- 7 hours ago
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00all right Ashley we are so excited to hear more about your product and your company whenever
00:16you're ready you have three minutes go ahead and give us your pitch thank you did you know
00:24that all it takes is you to create a worldwide ripple effect Martin Luther King Steve Jobs
00:29Rosa Parks they all did and you can too hi my name is Ashley Williams and my ripple effect is Rezar
00:37as a founder and CEO we're better connecting brands with younger generations through purpose
00:43driven content as a journalism graduate of USC and a former journalist for NBC News and USA Today it
00:49is my life mission to help businesses positively change the world through content you see each
00:55year businesses toss four to twenty four percent of their revenue on marketing alone but it's often
01:01ineffective as a result they could end up missing out on the three trillion dollar buying power of
01:06Millennials and Gen Z but that's where my company Rezar comes in Rezar connects businesses to over
01:13five thousand Millennial and Gen Z content creators who make them articles videos podcasts and photos
01:19our content marketplace allows creators to speak on behalf of the brand as they create content that
01:25markets their services and products the platform also helps creators providing them with
01:29opportunities to build their careers and to get paid to do what they love Rezar's patent penny
01:35technologies our creator network and our content processes position us above our competitors our
01:41intention is to automate the creation of purpose driven content at scale using machine learning
01:46technology and so far our secret sauce seems to be working our customers received two seven and even 200
01:53times more engagement from our work our target customers right now or for our fortune 500 companies
01:58and to help our customers we offer them content as a service we sell our content a la carte with prices
02:05ranging from a hundred dollars to four thousand dollars we also offer monthly and daily subscriptions and now
02:12due to COVID-19 Rezar can make it even greater impact next year we're on track to generate a million in revenue
02:19and to have 10,000 content creators from all over the world with your investment and with your help we
02:24can finally build our technology particularly our automated machine learning technology for helping
02:30brands to work with our content creators through making purpose-driven content we can also hire amazing
02:35incredible talent right here in Detroit please support us and remember all it takes is you to make a
02:41worldwide ripple effect thank you all right thank you Ashley that was awesome it was so great to hear
02:50more about Rezar like sounds like a super cool product and it sounds like when you say a fortune 500 company
02:57it sounds like there's a lot of opportunity out there so working at target i i have a question about standards
03:07across different businesses in terms of what is acceptable when it comes to content creation so when
03:13you have five to ten thousand content creators we got to make sure we're actually fitting within the target
03:19or whatever business standards there might be for that content how does your company manage those differing
03:26expectations and standards from its clients yeah definitely so to really kick it off what we do is we go
03:36through an analysis with the company and also this is going to be part of our technology build out
03:40but essentially we ask the company to give us their brand guidelines and their terms and what they're
03:45looking for we also go through that with them to have better clarification once we have that
03:50clarification and once we go through what they're looking for in terms of the content we then offer up
03:56the different content creators that they can work with they can then choose from those content creators and
04:01then based off of the content and the portfolio of content that the creators have already done
04:05they're able to see which ones particularly match their brand in those standards and i think what
04:11also makes us really unique and sets us apart is our values and what we are focused on in terms of
04:17being purpose-driven um right now if you look at the landscape for our competitors it's really in
04:23proliferate of different types and all different um you know from you just never know what you're going
04:28to get it's almost like a funhouse in a sense but we really are focused on being very focused on purpose
04:35driven so being impactful conscientious around what it is that we're putting out in the world
04:40and as a result we really have cultivated this community of creators who really focus on doing
04:44the same so in a sense we kind of are um in some sense shunning away the creators that want to not
04:49really focus on that type of content so that we're able to attract those who do and as a result it makes
04:54us easier for us when um proposing that to the different brands that we work with
04:59um okay thank you uh you mentioned your secret sauce and the technology and understanding kind
05:07of where the funding is going can you help me understand where the technology is now and what
05:11you see as a post funding for the technology yeah definitely so right now we've been able to really
05:18build up our um content creator base and also our media content in order for them to be able to showcase
05:24their work to build their portfolio and for brands to be able to search through um based off of keywords
05:29or topic areas of interest to them in terms of the creators that they want to work with but as far
05:34as the um part where the brands are able to really autumn it's an automated part where i can we can make
05:40sure that brands can get the content when they need if i'm sleeping or if the team is sleeping or in
05:45that sort of sense um they're able to already start the process with working with the content creators
