Martika Jones and her husband, George, have always been creative people, with Martika playing trombone in the orchestra and George being an artist.
The duo founded a creative agency but wanted to take it one step further when it came to making impactful impressions.
“We’re all about creative freedom, so we decided to bring in the product to bring out their personality,” Martika said. “Because it is a digital first impression.”
The product, better known as BŪP (pronounced “boop”), offers a software and hardware solution to replace traditional business cards. Users can choose between a wristband, tag or flat paper-type product, which can then be tapped against a cell phone and take someone directly to the user’s landing page.
There’s also the ability to design each page to offer all the user’s information, ranging from an Instagram page to Calendly.
“We’re always at events, everyone has cards, but most are in the trash at weeks’ end because they didn’t meet your need for service at the time,” Martika said. “This gives a different experience where someone’s excited to put your info in their phone — and that’s a game changer.”
The company launched in June of last year after Martika and George shut down their previous company, Collag3 — which offered a spin on the link in the bio information pipeline — due to creative differences with their CTO.
“It was incredibly painful, but we wanted to have creative freedom back, and we wanted to make the product better,” Martika said.
The company is now fully launched and focused on both the B2C and B2B verticals, working with consumers and businesses — mainly in the real estate and medical industry, as of now.
The Joneses, along with their third co-founder, Andrew Ladd, plan to expand to the pet industry, where BŪP can be used in addition to a microchip. There is also potential for launching medical bracelets.
“My goal is to revolutionize the way the world communicates,” Martika said. “That’s my biggest thing because there are so many more efficient ways to do it.”
In addition to being eco-friendly by foregoing paper cards, for every BŪP purchase, some of the proceeds go toward planting trees.
“It’s just adding to the eco-friendly-ness,” she said. “There’s a lot of trees being cut down, so it’s definitely big for us.”
BŪP is entirely bootstrapped, with Martika eyeing a pre-seed round in the next six months. She is a graduate of the University of Tampa entrepreneur program and was also a participant in its accelerator program.
“That was one of the things we noticed when we got to Tampa, that it was tech hub and be a great place for business,” said Martika, who moved from Mississippi with her husband. “And when I got here, felt the energy. And then, being in the University of Tampa program, we felt the love, the energy and support — we felt in the right place.”
