RAINE MAGAZINE Volume 20 | Innovate
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APPRENEURS TO WATCH<br />
F l i p N i c h e<br />
Images Courtesy of FLIP niche<br />
Created with gymnast in mind, Flip Niche co-founders, Jessica Johnson and<br />
Emily Kerwin,t designed Flip Niche to leverage popular social media channels to<br />
offer gymnasts and fans a unique platform to share, inspire and connect with the<br />
gymnastics community. The application utilizes a feature called “onboarding”<br />
which enables users to sign in via existing profiles. For example, as a user, I<br />
would be able to create a Flip Niche user account by connecting my Facebook<br />
or Twitter profile(s). Ultimately, it is a convenient method to gain access to<br />
features of the application, which include:<br />
• User Account: A unique profile which enables users to post status<br />
updates, send direct messages, display earned badges, invite friends and<br />
display in-app statistics.<br />
• Buzz Feed: An aggregated news feed featuring relevant gymnastics<br />
content, integrating Twitter and Google keywords and hashtags.<br />
• Flip Cam: An aggregated image feed featuring gymnastics-related images,<br />
integrated from Instagram and other photo-sharing platforms.<br />
• Chalk Box: A comprehensive database of discussion forums that afford<br />
gymnasts, fans and supporters an opportunity to share content, engage<br />
with others and offer valuable insight.<br />
• Meets: A calendar of USAG, Elite and Collegiate competitions in which<br />
users are able to check in, post comments and share pictures directly from<br />
the venue.<br />
• Top Users: A ranked listing of all time, monthly, weekly and daily users;<br />
users are able to acquire points by in-app participation (e.g. commenting<br />
in the discussion forums or watching videos).<br />
• Videos: An aggregated feed of gymnastics content, filtered directly from<br />
YouTube via user account or keywords.<br />
• Scores: A linked page offering accurate, up-to-date competition results<br />
from www.MeetScoresOnline.<br />
• Favorites: A collection of user-generated “favorites.”<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>: What inspired you to create Flip Niche?<br />
JOHNSON: Flip Niche was created by myself and a former collegiate teammate<br />
of mine, Emily Kerwin. Both retired from the sport, and heavily involved in<br />
unrelated careers-myself, as a Digital Marketing Consultant, and Emily, as a<br />
very talented graphic designer-we still maintain a deep love and passion for<br />
the sport of gymnastics. Creating Flip Niche for a community of strong, young<br />
women who could truly benefit from its purpose, seemed like a natural fit, given<br />
our skill set and background.<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>: How did you fund your venture?<br />
JOHNSON: I am fortunate in so many ways, but particularly in my marriage<br />
to my best friend, Will, who has always supported my (many) aspirations. Will<br />
and I met as student-athletes at West Virginia University, and though I’ve since<br />
retired from the sport of gymnastics, Will is fortunate enough to continue playing<br />
football in the NFL, with the greatest organization in the league: The Pittsburgh<br />
Steelers. Everything we do, every decision we make, is together-investing in Flip<br />
Niche was one of those decisions.<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>: How would you forecast your growth over the next three years?<br />
KERWIN: It is my goal to see Flip Niche reach 5000 active users over the course<br />
of the next 3 years. If you think about it, this application is rooted in the idea<br />
of community; the more users that download and participate within the app,<br />
the better the overall experience for each user. What is more important than<br />
statistics, in our case, is continuing to develop a product that serves a purpose.<br />
Right now, Flip Niche is able to do that, but we have big plans for the future.<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>; What has the response been like to Flip Niche?<br />
JOHNSON: Every individual we’ve come into contact with, either in-app<br />
or in the real world, has expressed nothing but positivity. We are constantly<br />
encouraged and fueled by their responses, and strive to build a solid community<br />
for gymnastics that is as strong and inspirational as the sport itself. It is our<br />
constant goal to positively affect the sport.<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>: Who is your target demo and market size?<br />
JOHNSON: They always say, “it’s a small world.” Well, the gymnastics world<br />
is even smaller! There are approximately 110K gymnasts involved in the USA<br />
Gymnastics (USAG) program and just over <strong>20</strong>K instructors. Our primary targeted<br />
demographic is young, female competitors, aged 6-18, that actively participate<br />
annually in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics as well as in any of number of the<br />
3000+ sanctioned USAG events.<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>: What has been the greatest challenge your company has had to<br />
overcome?<br />
JOHNSON: Physically getting in front of athletes at large competitions. We’ve<br />
attended two major sporting events since the recent launch, and it is incredibly<br />
challenging to track down gymnasts and engage them long enough to get<br />
our message across. Flip Niche is something that needs a little explanation;<br />
other vendors, like GK Elite, have leotards, apparel and products that speak for<br />
themselves. From our experience, girls are so nervous before large competitions,<br />
like Junior Olympic Nationals, because they often times have the pressure of<br />
earning a college scholarship weighing on them. To try and interrupt their focus<br />
is out of the question, so we try to hang back until the competition wraps up- but<br />
if their performance wasn’t up to par, look out!<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong>: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?<br />
KERWIN: When the idea for Flip Niche was first put into motion, I thought it would<br />
be impossible to see through; you have to understand that an application of this<br />
sort has never existed in the gymnastics community. That was when we knew<br />
we were on to something. To see how far Flip Niche has come<br />
in such a short amount of time is rewarding. From a designer’s<br />
stand point, it’s been amazing to be able to integrate elements<br />
of gymnastics that can easily be overlooked. Gymnastics is a<br />
sport of grace and finesse paired with explosion and power-the<br />
graphics for any gymnastics-related application should reflect<br />
that reality. With this aesthetic in mind, we were able to implement<br />
bold iconography while balancing elegant photography.<br />
Entrepreneurs should be made aware of the impact that userability<br />
has on the ultimate success of an application. Recognizing<br />
that our target audience is under the age of eighteen, we try<br />
to focus on making Flip Niche exciting and easy to use. Being<br />
able to incorporate other social media platforms, like YouTube,<br />
Instagram and Twitter, brings the element of comfortability to the<br />
experience. When the user is able to understand the application<br />
and find true value in it, they are more likely to continue using it<br />
and share it with others.<br />
Determining how the graphics, user interface, and content<br />
engage the target audience is key to creating a successful tool,<br />
like Flip Niche. As a team, Jessica and I have made small changes<br />
throughout the process that have made a huge difference. If<br />
you’re able to find an untapped, niche market and successfully fill<br />
a void, consumers are going to buy your product.<br />
<strong>RAINE</strong> <strong>MAGAZINE</strong> - VOLUME <strong>20</strong> 17
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