PondHop has officially launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The Chicago-based startup is the first loyalty rewards program that goes beyond the digital punch card concept, and leverages small business customers to deliver "word-of-mouth" marketing to their favorite salons, restaurants, bars and more.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/129362178/pondhop-revolutionizing-rewards-for-consumers-and?ref=project_build#
PondHop is an affordable solution for small businesses. Small business owners often do not have time or money to spend on social media marketing, though social media is a crucial channel for promoting any business. Whether you own a chain of bars or a single wedding cake bakery, PondHop is designed to allow the business owner to set the kind of rewards she wants to offer her customers. In return, the customer uses social media (i.e., Facebook, Google reviews) to check in or comment about the business, and rack up points toward his next purchase. Signing up with PondHop is easy, and the start-up even provides in-store marketing to remind customers that they can get points.
Larry Schrof, founder of PondHop and an early Facebook engineer, explains: "Small business owners have this pain point, and offering the traditional punch card to consumers wasn’t solving their growth problems. We designed PondHop with the small business owner in mind – it takes less than an hour to get a business on board, customers could be checking in and spreading the word about XYZ business within minutes. After years of developing the concept, building the app and running a pilot, we’re so excited to share PondHop with the Kickstarter community. We would love their support in expanding this business."
PondHop is available for download in the App Store and is currently only live for iOS users. The app is designed to be fun and user friendly, with a slick, adaptable user interface. The map allows you to see which businesses are live, and which ones are "coming soon." Users are also able to view the kinds of rewards that their favorite businesses are offering before they even visit.
"We’ve just started to grow, but by no means do we intend to serve a single region exclusively," explains founder Sean Molony. "We happy to be based in Chicagoland and plenty of our partner businesses are located here, but we plan on expanding to every college campus and major city across the nation. All small businesses should be able to drive both new and old customers through their doors, no matter where that business is located."
You can back PondHop on their Kickstarter page now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/129362178/pondhop-revolutionizing-rewards-for-consumers-and?ref=project_build#
For more information on PondHop, visit www.pondhop.io.
PondHop is a Chicago-based startup. Larry Schrof, founding Facebook engineer, and Jason Weiss, CTO of Maestro Health, serve as founders and advisers. Dan O’Brien, Farva Jafri, Sean Molony and Nick Konieczko comprise the management team. As passionate entrepreneurs and software engineers, they came together to serve the businesses they loved frequenting themselves.
If you would like more information about this topic, please call Farva Jafri at (914)772-8315, or email pondhopbiz@gmail.com.
