customers. Their potential customers will will trust.

24:53.64
mike_flywheel
Got and this is on like the Cpg brand side. You're trying to integrate it into more things. So every cpg brand big or small including ones that eventually have shopify stores as part of your beta can tap into a validated microinfluencer strategy. Now when people post is it is it mostly on Instagram or admass pulls data across I guess that maybe that depends on where the brands want them to post like where what does it work with on the on the influencer side first.

25:27.69
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, so right now we we are doing Instagram Instagram is kind of the predominant market for it so we want to make sure that we're very pinpoint focused on delivering the highest level of value. Um. Instagram is still. Ah you know we're an early stage startup. We haven't even tapped the tip of the tip of the iceberg of Instagram um, but of course there's other you know solutions like Tiktok and things like that that um, you know are very interesting. Um, the thing is there's always going to be new platforms emerging and switching hands. Twitter was very important a year ago these days a lot of eyes are on Twitter. So um, who who knows where that's going to go and might explode or advertisers might die down even more. So. It's an ever-ch changing landscape and Tiktok wasn't now popular four years ago compared to what it is today too. So we're always going to have to keep our eye on it. But right now our pinpoint focus is is ah Instagram.

26:20.73
mike_flywheel
Got it and where in the equation does admas make money. Do you make money from campaigns that are run off like a certain number of influencers is the post like what's the monetization. Method today and is that the one that you and tend to to drive into the future.

26:40.42
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, so that's exactly why we also want to focus on ecommerce brand so much is because we we want to make it a risk-free advertising experience for brands right? now we charge per post and ah it that varies you know, depending on volume. Um, so. You know anybody can really go to our website and and contact us for the pricing there. But um, it that the core belief is that we want to charge the brand when they deliver when they get the value and that value is the post now. The reason why it's. Even so much more advantageous for ecommerce brands and just ah traditional cpgs that might have a retail distribution pattern um the retailers the the um the ecommerce cpgs what they have is they have that opportunity of right away getting value back on their post. So even if for some reason they only have 3 4 people interested and visit their store from the post. Um, then they automatically got at least 1 sale for every post because they got that repeat discount. They got that repeat purchase from the discount so they always get at least 1 sale that way. Ah, potentially they might get 3 4 sale and turn every discount instead of 1 purchase churn that because companies already do that they offer discounts right now. But when you offer a discount right now in your store. You only get that one repeat sale at best. But if you offer a discount with admas.

28:09.33
Yuri Kaplan
You don't just get that one repeat sale guaranteed. You're also getting 3 4 potential maybe even more ah new sales from from those followers leverage that innate trust of friends and family that we mentioned before.

28:23.32
mike_flywheel
There's this brilliant? Yurie um, so you've obviously launched how long how long has admas been working on this or how long have you been live.

28:30.38
Yuri Kaplan
So as mentioned there was like pivots and journeys right? So we started our original product was like 2020 but we the the first year was that rocky figuring it out where do we so fits product market fit.

28:33.81
mike_flywheel
Yeah, yeah.

28:47.64
Yuri Kaplan
Journey and then we really last september commercialized our our what ad mass is today this ai verification system and we've been so just over a year. We've been kind of commercialized with our ever ever evolving product that it is today.

29:06.41
mike_flywheel
Um, and how do you measure users is it number of companies using admass like the actual Cpg companies.

29:10.76
Yuri Kaplan
So for us. Yeah I mean for us, it's It's kind of like traditional Saas models right? but because it's at the same time we don't do subscription. We do proposed so we have to evaluate Usage. So for us, it's a yeah, how many companies use it. But B I Guess B and C B is what their um, their kind of ah initial campaign size is um, in terms of how um, how much they want to spend if and then C and it's kind of a. And evolving metric especially in an early stage company. But how much are they upping their budget. Um, and we've seen we've seen Brands. What's been really nice is brands are increasing their budget by an average of 400% with us so they wouldn't be increasing their budget by an average of 400% if um. You know they they weren't seeing a lot of values. So.

30:07.65
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. We'll congrats on the early success. The pivots are all part of it I'm sure everyone we bring on to pitch please is going to have a number of pivots in in their journey. Um, for anyone interested. And we'll we'll circle back to this later as well. But where where is it available is the best place for them to go addmas io or is there a better way for them to get in touch with you.

