The Pitch is a Milwaukee Business Journal and Wisconsin Inno series that gives a snapshot of a local startup. The Business Journal doesn’t endorse companies featured in The Pitch, nor is this an invitation to invest. To suggest a startup for possible future features, email tnykiel@bizjournals.com.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic sent the world into a year of near social isolation, Jeremy Fojut became interested in figuring out how to help people form closer friendships. As the co-founder of NEWaukee, which is known for hosting community events in Milwaukee, Fojut learned that events alone weren't the answer.
"I saw you can’t actually create that connection through events," Fojut said. "It's too random and too by chance."
After diving into psychological research about friendship and personalities, Fojut teamed up with three other co-founders to create Like|Minded, a platform that uses a personality assessment to match individuals within an organization to help them form meaningful connections and increase their engagement within their company, membership association or other organization.
Like|Minded's algorithm is based on HEXACO, a personality inventory that assesses a person's honesty, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openess. It also considers a user's life stage, life experiences, intent, interests and growth mindset, Fojut said.
The startup has a minimum viable product and is piloting the platform with paying customers including The University Club, NEWaukee, WorkAround and NAIOP Wisconsin, a commercial real estate development association, Fojut said. It's seeking additional organizations to participate in the pilot.
The Like|Minded team is talking to investors in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Fojut said. It would use the funding to grow its team and build out new features that early customers are suggesting.
Fojut's co-founders are Benjamin Jaurez, who also founded Cream City Coders and Latinos in Tech; Vinny Moloney, an angel investor and serial entrepreneur; and Serene Mireles, who also co-founded MB Collab and is a senior user experience designer at GE Healthcare.
The product: A business-to-business software platform that aims to help organizations engage their employees, members or customers by connecting individuals within the organization. It also allows community managers to leverage data to gain insights about their communities.
How it makes money: Customers pay a per-person fee.
Size of the market: The total addressable market is more than $100 billion, according to Like|Minded, including the markets for employee engagement membership organizations, student engagement and independent senior living.
Competition: Like|Minded said its most direct competitors are its primary customers, which are community managers at various organizations. It said the Like|Minded platform has similarities to matchmaking applications such as Bumble, community management platforms such as Meetup and personality tests such as Myers Briggs.
Competitive advantage: Like|Minded said its main advantages are its team and the science behind its platform. The company is working with experts in psychology research to develop an algorithm and said that in its tests, more than 98% of people who have met after being matched with someone on Like|Minded say they are extremely likely to meet again.
Business it could disrupt: Like|Minded said it stands to revolutionize the way that employees, community members and customers engage with the companies and organizations they comprise.
Founders: Jeremy Fojut, Benjamin Jaurez, Vinny Moloney, Serene Mireles
Advisers: Galen Buckwalter, the chief science officer behind the eHarmony algorithm; Tracy Brower, author of "The Secrets to Happiness at Work"
Investors: Self-funded
Capital raised: $0
Capital sought: $1.2 million
Ideal exit: The company said it's currently more focused on execution but that a possible future exit could be an acquisition by an enterprise-level employee management platform such as ADP.
AT A GLANCE
Company name: Like|Minded
Headquarters: 735 N. Water St., 501, Milwaukee
Year founded: 2021
CEO: Jeremy Fojut
Employees: 6
Website: www.likeminded.ai
