#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Pelumi Olatinpo, CEO, Postagraph
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
The Digital Home: A Social Messaging Platform for Authentic and Private Connections
Postagraph is a recently launched social messaging app that works to connect verified users with their family and friends in a private environment. By focusing on creating a digital community free of filtered falsehoods, Pelumi Olatinpo—Postagraph’s CEO—is working to create an authentic user experience for those tired of the digital noise and lack of privacy on other social media and messaging platforms. We recently spoke with Olatinpo to learn more about Postagraph, his thoughts on social networking platforms, and steps that lawmakers should take to support the startup community and underrepresented founders.
What in your background made you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?
I have a technology background, so I had enough of a skillset to create a technology-based product. The core idea for Postagraph, however, came from the challenges I faced when I first came to the U.S. as a teenager. One of the biggest issues I confronted was the choice between authenticity and conformity. I even considered changing my name and accent in order to fit in.
Ultimately, I decided that authenticity was important to me. I had it in my mind to create something that pushes people to express their authentic self, a place where you don’t have to pretend to be who you aren’t. And that idea led to the creation of this authentic, private, and intimate environment where you can just be yourself.
Tell us a bit about Postagraph and how the app works. What sets Postagraph apart from other competing social networks?
A lot of competing platforms are focused on connecting you with as many people as possible. So you’re sharing space with cat videos and car dealers and your family and friends. By contrast, Postagraph is not a broadcast platform. It is built around “hangout” groups, sort of digital rooms—intimate spaces—where you are interacting online with and immediate circle of people you know and want to connect with. Everyone that comes onto Postagraph is first checked and verified. The app is based on real identities for people, as opposed to other platforms that might be riddled with bots. Since we’re designed to be a private environment, that means the people you invite into your digital space are people that you know. It’s an intimate environment where you can let loose and be yourself without worrying about the number of comments or likes that you’re going to get.
As part of this, we also have a special feature in the app that’s called Graph. A Graph is a 20-second video you record through the app which includes a geotag and no filters. Almost every picture or video on other platforms are filtered, so this really integrates the idea of being your authentic self in the app. On other platforms, it’s possible for a fake video to go viral. But that’s not possible on Postagraph. You can share a video in a hangout with your family and friends, but it’s impossible to share content that is not a Graph across hangouts. Since Graphs are videos that are recorded live on the app, all have geotags, and do not include filters, that removes the whole idea of sharing doctored videos. So if you see anything marked as a Graph on the site, you know that the video is authentic.
Do you have other thoughts or experiences relevant to content moderation, which helps create the authentic user experience that defines Postagraph?
The structure of our platform, focused on immediate circles of friends and family, helps prevent fake or problematic content.When users don't have real life connections with other users on a platform, then they think they can afford to put out hateful content and avoid real life consequences. On Postagraph, if you post such problematic or hateful content, your circles will create and enforce a sense of personal responsibility. We are also constantly looking at ways to further solidify our verification process. For example, we have reporting features where, if you’re in a hangout and see a user that’s being malicious, you can report that user. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards hate or intolerance.
Relatedly, I know you have a copyright policy on your site, what has been your experience implementing that?
We have not received any copyright complaints yet. As a startup with limited resources, we have not been able to focus our investment on robust copyright protection systems, but that will be in the pipeline. As we are able and have the resources to invest in AI technology that will assist us to filter for things like graphic violence and copyrights infringement, we will; realizing that those filters are not cheap and are not always reliable.
How has Postagraph been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and are there any steps that you believe policymakers should take at this time to further support startups?
We launched this week, but we’ve still been impacted by the pandemic. Since we’re at this intersection of privacy, intimacy, authenticity, and community, we wanted to create a product that people can use to easily navigate between their digital and physical lives. We had a whole travel section within the app where you could book hotels and flights. Once the pandemic hit, though, we had to slowly walk back those features. That put a dent in our timeline and our development. Also, the development team wasn’t able to meet in person anymore, so working from home slowed down the pace of our development.
What are some of the startup issues and concerns that you believe should receive more attention from local, state, and federal policymakers?
As a Black-owned business, funding has and continues to be a challenge. I reached out to hundreds of venture capitalists to raise funding for Postagraph, and I was unsuccessful. If it were not for the fact that I have a technology consulting company where I was able to see some revenue to bootstrap Postagraph, then the app wouldn’t have been created.
Elected officials can do a better job of guiding some funding and opportunities towards Black-owned businesses by offering incentive programs. And the federal government can also work on providing more resources and creating targeted funding programs for underserved communities and entrepreneurs. We don’t get enough funding to execute on a lot of ideas that we want to bring to market.
Some policymakers have discussed a variety of incentive programs and direct investment ideas for startups, ranging from tax incentives and matching programs to grants and loans. What are your experiences of thoughts about how well such policies might work?
My concern is that a lot of funding that happens in this area is based on relationships. A lot of white entrepreneurs that are building startups already have those networks and connections. So incentives based on matching would still be hard for those startups that do not have existing relationships to find a VC firm that believes in their idea. I’m concerned that Black founders who don’t have that type of network might not be able to tap into matching investments.
Programs to implement tax incentives for angel investors could work in a way that bypasses some of the problems associated with other private funding programs. I think a program that adds a lot of incentives for angels to make investments in underserved communities could actually work.
How can the government—especially the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)—be smarter about spending money?
The SBA wasn’t designed for startups, but for more conventional companies that are better equipped to walk at the bureaucratic pace at which government works. I think there needs to be a “startup czar,” with a committee of startup advisors, VCs, founders, and community leaders, who can help channel funding through a dedicated office. I think such an office carved out of the SBA could better manage and spend funding in ways that move at the speed startups need to operate at.
Have you faced challenges accessing private funding?
I own another company called AlphaHill, which is a cybersecurity, cloud computing, and application development firm. I spent many years chasing contracts and opportunities trying to get revenue. At one point, I was successful in securing a $2.6 million contract from Microsoft. I went back to all of the same banks I had gone to—traditional and non-traditional—with the signed contract, and I tried to get funding to get the contract going. And none of the banks would give me money. I went to at least 20 banks.
The only reason that I got money is because Maryland has a fund for minority entrepreneurs. One of the banks that previously turned me down three times finally decided to fund me, partly because Maryland’s fund was going to guarantee about 60 percent of the loan. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten funded, despite having a multi-million dollar contract in hand.
What is your goal for Postagraph moving forward?
We want Postagraph to be the platform for high-fidelity connections, and we want it to be the online space for people to come to and experience other aspects of the online world. We like to refer to ourselves as a “digital real estate developer,” which means we’re in the business of building digital homes and digital communities—something our competitors are not doing. By doing that, we want to give people the values of intimacy, privacy, authenticity, and community that we’ve been talking about.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email edward@engine.is.
