Overview: Liam is featured on WeAreLA Tech. A weekly posdcast for tech and innovation in Los Angeles that features startups, investors and influencers.
Location: Listen to the Episode
Main Participants
- Espree Devora | Creator @ WeAreLATech.com
- Liam Oliver | Product Lead @ Total Loyalty
Transcript
Alex: I'm Alex Blumberg host of the podcast StartUp, and you're listening to WeAreLATech. ...
Espree: So I am really excited to be back with the WeAreLATech podcast. This is LA startup spotlight, Total Loyalty. I have Liam in the WeAreLATech office with me and he is going to tell us about Total Loyalty. Go for it.
Liam: Hey, it is a pleasure to be here today and chat about Total Loyalty. Total Loyalty came about because we wanted to help businesses retain customers and bring them back for additional visits. With smartphones becoming such a big deal we wanted to enable them to bring customers. We're so stoked right now because we just launched our thousandth mobile app for the SMBs that we serve.
Espree: Dude, a thousand ... That's like-
Liam: A thousand.
Espree: So, how long have you been in business? So when were you founded?
Liam: We've been in business around 18 months or so. Things really kicked off in 2015 and then we started to scale at the beginning of last September. That's when things really got turned on.
Espree: People who want to cyber stalk you as they're listening right now, how could they find out more about Total Loyalty and you?
Liam: TotalLoyalty.com, you should check out our blog. Linkedin if you have ideas to collaborate, it's the way to go.
Espree: Are you on the WeAreLATech, Slack?
Liam: I am.
Espree: Oh, cool.
Liam: Yeah.
Espree: So what's your @handle?
Liam: I think it's liamoliver.
Espree: Just, liamoliver. So, @liamoliver if you are on the WeAreLATech, Slack. What is your role within Total Loyalty?
Liam: I lead all product. We're funded by a company called Valassis. Valassis serves 98 of the top 100 advertisers in the country so everyone from Proctor and Gamble, to different pizza chains, and what not. And for years they were extraordinary at generating new customers. So they focused in generating new customers for businesses of all types.
Espree: What would you say has been the biggest benefit of growing your company in LA?
Liam: I think one of the coolest things about LA is the network. It's an intersection of creative types with a little bit of engineering in there, and it's a little bit of a different environment than you would get in a San Francisco, or a New York City, which is generally a little bit more financially minded. It's also a smaller environment so it's an easier community to enter, but it's still big enough where there's access to capital. There's access to a community that cares.
Espree: And you're an experience club too, so you get to see the community all the time.
Liam: That's right.
Espree: We need to get you to more activities.
Liam: Not enough ... Not enough ...
Espree: What start up in LA have you recently discovered that's really impressed you?
Liam: I was actually just checking out ... They're a little bit more post-startup but I like Cargomatic-
Espree: Cargomatic?
Liam: I think it's really cool how they're using ... They're essentially taking a fragmented industry, trucking, and really helping fill perishable inventory to find efficiencies, and make everything run smoother. I'm new to LA, 10 months in and-
Espree: Where did you move from?
Liam: DC.
Espree: Okay.
Liam: DC, which also has a decent, healthy startup scene over there. A lot more government contractors and things like that, so it's not really the leaner organizations that I like to participate in, and help build. But at LA, for me it was really the meet ups.
Espree: Coming from DC to LA, that's kind of overwhelming. Where did you go?
Liam: Well, I went to the beach first off. When I was looking for a place to live, I was going to do New York City or San Francisco, and then I had the opportunity to come out here, and I realized I could spend a little bit less on the housing and live close to the beach, and that would be a good deal. I've got to say, I think a lot of times the opportunities come from organic experiences and some of the little ideas that I'm incubating with the community around us didn't necessarily come from networking events, but it actually came from things like beach volleyball.
Espree: If someone moves here and wants to get in ... I've actually, always wanted to get into beach volleyball. So I want ... Where would I go to-
Liam: To classes ... Show up at the beach-
Espree: No. I need to find out, how do I just get into a beach volleyball game?
Liam: Dude, I think I Googled it.
Espree: You just Google it?
Liam: I could Google that for you and send you a link if you'd like?
Espree: Oh, man.
Liam: Let me ...
Espree: You sound like my best friend Spencer.
Liam: No. The other thing that's cool about that, is that often you get people who have ideas that are outside of the startup community. Maybe semi-technical people but don't necessarily know how to make repeatable and scalable ways to build a product or a business. You can collaborate with them and make some things happen.
Espree: Perfect. Last question, what's one ask you would have for the community to support you?
Liam: Yeah. Right now, we're looking for individuals to join Total Loyalty, who are interested in growth hacking. Who are interested in building scalable marketing solutions. I think Total Loyalty is at really a cool place right now. We have identified that there's product market fit. We're seeing great results from the businesses that are leveraging our loyalty mobile apps and now is the time to really scale it, and make some stuff happen. If anyone's interested in product marketing and growth hacking, maybe with a semi-technical background, would like to get a little bit more technical, reach out and let's see if we can really help some small/medium sized businesses bring people back.
Espree: Rad. You have some jobs available too. Right?
Liam: Yup. Totalloyalty.com, they're going to be posted up there shortly, but the best way is to reach out via Linkedin. Drop us a note on the Slack. Tell us what you want to do with your life and maybe we can figure out some way to synergize.
Espree: Do you know, would it be more engineers, or is it more communications, PR, admin-
Liam: Semi-technical product marketing.
Espree: All right. Fantastic.
Liam: You don't necessarily need to load some code, but you should be able to know how to add a plug into WordPress.
Espree: Perfect. This is Espree Devora from WeAreLATech, and this is our LA startup spotlight. If you believe in all the work that we're doing go to, WeAreLATech.com/believe, we love your support and we look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Thanks Liam.
Liam: Thanks so much.
Espree: Huge shout out and thank you to BetaList. BetaList is amazing. I've used BetaList for my past startups. BetaList gains you early traction to your startup while it's still in beta. Go to, BetaList.com/WeAreLATech. That's BetaList.com/WeAreLATech. Thank you for powering the WeAreLATech podcast.
Recording: To get text alerts when new episodes come out, text 3108722423. That's 3108722423. WeAreLATech hosted by Espree Devora has been a WeAreTech.fm production.