This Week in Startups - Seth Priebatsch, CEO of SCVNGR | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

21-year-old Seth Pread, founder of Scavenger, joins the show and discusses building a game layer on top of the real world. They discuss the value proposition for investors and the importance of the wow factor.

Key Insights

• 💗 Scavenger has grown rapidly, reaching half a million users in just 20 weeks.
• 🤕 The game appeals to a wide range of ages, with different locations and challenges attracting different demographics.
• 😒 Businesses can use Scavenger to increase traffic, engagement, and sales by creating custom challenges and rewards.

Transcript

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Questions & Answers

Q: How does Scavenger make money?

Scavenger is a freemium model, where individuals can play for free and local businesses can build challenges for free. However, larger enterprises pay for additional capacity to build more game elements at their locations.

Q: Can Scavenger be used for educational purposes?

Yes, universities and museums have built on Scavenger to increase engagement and create customized experiences for visitors. It can also be used to incentivize attending classes or exploring new areas on campus.

Q: Is Scavenger popular among all age groups?

Scavenger has a wide demographic of players, but the core demographic tends to be ages 17-34. However, there are also younger and older players depending on the location and the types of challenges available.

Q: Can Scavenger be used for dating or socialization purposes?

While Scavenger is not specifically built for dating, some creative users have created challenges for date nights or exploring new places with their partners. It can be a fun and unique way to enhance the dating experience.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Seth Pread founded Scavenger while he was a freshman at Princeton and pitched it to the business plan competition, winning and dropping out of school to focus on the company.

• Scavenger is a mobile game that adds a game layer on top of the real world, allowing players to complete challenges at different locations.

• The game has attracted over 600,000 players and 1,000 businesses that build custom challenges for users to complete at their locations.