Are you a person who enjoys mixing and mingling with new people at social events? Well if the answer is yes, then you need Kompass Events in your life. Kompass is an event sharing startup that allows users to discover and share events in their favorite cities. The tech company was created by Atlanta resident Keith Wilson. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Mississippi and his MBA at Clark Atlanta University. Here, Wilson shares his story of breaking into the tech industry.
What does your company do?
My mobile app Kompass Events allows people to share, discover and explore events in their favorite cities. We utilize heat map technology to give users a true pulse of the social scene around them.
When did you realize you wanted to dive into the tech industry?
Since grad school, I always had a passion to start my own company. What type of company was always the question. It wasn’t until I noticed there was no real solution to the event discovery problem that I decided that I wanted to get into tech.
Where did the inspiration for your startup come from?
When my brother and I were living in Detroit, we didn’t know that many people. Because of this, we had a hard time finding things to do that went beyond the typical tourist attractions. This was mainly because we just weren’t plugged in. This problem was multiplied when I started living and working in Shanghai. My brother and I knew we couldn’t be the only people that had this problem. So, we decided to come up with a solution.
Where is your startup based, and is it meant to effect that specific community or meant to be effective abroad?
We are based in Atlanta. We have events in our database from all over the world. Most of our activity in the app has come from Atlanta, New York, Miami, LA and other tourist destinations. Just recently, we saw a ton of activity in London during the royal wedding. People want things to do and we give it to them no matter where they are.
How do you feel about the risk in taking chances and making mistakes?
I believe that is just part of the process of becoming of being an entrepreneur. Build. Learn. Adapt. THat has been our approach to developing Kompass Events. The most important part of that process is the learning that comes from the mistakes that you make in order to adapt your product to the needs of the market.
What is the goal of your company?
Our goal is to eradicate the “fear of missing out” by giving people a platform to not only see and share what’s going on around them but also give them real-time insight into whether an event is hot or not. We do this by giving users insight into the experiences of those events through the eyes of other users.
What role did schooling play in your realizing that you wanted to start this company?
During my time as a student at Clark Atlanta University, my professors in the MBA program always preached to my class the importance of starting our own businesses. I was totally content working in corporate until I realized that all the work and effort I was putting in to make just a “good living” could be better utilized to make a real impact for me, my family, and my community.
Does your company use any social media platforms to express and advertise itself?
We do. Follow @kompass_mapp on both IG and Twitter and Kompass Social Event Sharing on Facebook. Kompass Events is also available in both the app store and the google play store.
