Area served Worldwide Products ReSolve Social Founded 2012 | Industry Internet Website www.gripeo.com | |
Type of site Social media managementSocial analyticsSocial CRMSocial media measurement Founder(s) Michael KlanacMark TaylorNicholas CampanileSteve MakulaJim ProulxRichard Panek | ||
GripeO is an online complaint portal based in Buffalo, New York which allows consumer users to submit feedback for businesses. Consumer feedback, called "gripes" in the system, can be submitted via the GripeO website, iOS app, or Android app. That feedback is then delivered to the business via social media, primarily through Twitter
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GripeO was founded in 2012. In 2015 GripeO launched ReSolve Social, a suite of SaaS tools to help businesses leverage the feedback that GripeO aggregates.
Origins (2012)
The idea for a consumer facing customer service portal was initially created by GripeO co-founder Michael Klanac Jr., after a personal experience with a knife that broke while cutting a pizza. Co-founders Nicholas Campanile and Mark Taylor joined the company to assist with building a minimum viable product, later three other technical co-founders joined to take the product to completion.
BETA and Z80 Labs (2013-2014)
During much of 2013 the company ran various beta programs and surveys to assess user feedback on a potential GripeO system, as well as completed research to justify continued development. One of the key findings that drove progress was White House Office of Consumer Affairs statistic that stated for "For every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent."
By 2014 a working system was stabilized as the consumer facing platform was launched. During the second half of the year the company began raising a financing round to support the growth of the system. GripeO developed a relationship Z80 Labs Technology Incubator, co-managed by venture capitalists Jordan Levy and Ron Schreiber. In December 2014 GripeO closed a $200,000 Angel investor round, led by Z80 Labs, with additional contributions from private Angel investors
Seed Sumo and ReSolve Social (2014 - present)
GripeO was 1 of 7 out of 1200+ applicants accepted into the 3 month Seed Sumo Technology Accelerator in Bryan, Texas, located on site at the Cellucor Inc. headquarters. In addition to another $50,000 in financing, GripeO received guidance from a team of start up mentors. Through the course of the program the team build and launched ReSolve Social, a Social Customer Care and Online Review aggregator platform, powered by the core GripeO system.