Back in 2019, Kissimmee-based Yac co-founders Hunter McKinley and Jordan Walker were in San Francisco pitching to investors, and it didn’t go well. If fact, it went so poorly, the two felt decimated. As they left, McKinley looked at Walker and said, “Damn, I wish we had recorded that.”
The concept hatched an idea and the duo spent their flight home to Orlando developing the first version of BackTrack, and Version 2.0 — the market-ready version — was released a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s what it does: You’ve just concluded a meeting or sat through a class lecture or study session, and you wish you had recorded it. With BackTrack running on your iPhone or Mac laptop — not prompted, but simply running — that meeting or class was captured to your local device. It can record on Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack Huddles, phone calls or in person. You can tell BackTrack to save that recording, otherwise it will be deleted automatically in one to five hours, depending on settings you’ve chosen.
Walker said the app is designed for privacy, which is why it records to local devices instead of the cloud. It automatically dumps unsaved recordings so device storage space doesn’t get used up.
iPhone version launches with giveaway
An iPhone version of the application was dropped on Aug. 28, and the company kicked off a Taylor Swift concert ticket sweepstakes the same day. Users can rack up raffle points by engaging with BackTrack on Instagram, but the most points come with downloading the app. A U.S. winner will be chosen randomly after Sept. 30 when the giveaway ends.
“We were talking to a student and he said his professor was speaking a million miles an hour, and nobody could understand the lecture. So, he BackTracked it and shared it with the class. He was the hero of his classroom,” said Walker. “[Also,] since we’ve noticed that the app is especially popular with students, we wanted to do something that would get their attention. The [Taylor Swift] Eras Tour has been a phenomenon, so we think the possibility of winning two tickets will attract downloads.”
Originally launched for computers only, 2.0 was a breakout success on Product Hunt, a major platform for tech launches. “One of our investors, Anthony Pompliano, posted it on Product Hunt, and it was in the top five that day,” said Walker.
BackTrack's desktop version also made No. 1 in downloads in the utilities category in 10 countries, including France, Egypt and Canada.
Walker said the global response to the product isn't surprising, because the need is there.
“Fifty million meetings that happen a day, 35 million of those are ad hoc, so that means they're unplanned. The ad hoc meetings are often the ones that get away, that you wish you had recorded. With BackTrack, you can do that without thinking ahead,” he said.
Tracking campaign success
Sometimes businesses run promotions and forget to collect data that will help them determine their return on investment. Not so in this case. Using a digital form, Yac is collecting information from each person who enters so it can tie entries to downloads. The company has not set a specific goal for number of downloads.
Yac made another strategic move: It selected Instagram as the primary portal for the giveaway, given that users in the target audience — students — tend to be on Instagram.
App store optimization (ASO) is key to the early and long-term success of a mobile app, according to Data.ai, an app analytics data site. Keywording, advertising and obtaining reviews are some ASO activities. So is the Taylor Swift concert ticket giveaway, in this case.
It’s important to get in front of the right audiences and increasing “exposure for your mobile presence helps increase app downloads, boost store rankings and ultimately drive revenue for your business,” according to a recent guide published on the site. In promoting an appealing giveaway on Instagram, Yac is connecting directly with the audience it wants.
Yac, the company’s namesake and first product, is a voice collaboration tool that allows for asynchronous voice messaging for remote work teams. The app lets team members clearly communicate what they need to their colleagues with voice and video messaging, eliminating the need to wait for a direct live connection. In other words, it allows for fewer meetings. Yac originally was created by co-founder Justin Mitchell’s software development firm SoFriendly as part of a competition. The company found favor with investors, and to date has raised $11 million, said Walker.