05:49and that's where with your investment that will help us to be able to build out that part of the
05:53technology additionally with our machine learning we've already started in terms of like the wire
05:58framing and also the data collection around this um through the different types of content that we do
06:03we have done with brands and then analyzing how it performs so we have metrics of a criteria
06:08ranging all the way from like 8 to 15 types of criteria and as we continue to grow and create this
06:13content it will help us with finalizing that process to be able to build out that machine learning
06:17technology so that we can finally also submit a full path the utility pattern for that and also to be
06:23able to um implement that in a new platform with the brand side so that as content creators submit their
06:29content back it's analyzed before the the brands actually receive it thank you so much
06:41uh so i'd love to dig in a little bit um so does razar stay in the middle of the relationship between
06:47the brand and the creator once uh once a match has been made effectively exactly that is the goal
06:54and the great part is even though it's been uh we've been able to bootstrap the company up until this
07:00point and to make um continue with the company from revenue as well but we've been able to really
07:05understand how do we stay in the middle how do we what is needed in terms of the automation process
07:10so that we do not have to get involved and we can really scale it to become a global huge company
07:15where we can have content creators from all over the world whether we have some in south africa right
07:20now ireland india um australia who are able to still work with brands wherever they are and for
07:27us to not have to be involved in that process so brands are able to get everything streamlined
07:31and so are the creators do the cr when the creator has a question about scope of work or about um or
07:42about you know they've hit a they've hit a snag in something that they're trying to complete do they go
07:47to the to the brand or do they go to you or do they go to both how do you provide how do you provide
07:53different kind of support yeah primarily it is they would go back to the brand um in order to get
07:59more special patients especially because um we have the creators upload the content they would be
08:05uploading the content for the brand to review and so they have more questions about it they can have
08:08the brand review it to make sure they're on the right track um but we also will have a content team and
08:13we do with the content team internally in order for the content creator acquisition the onboarding
08:19process of them um but a lot of it will be automated as well so the so so the so the puzzle you're trying
08:28to solve or that you're solving is big company x uh has got uh ambition but in order to communicate that
08:39ambition authentically to you know a particular customer or a particular constituency they want
08:45to make sure that they can partner with the right type of creator but how does big company x get to
08:51that right type of creator is that exactly right and so you're effectively creating a marketplace for
08:57content creators that brands can engage in more efficiently and effectively yes and additionally because
09:02of the fact that um really now and i think it's it's so unfortunate that covet happened but um
09:09in the sense of seeing the silver lining it's also been helpful for us in terms of proving out this
09:13idea that formed you know a couple of years ago in terms of the idea that every brand now is essentially
09:18online and every brand needs content in order to not only engage their audiences but also to attract
09:24customers and now it's needed more than ever because of that fact but many times um content is a hard
09:31game in terms of understanding how do you create content that actually engages um particularly millennials and
09:36gen zers because they tend to um engage with one another and like they they could they are able to
09:43focus on understanding one another through one another like their peers they really like influencer
09:49um peer related type of marketing and so we believe that for brands who are really looking to engage
09:55this audience the best way to do it is to have it be where you have them speak on behalf of you but doing
10:01so in a way for us that is purpose-driven not just any old way because we really want it to be where we help the
10:06brand to align with their values the social impact what it is that they're creating in the world
10:11because it also shows research shows um millennials and gen zers prefer to see that from brands for
10:16brands to be more conscientious in different social movements and all the different issues that are
10:20happening in the world for them to put their dollar with them so for every brand that is trying to
10:25reach that next generation which ultimately will be every brand essentially as our generation continues to
10:31grow and our buying power and to really help them with doing so have you um have you thought about
10:40any sort of like content creating certification program so it's like the risar gold star because
10:48ultimately ultimately um you've got to sort of be able to evaluate you know who's you know somebody's
10:55readiness to be on the platform to ensure that risar as a as a brand um is uh is is delivering uh
11:04sort of a you know um a threshold of quality yes we absolutely have so that's also a part of our one
11:11of the phases of the next part of the company is to start doing courses um almost in the sense of
11:16the framework of like master class or linkedin how they offer courses and also um one of our customers i
11:22won't mention which one but we're in talks with one of uh that does types of content like courses
11:28so we want to be in that process to help them especially because of our college students that we
11:31have um with them we only have a select few amount but we do work with them and we lead workshops with