30:29.27
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, definitely admas data io is a good one. Um, so the other I mean considering I am on the podcast I love talking to companies cpgs and one of our core. You know and I say this to companies a lot when we do our discovery calls and and kind of demonstrations is I don't want any company that might potentially not see value in our platform to use us. So I I always want to make sure that we we only so. Kind of talk to companies and and we deliver value right? Um, so if somebody wants to reach to me through Linkedin directly see like hey you know what would I ah do you think this is a good fit for my company, please feel free to reach in Yuri Kaplan and Linkedin um because I would. Would love to talk to entrepreneurs even if somebody has ideas on how we can improve our product even if you know you're an investor listening to this. We are raising around right now so there could be a great many opportunities for me to talk to you and again, we're all about delivering value. We're all about maximizing ah customer loyalty and. And lowering costs of advertising for brands. So we want to make sure that every single brand that is potentially going to use us is going to get really high value out of it and I'm happy to kind of help along that journey through a conversation prior to you contacting us.

31:55.53
Yuri Kaplan
Ah, on our platform.

31:55.74
mike_flywheel
Perfect. Well we'll we'll make sure to link all that. So so now maybe let's talk about like the journey and and the looking forward What what's been your most memorable story on this journey so far.

32:11.58
Yuri Kaplan
I think I think coming from a technical background. Um, it's interesting because there's kind of 2 schools of thought there's like oh hit the market with an early and Mvp and just keep iterating it. Um, and there is get a little bit a lot of you know. Ah, little or a lot of customer feedback upfront. So that you're not wasting time on unspent and of course it's different in the soft and hard space like in a hard space. You have to have a lot of a lot of r and d before you start really doing the d right? Um, ah but in within software. It's it's a lot. You know I think easier to get ah an initial product off the ground so we definitely you know a lot of the challenges that we felt along the journey is we went too far into the development you know thinking of features Abc without necessarily interviewing enough in between. And that's something that we've definitely improved over time but kind of going in it if I could reflect back and you know difficult points is going too far in the wrong direction. Um, before getting enough customer validation. So I guess increasing the kind of kind of customer feedback loop if you will. And and really minimizing the amount of features in between it. Um, definitely something. We can have improved and the other one is I mean we started during the pandemic. Um, now there's all kinds of other economic circumstances that are hurting the world of funding and um, it's been hard like you know.

33:44.11
Yuri Kaplan
People cutting budget well companies cutting budgets. Um, ah investors cutting funding I think I think it's It's not something when I reflect on it. Oh What could have we done different not launch the startup nothing but I think in reality it just shows that timing and they do say that timing is very crucial to. To how a product is launched and how fast it gets adapted adopted. Um I think you know in terms of influencer marketing growth. Our timing is is spot on there. It's the fastest growing Medium. It's a good time to get going on that but in terms of economic circumstances. It's been um, definitely like a very challenging fundraising environment. Um, so I mean we're we're looking forward to conquer that hurdle there but definitely been a tough time. There.

34:33.13
mike_flywheel
Um, yeah I mean that being said as we enter times where people are more mindful of the budgets that they do have to spend paper performance type scenarios validation that the spend that they're giving out works. Brands looking to maybe use discounting to drive increased volume of sales during slower seasons some of these things actually might all come together to benefit you in the in the months ahead right? As you think about how your business model works for you for you guys at admas like what is the next six months look

35:01.60
Yuri Kaplan
Yes.

35:07.44
mike_flywheel
Like for you like what? what does the next six months have in store in your mind. So.

35:11.41
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, so ah as you mentioned you hit that spot on mic. Um, so so they say that you can increase your profits by up to 90% by increasing your attention by 5 right? And and so just to think there. Wow you can increase all you need to do is increase your attention. And how do you increase your attention for repeat purchases. Um, you can increase your profits by 90% and the other aspect is that we can actually deliver for the same budget that companies spend now in influencer marketing a hundred times a hundred times more content a hundred times faster. Um, so I mean we're. Kind of built in into the you know the economic climate that's happening today and although admas can be used at any economic climate during recession like it's a perfect recession marketing solution if you will um because it's it's built in to save money and increase customer attention. 2 main things right now that are very important for companies in the next six months we we really want to amplify that and we want to show companies that during you know these these six months undoubtedly are going to be a tough time Hopefully it's not going to last a whole six months but it seems like everybody. Ah, on the same page globally saying that the next six months will be tough for supply chain for everything. Um, so we want to make sure that companies realize um and and know and and are able to discover admas and its opportunities like you mentioned.

