Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Wolff.
Before Spacewolff, Wolff had a transparent touch-screen company, taptl. In an effort to finance the manufacturing of the displays, Wolff decided she was going to start a digital signage company. She went to many of the small businesses in Brickell, ranging from nail salons to health-food cafes, that had the same type of customer: women with discretionary income that lived or worked in Brickell. She asked the businesses if she could pay them $100 a month to hang the display in their window, and then she went to other small businesses and asked them to pay $100 a month for a rotating 30-second ad space for the month. Businesses were lining up to get a display in their store for the extra cash, and also to advertise.
After some thought, she realized that her product wasn’t solving a problem; she was. She was connecting small businesses to their target market for not a lot of money. She took a step back and the lightbulb went off: she realized small businesses don’t know how to advertise. She then looked at what was working with the idea and decided that all businesses (and individuals) have really valuable excess space, and that it shouldn’t be just “transparent touch-screens”, and that ANYTHING can be ad space. Recalling her time at trade shows when magazine salespeople would walk up to her booth and try to sell her ad space, recognizing the inefficiency of that sales model. So, she decided to create a marketplace where anyone can list anything as ad space, and advertisers can easily and efficiently place an ad with them.
As Wolff launched the company, she knew she was missing a crucial element; a partner with technical experience and knowledge on how to structure the data to gain a competitive edge. Wolff knew Catalina Arango and her background in data and in February 2017 Arango joined as the company’s co-founder and Chief Data Officer. The team is passionate about the startup’s potential to change the way businesses advertise, and the way it truly gives anyone on this planet a way to generate revenue. In its early stages, Spacewolff went through two different development shops, one in Texas and one in Miami, before finding it necessary to outsource it. Wireframing over 42 pages on their own and controlling all aspects of the development process proved beneficial, as many people find the UX and design incredibly smooth.
Now, with over 1,000 ad spaces from users ranging from national publications to headrests of rideshare drivers, Spacewolff has something for every advertiser.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s never a smooth road when you’re starting a new company! We had awful experiences with developing the technology early on, but now we found a team that we trust.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Spacewolff – what should we know?
We’re a marketplace for ad space (think of Airbnb, but for advertising). Anyone can list any type of space, and businesses looking to advertise can place ads with those users directly through the site. Users can list mediums, ranging from indoor signage to podcasts to even tattoo space. They set their own price and accept or deny ad applications to ensure it’s a brand they want to promote. While it’s great because any person or business can monetize any type of space they have, the product was designed with advertisers in mind. We wanted to simplify it so that any business has the power to place ads easily. Advertisers can search the marketplace for these user-created spaces, filtering by date, audience location, and interests. Then they select available dates, send the advertisement file/copy, and pay for the ad.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Catalina Arango is my co-founder, so she deserves a lot of credit. I brought Catalina on in February of 2017, and as time went on, she got more and more involved. I originally brought her on because I wanted Spacewolff to be a data-first company, and through the Women in Miami Tech meetup group she stood out for this expertise. She graduated from Wharton, and then worked at Burger King, Managed by Q and Instacart, so she had both corporate and startup experience. She’s a total hustler and a great friend, and our company wouldn’t be where it is today without her.
Pricing:
- Ad spaces in Miami range from $1 to $50,000+ on the site.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1951 NW 7th Avenue Suite 600
- Website: www.spacewolff.com
- Phone: (305) 424-8677
- Email: wolff@spacewolff.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/adspacewolff
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/adspacewolff
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/adspacewolff
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