If you work in start-up PR, you know it when you see the ability to turn unique thinking and one great idea into a successful, million dollar (or in some cases billion dollar) thriving business is what start-up dreams are made of.
The break out success story in the start up world in 2014 was, as most of us would not be surprised to hear, Uber. The crowd sourcing, mobile app based transportation service, which began in 2009, exploded onto the marketplace in 2014 with the app now being used in over 200 cities worldwide.
The success of Uber was due to the companies ability to provide the consumer with a service that was lacking in the marketplace. Get that piece of the start-up puzzle right and the consumer will reward you, as they did Uber. Reports have the company projected to earn up to $10 billion in revenue annually and their market share rose by over 700% from January to December 2014.
We look to 2015 to see who will be the breakaway start-up that, through their unique thinking, will provide us with the next market changing idea.
Listed below is a snapshot of three impressive start-up ventures that we believe you should keep an eye on. These companies are poised to break out and come of age in 2015.
Pecabu
A Californian based company aims to take outdoor advertising to a new, data reporting and results driven level. Currently brands who advertise in the outdoor’s with banner ads, posters and billboards miss out on the ever important metrics gathering ability to gauge who is viewing their ads, at what time and whether the advertisement is gaining the traction with viewers that they hope for. Pecabu is developing technology that with create a targeted outdoor advertising platform that collects this data called CineGraph.
CineGraph uses technology that can detect and process human conversations, movements and images in front of the advertising piece and report back popularity of an advertisement, the demographics of who is viewing advertisement and even the sentiment of how the viewer feels towards what they are seeing. This reporting will allow more targeted outdoor advertising, with the ability to market to different target audiences at different times of the day, reliant on the data that is being collected and provided by Pecabu.
Slack
Slack is included in this list not only for its offer of a new products to the market but also due to the sheer amount of money that is being thrown behind the start-up from some heavy hitters in the online world. Positioning themselves as a team communication tool for the 21st century, Slack has created a corporate messaging tool that allows for information sharing over multiple platforms. Open communication channels for projects or groups are viewable companywide and can be stored and searched for future resourcing.
The company, which is yet to celebrate its first birthday, has been valued at $1.12 billion US with significant financial backing from Google Ventures. With Google investing so much capital into the venture, future success of the tool will be paramount for both companies.
Blurb
This company has the strongest potential to mimic the success of Uber in the sense that it too is offering consumers a new option to services that have previously been limited to what is currently in the market.
Blurb is an independent publishing platform that allows users to leap frog the middle man, or men, and get works closer full publication and into to retail outlets. Authors’ are able to make decisions around design, production and the marketing of their products. The company, created in 2005 has been on a slow burn with critics now predicting 2015 is the year that we will see consumer uptake of the product explodes.
Now, all we can do is wait to see which idea and which company makes themselves the Uber of 2015. We wait and keep hoping that one of these days it might be one of us with the billion dollar, groundbreaking, market changing idea.
