Undrip (2011-2013)

Discover the best of the web.

Undrip was a mobile iOS app that algorithmically surfaced the best and most interesting content from your social feeds (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram). Undrip was primarily built & designed by Mick Hagen, Ryan Johnson, Cahlan Sharp, Jay Marcyes & James Schultz. The company behind Undrip is still running but Undrip the app is no longer in the app store. Undrip's ratings & reviews were strong. The growth was in the right direction -- but far from explosive. Lacking explosive growth to attract additional capital and no strong business model, the team simply didn't have the resources to keep grinding. The company behind Undrip is currently working on a new app due to release in the summer of 2014. The company has taken a total of $950k investment up to this point.

Product Screenshots & Designs

Branding

Late 2011

Early 2012

Mid 2012

Late 2012

Early 2013

Web App Evolution

Easter Eggs

FastCompany did a fun article about our design/engineering culture (and easter eggs!).

Success & Failure

Our ratings/reviews were fantastic. Our growth was in the right direction. But lacking explosive growth and a strong business model, we knew we had to move on. We simply didn't have the resources to keep grinding it out. The best products don't always survive.

People liked our design.

More importantly, they loved how the product worked.

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." ― André Gide

"We Need An Angel"

Even though Mick had previous success with Zinch, a lot of investors were very nervous to invest in this space (for good reason). Content discovery is super competitive and has no business model until at scale (media/advertising). As part of the fundraising process, we decided to have some fun. We made this creative campaign to attract attention (and additional funding). Huge shout out to Fresh Big Mouf and David F. Peterson for helping us put the music together.

In conjunction with the main video above, we also did a few shorter videos targeted at a few specific investors (below are a few samples). These ones clearly didn't have the same production values -- it was designed to look more freestyle-esque.

For Andreesen Horowitz

For Ron Conway

For Ashton Kutcher

For Chris Sacca

For Gary V

For Kevin Rose

For Mark Cuban

For Mike Arrington

We were invited to perform live at a Silicon Valley holiday party (in front of MC Hammer)

Ludlow Ventures (from Detroit) made a response video. They used the instrumental version of our song and did a great job. They ended up not investing after they said they would, so yeah, that was messed up.

In The Press...

"Lucky Ones"

When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, many small business owners and entrepreneurs were effected. Our team created a campaign called "Lucky Ones" in an effort to raise money for these small businesses (we identified 3 specific businesses to help). We had 25 of some of the top entrepreneurs and investors appear in the video. We raised thousands of dollars to help them get back up and running. It was a fulfilling experience and I hope to do more of this type of thing. I rap the first verse. Again, huge shout out to Fresh Big Mouf and David F. Peterson for helping us put the music together. And props to Colton Lee for video work.

Below are a few videos that were part of the "Lucky Ones" campaign. This whole campaign was a great way to connect with people in a non-professional, non-pitchy way. It kicked off some meaningful relationships -- totally worth it.

Making Of "Lucky Ones"

Dancer's Delight

Bloopers

Undrip Team

Why Startups?

One of the businesses we helped.

Initially, we were just gonna do another cool music video like our first. But after Sandy hit, I felt like we could do more. We needed to do more. This was a video Mick recorded of himself just a day or two after Sandy hit. Hadn't been released until now. Morning drive revelation.

In The Press...

Memories

We got accepted to present onstage at Techcrunch Disrupt 2012 in SF. That was a fun, though nerve-wracking experience. Our servers totally melted under after the heavy influx of new users -- during the subsequent few days we got a lot of negative reviews for performance/slowness. It happens.

A few product videos

Undrip Concept Video - In collaboration w/ Jonathan Haggard

Undrip Product Video

Original Product Video (before we had actually built the product). With Chance Harris

Various photos

Early Pitch

Various components of our early deck. It really didn't evolve much and quickly became irrelevant after we raised the initial capital.