11:38them online to help them with their content and it's really been helpful for them with their careers
11:42and understanding um especially because myself and other people on the team have had experiences in
11:47journalism or marketing so i think it would be really helpful to continue expanding that in our
11:52cto our tech team is also really excited about it so can you talk to me a little bit more about
12:00the relationship between your company and like a bigger company and the push and pull between
12:07a larger company coming to you saying we want content versus you providing like is there an ongoing
12:13relationship of risar providing insights and information and saying this is the type of content
12:20creation you should be going after versus that company pulling that from you what does that ongoing
12:26relationship look like yeah so many times in order for us to get our foot in the door with the brand
12:32we have i've tried to be mindful of ways of of showcasing our value so one of the things and even
12:39though this is not necessarily a skill these two things are not as scalable in this way per se but we've
12:43started doing surveys using our content creators and getting data around content from a particular brand that
12:49they're looking for the brands looking to do content with us for so that we can help the brand providing
12:55data to them that showcases why the need for this type of content is needed for them to work with us
13:00we also have had and created like millennial or gen z advisory boards where they offer the brand
13:07feedback around their content our marketing and as a result that helps us with them saying you see
13:11this is why we're saying to you that you need to do this this is what the audience is saying let's start
13:16creating content and then from there that's also how we've been able to garner our annual contracts
13:20with brands from either of those ways but sometimes it's also been that the brand really needs content
13:25and so that helps us with just we start with them um and and see how things perform and then as like a
13:32pilot for example a paid pilot for like a three month or six month pilot and then that turns into
13:37a year-long contract um and ultimately we um from continuously working with brands we want to start them in
13:43our a la carte instead of the pilot stage but the a la carte stage where we start with a couple of
13:48pieces of content see how it performs and then we're able to prove ourselves to move over into the daily
13:53premium which ranges from 50 000 to a million um depending on how much content that they need
14:01this is cool i like it thank you i got one last question before they make us wrap up so um if a content
14:10creator uh finds finds incredible sort of momentum on your platform are they um will they be incented to
14:19stay on the platform as opposed to feeling like they can now go direct to brands i mean it's one
14:24thing to create the marketplace but then it's not really a closed system so how do you protect how do you
14:29protect uh the moat if you will yeah so we've been doing a lot of analysis around um like different
14:37companies like fiverr for example or even upwork who uh luckily because of their framework and their
14:43model legally wise were able to even still make ipo because of the revenue that they were making
14:48as well as the amount of talent that they were able to get on the platform and the amount of people
14:52who needed that talent so we will be putting legal guidelines in place and frameworks in place
14:57um and even um some technology that will alert um people as they're like messaging back and
15:02forth with the con with the brand about keeping things on the platform but ultimately the brands
15:09of the generations of millennials and gen z years are so large that the goal is really for the creators
15:15to be able to begin to do their careers into doing what they love and almost this being a catalyst for
15:21that um and so we really want to be the space for every up and coming younger generation to be able to
15:26use almost the sense like how like youngers i once start with like disney for example and how i love
15:33disney now my niece loves disney so you kind of move over but you grow out of it but you still at least
15:38it could be a catalyst for you to get going um and and that's really where yeah that starts gotcha
15:46so um first of all phenomenal presentation uh you answered uh all of our questions uh incredibly
15:52thoughtfully um and uh and you conveyed uh quite quite clearly uh a problem that needs to be solved
15:59and so uh i think we commend you on your approach to solving that problem um and um and we wish you
16:06nothing but uh the best of luck thank you so much can i say one more thing as well i will say it really
16:12quickly but i just want to say too being a former journalist um and also i started my career
16:18like unexpectedly when i was 14 my high school had a television station i didn't even know what i
16:22was doing but i would go home and watch over with my mom and i liked that you know kind of hosting a
16:26show and from all the different things that i went through as a teen i wanted to help younger
16:30generations to be able to have a platform like that but i realized i was so lucky to have opportunities
16:35to get into my career early that by the time i got to college i was able to get internships that
16:39most of my peers were not because i had the experience um and i felt even in my career talking to the
16:45young young interns seeing that they wanted opportunities to build their portfolio to do what they love
16:50so for me it's not even just about it is about the purpose-driven content of course but it's helping
16:55younger generations to step into their passions as early as possible so that they can get the be
17:00equipped to do what they love to do love it fantastic thank you
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