Quick Pitch: Introvio looks to clean up contact cultivation

Networking, if you ask Mike Templeton, is a dirty word. “For me it generally means standing in a room full of crowded people, blindly introducing myself and my line of work to utter strangers,” Templeton, the founder of Introvio, said of networking in a recent blog post. “There are no warnings about people you should…

Networking, if you ask Mike Templeton, is a dirty word.

“For me it generally means standing in a room full of crowded people, blindly introducing myself and my line of work to utter strangers,” Templeton, the founder of Introvio, said of networking in a recent blog post. “There are no warnings about people you should avoid, nor are there signals to point out the best people to meet.”

But with Introvio, Templeton hopes to clean up the process of cultivating contacts. Introvio, which introduced itself to the world in July, is a web-based introduction platform that connects people by way of personal endoresements.

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Introvio is one of seven entries in the Dream Big Des Moines contest, which seeks the top tech-based business ideas in central Iowa. The top vote-getter in an online poll of those seven entries wins a $5,000 prize and a spot in the statewide Dream Big Grow Here contest, which has a $10,000 prize. Votes for Dream Big Des Moines can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 31 at Dream Big Des Moines’ polling page

Introvio takes users’ networking needs and publishes them to other users, helping generate a list of people capable of assisting the user in efficiently making a useful contact. Templeton says Introvio will stand in contrast to other networks, which he says are bloated and have “just become collections of connections” without much use for achieving specific networking aims.

“You’ve got all these people that are able to see your request,” Templeton said, “and hopefully (that) makes it easier for that request to land in front of the right person who can actually help you and is the best person to respond.”

Since Introvio’s formal introduction, Templeton has been soliciting feedback from potential users to help determine the direction of his platform. He says it’s unearthed useful information: 98 percent of repondents said they would facilitate an introduction, and 92 percent responded “yes” or “maybe” to the question of whether they’d use an introduction service.

“That tells me that the concept is viable, though a lot of it will come down to execution in order to sway those maybes,” Templeton said. “I’ll continue to monitor for additional responses and look at ways to directly poll the audience.”

So Templeton pushes on, trying to get Introvio in front of as many people — and potential sources of constructive feedback — as possible. 

“What I’m looking for right now is more survey responses, as well as the opportunity to talk with folks who have an interest in what’s being built,” Templeton said in an email. “I’d really like to identify around 5-7 core users that could serve as the initial sounding board for Introvio’s early developments.”

Note: Silicon Prairie News is a media sponsor of Dream Big Des Moines

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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