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Featured Alumni Business: Blurtopia

Name of Business:
Blurtopia

Mission/ Description:
Blurtopia is a mobile social network, which connects people around questions, answers and conversations. Through a simple and intuitive interface, individuals can post “Blurts” in three different types: Rate 1-5, This or That, or Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down. Those Blurts can then be sent to the whole Blurtopia community or just friends and feedback is instant and aggregated.

Alumni Name and Contact Information:
Ryan Bettencourt; ryan@blurtopia.com

Located:
San Diego, CA

Inspiration/ Business:
Our team was working on a social decision making platform for enterprises when we noticed a woman in a shopping mall trying on a bunch of different shoes. She was snapping photos and sending those photos via group chat to get feedback on which pair to buy. We built Blurtopia to be a better way to connect around life’s little questions. Since launch, the company has been covered by major media, featured by Apple and has enjoyed massive usage from initial folks on the app.

How The Idea Began:
We are a team that has been working on various ideas for quite some time. While building an enterprise solution, we switched gears when we realized the potential of, instead, building a platform which helps people explore life’s little questions.

Favorite Thing About The Business:
The business is at the intersection of many trends and it is a blast to work with a smart team in figuring out how to best position and grow the company to take advantage of those trends.

Worst Thing About The Business:
We are a social network and there are individuals who want to use the platform to post inappropriate things. It’s a shame to see people use it in that way, though we have the mechanisms to ensure those Blurts and people do not have a voice in the community.