A new online marketplace is looking to combine the digital tools people use to connect, helping experts and creators monetize their time and knowledge.
Surje, a Dallas-based video chat and event startup, launched last month with the mission of connecting audiences to creators of many types and sizes, from influencers and athletes with followings in the thousands to business leaders and industry professionals who may only have a few hundred.
“We're combining the best parts of LinkedIn, with Zoom, with Venmo, with Calendly. We're combining different features of all those different platforms,” said Wirt Dunbar, Surje co-founder. “I think everyone should be given the option to at least say what their time is worth.”
Dunbar said the three words he most often uses to describe Surje are “connect, expand and monetize.” And the concept behind the platform is straightforward.
Creators make a profile on the Surje platform, listing their areas of expertise and topics they are willing to educate on and talk about. After that, they name the price they think their time is worth. Other users are able to search profiles and connect with creators in a one-on-one or group setting.
For example, Dunbar’s profile on the platform allows a user to connect and chat about financial due diligence – something he knows from his time as an analyst of transaction services for Houlihan Lokey – for $5 per 20 minutes.
Since launching about three weeks ago, Dunbar said about 200 creators have joined the platform. Currently, he said the main users connecting with creators on the platform are college students seeking career advice or expanding their professional networks.
“The whole cold connecting conversation is just so inefficient,” Dunbar said. “(Average creators) out there know a lot, but they don't have a huge audience. If a platform could connect them with people interested in their expertise areas, that’s a huge value-add for consumers and for the creators.”
The idea behind Surje came from Dunbar’s work in consulting, when he began receiving a deluge of LinkedIn messages from students looking for advice or to connect. So many, to the point where there were too many to respond to in his free time. He attributed the surge in messages and the rise of the creator economy as ways that people have found to communicate digitally during the pandemic.
Bootstrapped so far, Surje’s three-person team includes co-founder Cale Curtin, a former M&A and private equity associate at Kirkland & Ellis, and Tech Lead Lee Meena, a technology program analyst at Bank of America.
Currently, Surje is focused on growing its audience base through initiatives like working with college campus ambassador programs. Dunbar said that the company will likely be raising a seed round in the first half of next year, though he declined to say how much the company would be looking to raise. If successful, Surje plans on using the capital to increase its marketing and brand awareness.
“We're expanding our networks, our knowledge bases, and we're also monetizing our creators,” Dunbar said. “This is a hot economy, and I think that's kind of the way the world is turning. Someone out there wants to learn about commercial real estate, about accounting or journalism. People will buy you dinner to talk to you about it.”
