Nick Wise and Landon Kasey met as mechanical engineering students at the University of Kentucky. During one eight-hour study session at the library, Kasey told Wise about a business he was working on: REACH.
A native of Hardinsburg, Kentucky, Kasey recognized a need for small businesses to have access to influencers in order to harness the power of social media and community connection. In 2018, he set out with a vision to build the world’s first micro- and nano-influencer marketing platform specifically for small businesses, not just Fortune 500 companies.
"Landon was just so passionate about it," Wise said. "By the time fall semester came around, he was more REACH than engineering at that point."
Kasey was working with a software company out of India to build out a minimal viable product, taking calls at 5 a.m. to compensate for the time difference. By the fall of 2019, he was nearly done with the platform and was looking to bring on a local developer to get it into beta testing.
But on Dec. 20, 2019, Kasey passed away unexpectedly, leaving the business he had worked so hard on behind.
That's not where REACH's story ends though, thanks to Kasey's father, Kevin. Just two months after his passing, Kevin reached out to Kasey's friends, trying to piece together the business where he had left off.
The group of friends, alongside Kasey's mother Leslie and brother Kade, got together for dinner in February 2020. Fueled by his late friend's passion for the project, Wise found the entrepreneurial spirit and stepped in to help bring the company to fruition.
"I knew we couldn't let it fall away," he said. "Kevin gave me this opportunity where I can be a part of REACH and really help build it out like Landon wanted and finish his legacy by bringing it to market and getting people to use it. It's really not something I could have passed up even if I wanted to."
There was a bit of a learning curve, however. Wise said he completed his mechanical engineering degree and started with REACH in a full-time capacity in May 2021, but he had no experience in software development or marketing.
"It was a lot of just figuring out who we are, what we are and what kind of service we want to provide," he said. "It was really all in Landon's head of where he wanted to take it, so we had to put the puzzle pieces back together to finish the product."
REACH started working with Louisville-based FocustApps on development last summer, finally launching the platform in January. They declined to disclose revenue so far. But there are currently about a dozen Kentucky businesses hosting campaigns on the platform with roughly 500 influencers on various social media platforms to pick from.
Stephanie Basham, owner of Rooted Joy Meal Prep based in Hardinsburg, attributes part of her business's 648% growth in revenue to REACH's platform.
“As a small business owner in a very rural community, I found it hard to get the word out about my business," she said in a news release. "After signing up with REACH, my business has grown substantially and has continued to do so a year later. I am now serving four surrounding counties and continuing to grow.”
Wise likened REACH's current platform to a dating app for businesses and influencers. It aims to be an easy and cost-effective alternative to other marketing efforts — getting small businesses as close to word-of-mouth advertising as they can get online.
"For example, say a business wants to work with a fitness influencer. They can search an interest category like fitness, wellness, nutrition supplements and it'll pop up people in that category," Wise explained. "Businesses can then filter by age range, location and what kind of platforms the influencers are posting on, like Instagram. Then they can send out a connection request to that influencer to work on a campaign that they have running."
Influencers can search and pick out campaigns they'd like to be a part of, too, as businesses using the platform detail their price per post for each of the campaigns.
Moving forward, Wise said REACH will be looking to add to its team as it continues to scale regionally. Just as MailChimp and Constant Contact revolutionized email marketing for small business owners, REACH hopes to do the same for influencer marketing — making influencer marketing the next do-it-yourself platform for small business owners.
In 2020, Kevin and Leslie Kasey also launched the Live Like Landon Foundation to honor Landon’s legacy through scholarships and grants to "young people who are motivated and dedicated to making the world a better place just like Landon did." Wise said 10% of REACH proceeds go to the Live Like Landon Foundation, which has given out $20,000 in scholarships thus far.
