Tech entrepreneur in deal with Skinny
A WELLINGTON entrepreneur has teamed up with mobile company Skinny Mobile to launch a new Android app that gives users free data or minutes.
In exchange, Skinny Collect, which launched yesterday, will host ads and personalised content on users’ lock screens.
The concept came from entrepreneur Milan Reinartz, who created an app called Postr last year, which paid people small amounts of money for ads to be displayed on their mobile phone lock screens.
Reinartz, 27, first came to New Zealand for a student exchange when he was 15 and was so enamoured with the Kiwi lifestyle that he left his homeland of Germany when he was 16.
He studied design at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, landed his first job at Saatchi & Saatchi and learnt crucial lessons from watching the progress of other companies through his involvement with Lightning Lab and Creative HQ.
Inspired by an American app called Locket, Reinartz used $80,000 raised from his own savings and from friends and family to build Postr.
It gained popularity quickly and had 15,000 users until a month ago, when Reinartz appointed a board of directors and an advisory board, providing the investment needed to help take the company to its next step.
‘‘We’ve had more than 7000 installs in the last four weeks because now we have the financial backing to be able to grow much faster,’’ Reinartz said.
The Postr team is now exploring partnerships in Australia, with a plan to launch there next year and in Asia soon after that.
‘‘It’s a fast-paced industry and to keep up you have to move quick. If you don’t move quick, you die,’’ Reinartz said.
Using connections from his head of partnerships, Roger Shakes, gave Reinartz a way in to talks with Skinny Mobile representatives, and 31⁄2 -months later, Skinny Collect was ready to launch.
‘‘We’re all consuming content on mobile now and, for us, it’s a real opportunity to create some value for people. That’s the future of our business,’’ he said.
Skinny Mobile channel product manager Fleur Picot said the Postr app idea appealed because it was already established, was proven to be popular and it fit well with Skinny’s customers.
‘‘It’s new. It’s a novel concept, being paid to watch advertising. I myself downloaded the Postr app and already earned $3 this month,’’ she said.