When it comes to launching a startup, two minds are often better than one. With two founders, managing a growing tech company can be more balanced, more strategic and ultimately more successful. The founders of these marketing tech companies know the benefits of having two founders at the helm better than anyone. Check out how these four startups got their start, and how their co-founding partnership led to introducing innovation within the ever-evolving and increasingly competitive marketing industry.
Co-founders: Corey Pierson, Jon Pospischil
Corey Pierson and Jon Pospischil first tested the startup waters by launching businesses in the food and edtech industries before pivoting to marketing. In 2011, they participated in Y Combinator and honed their idea for their marketing tech platform Custora, which helps retail companies build and use smart customer lists for their campaigns.
Now with over $6 million in funding, the startup is growing its team and customer base, which currently includes leading brands Bonobos, Teleflora and more.
Co-founders: Alexander Taub, Michael Schonfeld
Founded in 2014, SocialRank is a service that lets users manage their Instagram and Twitter followers. Co-founders Alexander Taub and Michael Schonfeld were working together at a payments startup in Iowa when they came up with the idea for “MVF,” a tool that helps Twitter users identify which of their followers are most valuable.
The tool gained traction almost immediately, with tens of thousands of people requesting the service. Ultimately, Taub and Schonfeld decided to turn it into a business, which has over $2 million in funding to-date.
Co-founders: James Gross, Noah Brier
Prior to launching Percolate, marketers James Gross and Noah Brier both had entrepreneurial tendencies. Brier had launched a networking startup on his own, and Gross built the publishing division at an online advertising network.
In 2011, they launched Percolate, a marketing tech platform built by marketers, for marketers. To-date, it has raised $74 million in funding and has opened offices in New York, San Francisco, Miami and London. Its solutions help streamline content marketing for major brands like Mastercard, Cisco, Cigna and more.
Co-founders: Rick O'Toole, Ron Jacobson
Imagine if marketers could get insight into a user’s last 60 seconds of online behavior. Rockerbox is a marketing platform that’s equipped with that exact capability.
Founded in 2013 by techies Rick O'Toole and Ron Jacobson, the company works with brands like Vimeo, Google, Whole Foods and Twitter. Jacobson and O’Toole were previously at AppNexus, where they worked on the product and data science teams, respectively.
