After two years of non-stop work, Dane and Kinsey Vosler are using one of the world's largest tech conferences as a launchpad for their software startup Dream Leader.
The Rock Hill, S.C.-based couple founded Dream Leader, a knowledge management platform, in 2018 after Dane Vosler's years working in software consulting led to a desire to branch out on his own.
Knowledge management is how organizations compile things like company content, files, folder structures, shareable links, team notes, memos, videos and presentations. Vosler said Dream Leader's platform makes it easy for a company to compile all of those things in one place. He said it works similarly to project management platform Trello.
Pre-Covid, Vosler said he believed the platform was nearly ready for launch, but as the pandemic slowed down the roll out, he realized more work was needed to ensure Dream Leaders hit the mark.
"We had, what I thought was definitely an alpha product, but no one could really see it," he said. "I had to have a 'come to Jesus' moment with myself where I said, 'This is too niche, and we're not going to make any traction if we don't go broader.'"
The five-person team decided to participate in Disrupt 2020, an annual global conference hosted by TechCrunch that showcases startups and new technologies. This year's conference was virtual for the first time and was held this week. During the conference, Vosler said Dream Leader had virtual setup in "Startup Alley," which allowed the team to interact with other attendees.
"We grew the vision into what we have today, a project space. With Covid, we decided we could either die or go hard. Right here at Disrupt is our finish line to a release," he said. "There is this great networking opportunity there and great exposure. Not only do we get our name out, but it's a chance to find people who are hungry, as well as finding some possible investment opportunities."
Vosler said he and Kinsey bootstrapped about $50,000 to build out the current beta version of the platform and are looking toward their first round of outside funding.
"There are still some kinks and things we are working out, but over the next three or four months we'll release it for public signup," he said.
Vosler said the platform is geared primarily toward those working in product or software building or client services teams. But the couple have have a secondary plan for Dream Leader, eventually hoping to tailor its offerings to fit the needs of parents of children who are homeschooled or in virtual classrooms.
"We discovered that the software can be used for home school [parents] because it also feels a little bit like a planner where you can put those shared documents, videos and web shares all in one spot," he said. "[Kinsey] is in this massive network of parents... and we feel that the more she does with the software, the more we can help show its value to homeschool parents."
