1 00:00:00,001 --> 00:00:06,000 Welcome to Who Are These Startups? podcast shorts featuring founder interviews of Canadian startups. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:15,920 You Got Game. How's it going guys? Amazing. You enjoying collision so far? Oh it's great. So please 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,840 introduce yourselves for our audience and tell us about You Got Game. Okay so I'm Jordan Wall, 4 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:27,200 co-founder and I'm Jordan Wall co-founder and COO of You Got Game. Hi I'm Rajesh Kadi, 5 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:33,680 I'm CEO and co-founder of You Got Game. I'm Garkar Anujla, technical founder and CTO at 6 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:40,440 You Got Game. Yeah I'm Hermit from Team Pumpkin and we are the tech force behind You Got Game. 7 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:48,040 What inspired you to start You Got Game? Well right now current dating apps are swipe left, 8 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:53,800 swipe right so we're really trying to change that whole monoculture and really try to break 9 00:00:53,800 --> 00:01:00,640 that cycle. So what we have is gamified that landscape by having gamified type of party 10 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:06,400 games that people can use to meet each other and go on these unique dates which we have in our 11 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,880 dating marketplace. Really great experiences we partner with a bunch of places around Toronto 12 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:17,280 and we're really hoping people are going to enjoy it because it's growing every day and we're really 13 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:23,760 helping small businesses as part of our joy. So how is it different from say traditional dating 14 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:29,480 apps like Tinder or Bumble? So compared to like the traditional dating app where you would swipe 15 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:37,280 left, swipe right it's all it is is like a virtual slot machine. With You Got Game the way our app 16 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,840 works is you create a profile, you have your preferences and you're thrown into a game lobby 17 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:50,800 with other people that meet your preferences. From there you then anonymously play these like 18 00:01:50,800 --> 00:02:00,000 drop-in audio games. So it's kind of like the dating game or love is blind but real time with 19 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,800 drop-in audio and so you're asking questions the contestants are answering and round by round you're 20 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:10,720 ranking the answers. After three rounds the contestants eliminated and in the fourth round 21 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,560 it's like a compatibility test, the speed round that is rapid fire and you're kind of using the 22 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:21,480 answers that the Bachelor or Bachelor at are giving as the Rubicon for the answers that the 23 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:28,240 contestants give is a kind of how to grade them and then based on that one contestant is the better 24 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:36,560 choice and then that is that's how you kind of find your match right now. What's been your most 25 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:45,800 significant challenge with You Got Game? I mean there's a lot of different places to start. The 26 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,520 product we're making is completely new there's not really much like it so building it out from 27 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:55,160 the base making sure we have a really good foundation not only for our marketplace, our game 28 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:00,040 but also something that users can really plug into and feel like they're really getting into the 29 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:05,080 experience right away making sure it's quick and seamless and on top of that we also have a lot 30 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:11,880 of interesting challenges when it comes to exploring new avenues for how do we reach new users, 31 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,440 how do we promote content, how do we get people actually online playing the games so we have a 32 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:23,480 healthy consistent population that's always going to be growing bringing in new people and it's 33 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:29,640 what we're here to do today and hopefully we find some great ways to get those problems out. So what 34 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:36,760 brings you to collision? What brings everyone to collision investment and money right? We're here 35 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:41,800 we just have a closed beta that's launched and we're getting ready to showcase what we're all 36 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:47,800 about two investors setting meetings we are available to do that and we have a whole team 37 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:54,120 behind it a whole platform to show and even a deck that can really showcase what we're about today 38 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:59,560 or about tomorrow and years into the future. We have a whole financial plan laid out we're cost 39 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:04,200 effective we keep the prices low that's why we're with team Pumpkin because they're the best bang for 40 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,920 you buck and know what they're doing and we're just going to drive that force forward we're really 41 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:14,280 excited and if anyone's out there listening that's investors come our way it's a big bright 42 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:20,200 boot team Pumpkin let's go. Have you met any interesting people or had any memorable experiences 43 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:28,920 so far? Yeah I mean I've met with a few investors at a few of the side events as well as uh some of 44 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:35,960 the main events with collision and it's been really interesting in the conversations what the 45 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:43,240 venture capital land landscape is like here in Canada as well as like abroad and kind of 46 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:49,560 people have been very helpful like we had one VC who you know he said this isn't really my wheelhouse 47 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:55,800 but I know a couple of guys and connected me with them like right away to have conversations and I 48 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:03,800 thought that was something that doesn't often happen in the VC space for startups like us 49 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:09,080 and so we really appreciate that kind of help. And if people want to find out more about UGOT game 50 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:15,400 where do they go? They go to UGOT Game.tv look us up. Fantastic thanks for talking to me today. 51 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:22,680 Awesome thanks so much Greg. This has been Who Are These Startups? Find out more at WhoAreTheseStartups.com 52 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:28,280 and check out our live events at toronto-starts.com/events.