Last Updated on April 2, 2016 by Tim
Let’s meet Startup, CoinTent:
Website: https://cointent.com/
In a few sentences, tell us what your start-up is all about!:
Large content sites and publishers are struggling to monetize content online. Consumers do not want to subscribe to every site they visit to access quality content. CoinTent is a digital wallet and subscription service that enables you to purchase quality content (articles, videos, etc.) for micropayments (below $1.00) across sites with one account and one click.
When was your startup founded? And what stage is your startup currently at?:
We were founded in October 2013. We recently closed $1 million in funding in April 2015.
Who are your competitors? And what is your start-up’s competitive advantage over them?
There are other paywall options available. However, CoinTent is unique because, we allow content producers to decide between selling subscriptions or micropayments for individual pieces of content. This allows content publishers to find the balance between maintaining their audience following and monetizing their online content.
Let us know a bit about your team, who are the key team members and what is their role?:
- Bradley Ross – CEO and Cofounder
- Kendra Gibbons – Director of Engineering and Cofounder
- Bigi Lui – CTO and Cofounder
- Our company was founded by three former employees of Zynga, the digital gaming company responsible for Mafia Wars and FarmVille.
If applicable, what is your growth like? And what milestones has your startup achieved so far?:
We are in talks with a number of top US newspapers and magazines about using our platform for micropayments to sell individual stories on their websites. We hope to help news organizations generate additional revenue from readers who might not be willing to pay a full subscription – and convert some of those who buy single articles into subscribers.
Why did you choose this particular idea and concept to build your start-up on?:
Ross Bradley came up with the idea while working in the social gaming space. He saw how It’s an obvious move to want to bring the paid-content model to publishers, so you have to wonder why no one else is doing it. At least one reason is because micropayments are traditionally not cost effective. Credit card companies charge big processing fees, making a $0.50 charge more trouble than it’s worth. But CoinTent sets users up with a digital wallet where they can load up cash to spend specifically on articles as they browse content. That way, the company is paying credit card fees on larger sums.
Do you have any customer feedback on your product and/or service that you could share?:
“In starting out Fantasy Golf Insider, we ran into some issues in using PayPal and grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of support. We switched to CoinTent because we needed a platform geared towards attracting users by offering smaller samples of our site and allowing for users to test out our product. We give our strongest recommendation to the CoinTent Team”
Zach Turcotte, Co-Owner , Fantasy Golf Insiders
How big do you think you can get? Why? And how you are planning to achieve your goals?:
Our goal is to transform the way publicists charge for their online content through a paywall solution that works for readers and publishers.
Are you looking for funding or are you open to partnership opportunities, and if so, what’s the best way for people to get in contact with you?:
We are looking for funding and partnerships with publishers so our digital wallet can become the default way readers buy articles and subscriptions on the internet.
Finally, do you have any other comments or information about your product that you would like to add?:
No but please feel free to contact us to find out any other information.
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