36:39.50
Yuri Kaplan
Ah, for for this tough economic climate and and how we can help. We can how much we can actually optimize the the biggest resource they already have which is their current customer base. But at the same time provide them a very high return on ad spend so that they can increase their revenue while spending less. So. That's ah, that's our goal in the next six months there

36:58.33
mike_flywheel
I love it what about 5 years where do you where do you see ad mass in 5 years what's your aspirational state. It's a long horizon I know what.

37:06.31
Yuri Kaplan
So it's hard to you know you usually think about 5 day intervals at a startup in 5 years but um, in 5 years we want to be kind of the gold standard for transparent and and authentic advertising on social media.

37:23.00
Yuri Kaplan
As mentioned we we did start interviewing people a lot better than we did in our first year and we did a lot of interviews and and on top of that there's a lot of research data showing is that um regular consumers they start believing influencers less and less um a lot of. Platforms are already rebranding it as creator marketing versus influencer marketing because there's been a lot of kind of bad association with influencers and um, what we want to do is make sure that when people see a post provided by admas they know it's authentic. They know it's trustworthy. They know that it has been um, you know that that that person did actually get something in exchange. It's not you know, trying to find these loopholes where it's not transparent advertising right because a lot of influencers do this even recently you know there's been lawsuits I don't want to. Naming name but you you can see a lot of ah lawsuits with big celebrities that have been sued for millions of dollars because they don't disclose that they're getting paid for brands and and the collaborations like we don't want any post that's ever delivered by admas to have that mis misrepresentation but at the same time find that. That balance with authenticity that drives purchases drives viral brand awareness for brands and ultimately delivers the highest value while delivering the highest level of brain protection. So going back to our mission really, we just want to optimize it and and enhance that to a level beyond of what it is today.

38:50.55
mike_flywheel
I love it. We wish you tons of success in doing that I think what you guys are working on is is super brilliant and can't wait to continue watching the journey so people can obviously find out more at admas io I'll link your Linkedin and any other pertinent things in the description in the show notes.

38:51.80
Yuri Kaplan
And continue on that mission.

39:10.32
mike_flywheel
Um, you've been super interesting to talk to do you have a recommended 1 or 2 startups that you are seeing or talking to that you think we should bring onto the show next because they're doing other cool things as well.

39:23.90
Yuri Kaplan
Um, yeah, definitely thank you First of all for saying I'm interested to doctor I appreciate that? Um, definitely um I mean I probably got to kind of think about that one. There's been a lot of startups that that are doing great things.

39:35.29
mike_flywheel
Um, all right.

39:38.36
Yuri Kaplan
Um, definitely you know Sampler is a big one. That's that's doing amazing things for cpgs. Um there. There is another one that's part of our startup community that we're doing is called good lawyer. Um, also very very incredible company. Um, but those are just off the top of my head in Reality. Ah.

39:56.44
mike_flywheel
Yeah, no wories but ponder on it. It's always good to like get recommendations from cool startups to to hear who they think is interesting and so maybe whether it's good lawyer or sampler or one of the other ones. Maybe you recommend? we'll try to bring them onto the show Next um.

40:08.19
Yuri Kaplan
Yeah, for.

40:10.60
mike_flywheel
1 more thing before we close out. It's a fun thing I'm going to try to do every episode. Ah how many times can you say pitch please podcast fast in a row ready I'm going to call. Yeah, get get your drink of coffee.

40:18.89
Yuri Kaplan
Oh well. Okay, in one Sec I'm going to take a sip. All right I'm good to go pitch please pitch please pitch please pitch please pitch please pitch please pitch bill pitch pitch. Please please please pitch please pitch please pitch please pitch Please Oh whoops up. Okay.

40:36.36
mike_flywheel
Are you are you hacking a got to do bit please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please. But it's tough that way. Yeah, you got do the whole thing. All right read you read read you? Okay, ready set. Go.

40:45.28
Yuri Kaplan
All right? Yeah pitch police podcast pitch police podcast pitch police podcast pitch police podcast pitch police podcast pitch police podcast pitch police podcast pitch please. But. Podcast pitch please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please podcast bit police podcast bitch police podcast bitch Please podcast bit police podcast bitch police podcast.

41:07.10
mike_flywheel
All right I think we got we got you at like 13 that was a solid 13 there's some close trips there. You're setting the bar high though I like it oh man. Well you eat that? Thanks for joining us today. Um, really enjoyed learning more about ad mass. Thank you to everyone who tuned in. Ah, to the pitch please podcast to learn more about ad mass and we look forward to catching you all on the next episode. Thank you Yuri.

41:28.84
Yuri Kaplan
Thank you so much. Thank you pleasure being and thank you Mike.