Press Pass is a beta interactive directory of journalists organized by the beats they work on, the regions they cover, and the media organizations they work for. The site aims to help people – from local businesses launching new products and services to citizens with newsworthy photos – reach journalists who may be interested in their story. Using Twitter, Press Pass has identified more than 5000 journalists from over 250 media organizations, and is tracking tens of thousands of tweets per month, with each tweet continuing to build and refresh the directory.
Press Pass is a self-funded startup based in Dubai, founded by David Haddad (@daveying99) and co-founded by Valencio Cardoso (@valenciocardoso), both of whom are enthusiasts of participatory communication via technology. Innovation 360 recently spoke with Mr. Cardoso about the inspiration behind the website.
How did you come up with the idea for Press Pass?
Valencio Cardoso
It’s not so much how we came up with the idea, but how we validated the idea. We follow the lean startup concept developed by Eric Ries (@theleanstartup), which is based around the idea that in order to not waste time and build something your customers really want, you should build a minimum viable product, get feedback from your users, iterate the platform based on that feedback, and then repeat the process over and over again.
The main idea that David and I wanted to focus on was creating a place where regular people could develop relationships with journalists. So we came up with a few different concepts that revolved around that idea, developed mockups for each and solicited feedback from our target audience (journalists, people in PR, small business entrepreneurs, etc.). One of the things we learned is that regular people have a hard time finding the right journalists in an efficient manner, and that process was taking up a lot of their time – there was no one location to find the journalist who would be relevant to their story.
On the flip side, journalists were receiving a lot of stories that were irrelevant to the beats they were covering, and this was becoming a real time-waster for them. So it became clear that be most obvious way to enter the space first would be to first create an organized directory of journalists.
What makes Press Pass innovative or unique?
We decided take the directory one step further by tracking what the journalists were sharing online and creating specific profiles for each of them to show what they’re reading, where they rank in comparison to their peers, the topics they care about, and who’s getting their attention. So the way the website is organized not only allows people to find the right journalist much quicker than just searching Google, but this information also enables the user to get a more in-depth understanding of the reporter, ensuring that they’re sending their newsworthy stories to the right people.
Will you be adding a region on the site for the Middle East?
Absolutely. We’re in the process of completing a tool that will allow us to efficiently add journalists from any region of the world, and are planning to start with the Middle East and South Asia first, since we’re based here.
What is the business model for Press Pass?
At the moment we’re focused on gaining critical mass – getting journalists from all the regions across the world onto our database, and refining the product’s ecosystem to allow people to engage with the journalists in a viable manner. We believe that accessing the basic directory should be free for everyone, but have plans to implement a freemium model in the future for brands and power users.
What did it take to make your idea happen?
One of the major challenges of working in a startup is the fact that we’re light on time, money, and resources to build the product, so it was critical for us to figure out two things: one, what product we should build, and two, prioritize how we build it. The lean startup process was critical in ensuring that we were building the right product that our target audience would find useful. Once we decided in which direction we wanted to attack the problem, building the product was just a matter of us mapping out a plan and executing it, since both David and I come from tech backgrounds (David is a software engineer, and I’m an interactive designer).
Is this your first startup?
It’s my first tech startup. I’ve worked in interactive advertising and branding for years, then left that do a year of nonprofit work and created a couple of social good websites (The Socially Conscious Blog.org and Socially Conscious Arabia). I was planning to head back to Toronto to work at one of the tech startups back there, when I ran into David. He wanted to do something around journalism and I was interested. Our skill sets balanced each other out, and we had good chemistry, so it was a pretty good match.
Have you received help (capital, incubation, advice, etc.) from any organizations or people?
We haven’t received any help yet, as we’ve boot-strapped the entire process until now. However, we are planning to raise an angel investment round of funding in March.
What do you think of the climate for startups in Dubai and the UAE?
Like the region, it is emerging. It’s nowhere near other places like California or New York, but I have noticed a shift in younger people’s mindsets out here. A lot of them are going into tech, and are looking to create their own startups, which is a good sign. I’m also seeing more and more tech meetups popping up, and am starting to see a small, but talented startup community emerging.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs in the region?
Stay focused, and aim to build something that your audience will actually use. Get feedback early, and get it often. Also, even though we may not have a large startup community out here, you can always get involved with tech entrepreneurs from all over the world. Follow startup founders on Twitter, read blogs (Y Combinator and Venture Hacks have really helped me), and engage with people in the startup community on sites like Quora.
About Debra Jennings
Thanks for the feature Deb!
It was a pleasure!