The Quick Hits — What Wasabi Ventures did for UpRace
- Provided guidance and business advice throughout startup process
- Built UpRace website from the ground up
- Added development and marketing resources and support as the company’s needs grew
“Wasabi Ventures has helped enormously at every turn. Whenever we need resources they find them.”
– Greg Santos, Co-Founder of UpRace
The Bucket List
UpRace began life as a spark in the brain of Greg Santos — a spark created by a friend’s “bucket list” posted on the refrigerator. It was just a simple list of goals on a sheet of notebook paper, but it immediately planted the idea in Greg’s head that these sorts of things should be on the internet where they could be nurtured, not just left on refrigerator doors to slowly die.
Soon after inspiration had taken root, Greg pitched the idea for a company that would turn short-term and long-term goals from far-off and foreboding mountains into games that users would play via social media interaction. Within two weeks, UpRace went from concept to investment, and Wasabi Ventures began offering their input and leveraging their technology right from the start.
Building Something Special
Of course, turning goals from nebulous visions of a brighter future into a massively social, three-step game of “set, reach, share” requires resources. Luckily, resources are something that Wasabi Ventures has in spades.
“The more resources you need, the more Wasabi Ventures can provide,” said Greg. “We’ve evolved from working with a single developer to working with a full team of developers and designers, and now we even have a full-time marketing team as well.”
Under the guidance of Greg and his co-founder, Robert Cherry, Wasabi Ventures set their team of web designers and developers to work building UpRace. The Wasabi Ventures team did design work for an intuitive and attractive front end and programming for a solid, reliable back end of the website.
Driving Engagement
When the time came for an official UpRace launch, Wasabi Ventures once again stepped up to the plate. Within a matter of two weeks the number of registered users jumped from 50 or so beta testers to over 600 regular accounts. In other words: UpRace from being “raw potential” to “worth something” in practically no time at all.
“I think that’s due to the design, development, and marketing work that Wasabi Ventures has provided,” said Greg. “They really can drive hits to a website.”
In the startup world, the number of eyes looking at your website on a regular basis is a very important thing. Wasabi Ventures knows that, and they work to make sure that each and every one of their startups gets attention from the public to allow for proper, organic growth.
Uncommon Offerings
Wasabi Ventures’ involvement with UpRace has been hands-on right from the beginning, and as the support structure grew more robust so too did the opportunities. At this point, UpRace has the capacity to build everything from databases to Android apps. This is because Wasabi Ventures places more and more resources at the disposal of their startups as they show promise.
Because they have so many other portfolio companies — many of which can be leveraged to help out fellow startups — Wasabi Ventures is often able to provide even very small enterprises with the resources of medium sized companies.
“The things that Wasabi Ventures makes available to their startups are often unheard-of at this level,” said Greg. “Simply put: Wasabi Ventures means robust resources and sound guidance.”
