Founder Friday: Abe Wolke, Founder & CEO of Bounty 💰
Issue #23
Founder Friday is a content series from SuperAngel.Fund highlighting companies in our portfolio and the inspiring founders behind them.
In our 23rd edition we are featuring Abe Wolke, Founder & CEO of Bounty, who’s mission is to help brands turn their customers into video marketing machines.
It’s no secret that every major brand is looking to effectively unlock the power of influencer and creator-driven marketing. The tricky part has been capturing an authentic moment that doesn’t seem like an ad or feel like paid content. Enter Bounty: a new Shopify App revolutionizing how brands work with their own customers to drive growth and democratize the influencer economy.
Bounty allows customers to become “micro-influencers” and earn unlimited cash back for engagement generated on TikTok. All a customer has to do is make a post after their order is delivered, tag the brand, and Bounty will automatically pay them based on the engagement their post generates. This allows brands to tap into their customer's audiences while creating an automated stream of authentic UGC (user-generated-content) that can be used in other marketing efforts. Over 1,000 new creators are signing up for Bounty each week and early brand adopters include: Doe Lashes, Jones Road Beauty, Olipop, BlendJet, Cloudsharks, Kaja Beauty, EM Cosmetics & more. Unsurprisingly, the company has seen overwhelming interest and is working tirelessly to onboard more than 750+ brands on it’s waitlist (Sign up here!).
Abe’s background lends well to this strategy, having spent 8 years operating DTC brands including co-founding two companies, Coinmine and Hemplete, neither of which could advertise on Facebook (Crypto and Hemp). Having recently closed a $4.7m seed round led by M13, Sugar Capital, and Interlace Ventures among others, Bounty now has the proper resources to meet demand and scale.
Describe your company in 5 words or less.
Abe: Cash for TikTok posts.
What was your primary motivation for starting your business?
Abe: Helping brands drive growth in a post-iOS 14.5 world, building the tool I wish I’d had to scale micro and nano creators when I was operating brands.
What piece of advice would you give an entrepreneur starting a business today?
Abe: Test the market as quickly as possible. I’ve done a lot of things that didn’t work, and spent too much time on them. I could have saved years and a lot of money if I’d put my ideas out into the market sooner to gain validation.
What do you love to do in your free time?
Abe: Hiking, eating, rock climbing (indoor, bouldering), Olympic lifting, smoking cigars, doing nothing with people I love, swimming in the ocean, and thinking of cool things to build.
What is the most interesting place you’ve visited recently and why?
Abe: Melbourne, Australia! Beautiful architecture, great food, and I’ve never been to a country where cars drive on the left so it forced some rapid rewiring after almost stepping into traffic a few too many times.
What is your favorite app or tool in your work life and in your personal life?
Abe: Never been one to pick favorites but I use Slack, Superhuman and Figma the most. Tome.app is the coolest tool I’ve started using recently for all-hands meetings and any other time I need to quickly put together a presentation.
What do you believe is the most important skill or attribute of a successful founder?
Abe: Building the right team. Not just recognizing, but also being able to sell other talented people, who could just as well build their own company, on working with you.
SuperAngel.Fund is an early stage fund that invests in Consumer, PropTech & Future of Work. You can learn more at SuperAngel.Fund.
