productwind Raises $1.67M to Revolutionize Influencer Marketing

The Challenge of Influencer Marketing and a New Solution

Many large corporations allocate substantial financial resources to marketing initiatives, yet the resulting sales figures can be surprisingly modest. Simultaneously, influencers wield considerable power, directing significant portions of their audience – numbering in the thousands or even millions – toward specific brands.

Introducing ProductWind: Connecting Brands and Influencers

ProductWind is designed to streamline the connection between brands and influencers with a single click. The company is developing a platform that empowers brands to initiate and manage influencer marketing campaigns. Recently, they announced the successful completion of a $1.67 million seed funding round, spearheaded by Early Light Ventures.

Insights from a Marketing Platform Builder

Jason Kowalski, co-founder and CEO, possesses firsthand knowledge of the marketing difficulties encountered by brands. His experience included developing Amazon’s self-service marketing platform, where he observed a clear disconnect between marketing efforts and actual sales outcomes.

“Our goal is to facilitate collaborations where brands can engage with 100 to 200 influencers,” Kowalski stated. “Previously, identifying suitable influencers on a platform involved extensive searching, without a clear understanding of who would generate the most sales. The focus was often on top-of-funnel awareness, rather than driving conversions.”

Leveraging Automation and Proprietary Technology

Kowalski partnered with former Uber engineer Tom Hirschfeld as his co-founder. Together, they integrated automation and unique technology into an influencer database. This allows brands to utilize the ProductWind platform, define their objectives, and launch a 100-influencer campaign in a matter of minutes, a significant improvement over the traditional weeks-long process.

A Streamlined Process for Influencers

Influencers benefit from their own dedicated platform, receiving notifications when brands seek collaboration. Instead of relying on phone calls and text messages, influencers can now view a list of available sponsorships, submit applications, and receive approvals directly through the platform.

They can acquire products online or arrange for delivery, and seamlessly integrate with their social media channels. ProductWind tracks post publication and manages influencer payments through the system.

Driving ROI and Creating a Flywheel Effect

This approach enables ProductWind to deliver a superior return on investment, such as improving a product’s Amazon ranking from page 5 to page 1. The platform fosters a positive feedback loop, where increased value leads to higher sales and attracts more influencers to the campaign, as Hirschfeld explained.

Bootstrapped Success and Future Growth

For its initial 18 months, ProductWind was bootstrapped by Kowalski and Hirschfeld, achieving profitability from day one. Revenue experienced a tenfold increase during this period. The new funding will be allocated to expanding the technology and sales teams, bringing the total workforce to 15.

“Maintaining profitability is crucial, as we are managing substantial campaigns,” Kowalski emphasized. “We are driving both marketing and sales, and we aim to be a transformative force in the industry.”

Early Investor Perspective

Mike Leffer, a principal at Early Light, attributed the company’s profitability to the founders’ resourcefulness and Kowalski’s proactive approach to securing early customers by directly engaging with companies on trade show floors, even before the product was fully developed.

Democratizing Access to the Creator Economy

The conventional influencer marketing landscape is often characterized by delays, but ProductWind offers predictive sales insights. Leffer noted that customers and prospective clients were already recognizing the platform’s value and ROI. Furthermore, the company is broadening access to the creator economy, extending opportunities beyond professional influencers.

“The company recognized a market need at the opportune moment, transitioning from minimal resources to significant revenue,” Leffer stated. “They have addressed a demand from brands seeking to launch campaigns and created a space where anyone can become an influencer.”

The Expanding E-commerce Landscape

As the e-commerce aggregator market continues to grow, the U.S. e-commerce industry is projected to surpass $1 trillion in revenue by 2022. Concurrently, marketing costs are rising, with Amazon ad expenses increasing by 30% since the start of the year.

Additional Investors Join the Round

Ben Narasin, recently transitioning from NEA to launch Tenacity Fund, and Broom Ventures also participated in the funding round.

A “DoubleClick” for Influencer Marketing

Narasin views the influencer market as immense and considers ProductWind the “DoubleClick of influencer marketing.” He explained that the company mirrors his observations during the early days of the internet in the 1990s, when DoubleClick enabled brands to consolidate relationships across a fragmented online landscape. “ProductWind achieves a similar result for the often chaotic world of influencer marketing,” he added.