🦄 Unicorner Startup of the Week:

Stemmy

✍️ Notes from the Editors

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The reality of any new product is that drop-off is real. So many companies build an incredible growth strategy only to have users leave within a few days of signing up.

Yet an aspect that ends up neglected in the product-building journey is often the onboarding experience. It’s a great onboarding that can make or break user retention. Stemmy is exploring an approach that could change what founders have to focus on—and alleviate drop-off concerns.

- Ethan and Arek 🦄

Gamify website onboarding

Stemmy is a San Francisco-based software company that transforms a website’s onboarding process into a game. It aims to boost conversions for customers by initiating a more interactive user experience. Prospective clients are given a choice from dozens of templates for a gamification model that will fit their needs, which include loyalty programs, gamified coupons, and chatbots.

🔗 Check it out: stemmy.io

💰 Business Model

Stemmy sells to platforms, employing a monthly pricing model with multiple tiers. The pricing starts at $199 per month, but Stemmy is also open to working with enterprises directly to offer a more personally catered plan.

📈 Traction and Fundraising

• Raised a Pre-Seed mostly from angels and currently raising a seed round

• Currently working on loyalty point-related gamification integration with some NFL teams, as well as a separate project with Telegram

👫 Founders

• Khurram Pirov, CEO: Currently Founder @ XReady Lab; Previously Computer Vision Researcher @ Oz Forensics, Data Science Masters @ Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Engineering/Applied Physics BS @ Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

• Pavel Krasnikov, Game Designer: Currently Chief Product Officer @ Destiny.games; Previously Crypto Advisor @ Contrast Games, Crypto Advisor @ IThub games

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🔮 Our Analysis

Although Stemmy initially targeted Web3 clients with its service offerings, it has made a pivot that now sees the company building gamification onboarding services and engagement tools for all consumer-facing platforms. Given that increasing customer engagement and retention is one of the most critical steps in keeping users once they have been acquired, this pivot is one that puts Stemmy in a larger target market. Moreover, Stemmy knows strengthening customer engagement is a pipeline to increasing conversion rates, as tested by the company. Any B2C company attempting to achieve this goal on its own quickly learns what a considerable portion of its budget it takes, and tends to allocate its resources in other avenues. 

Stemmy has bold ambitions for the future. In addition to its large variety of applications, it’s going wider with integrations like one with Shopify. It has the reach to learn what features users love quickly, which means a better likelihood of finding product-market fit. And for an early company, this is critical. With a large number of product applications and a compelling offering, Stemmy has the potential to capture a large market under its wing.

Written by Manvel Muradyan

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