This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the beautiful legacy theater in Alpharetta, Georgia, for code launch Atlanta, 2021. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Now here’s your host.
Stone Payton: [00:00:24] And we are back with code launch Atlanta twenty twenty one broadcasting live Lee Kantor Stone Payton here with you with the Business RadioX Network. Next up on today’s show, please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with hit snag dot com. Mr. Aiden Pratt. Welcome to the show, man. Glad to be
Aidan Pratt: [00:00:43] Here.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:44] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Hit Snag.
Aidan Pratt: [00:00:47] So hit snag basically lets your productivity tools not be a drag. So all you need. Well, you use email a lot, right? Like you’re always in and out. So a lot of people have to deal with, you know, productivity tools such as Knowshon, Trello or Google Docs. And they’re doing with sport tickets, action items that just pop up in their email. And we just let you put that data where it needs to be for like a team or, you know, you need to go back to it later and get through all these tattoos.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:12] So what was the genesis of the idea?
Aidan Pratt: [00:01:15] I just do my email myself a lot.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:18] So you know yourself a lot. And you’re like, I wish this would just go in there, just like just go to
Aidan Pratt: [00:01:23] The right spot.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:24] So then you created a code that does that automatically? That was. Yes, sir. And then are you the coder or do you have a tech person on the team?
Aidan Pratt: [00:01:35] So there were originally two founders, and now he’s going to Stanford, but now manning the project. So I was originally CEO and I still am CEO.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:42] So now what stage are you at? Is this thing out there in the wild or are you still testing it?
Aidan Pratt: [00:01:48] So it’s actually out there in the world, and you can use it today. It’s free at his noncom. And we have a thousand people using it as we speak. I think it’s about thirteen hundred.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:56] Now, what’s the monetization behind it?
Aidan Pratt: [00:01:59] So currently we have a couple of paid users and we’re trying to increase engagement and see what our free users like the most and then eventually monetize those features by the end of the year.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:07] Now, is this the first app you’ve ever created?
Aidan Pratt: [00:02:11] No, not by a long shot. I’ve been doing apps since I was nine. I was I was crazy addicted to this stuff.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:16] So then how did you kind of decide when to bail on one and move on to the next one?
Aidan Pratt: [00:02:22] So it really depended on how much I learned. So my first company, I slowly realized it wasn’t solving a market need. Then the second one, I was like, the monetization problem. You know, like all of these things kind of confusing. And then this one, it just depends on how much I learn and like the viability. So say I had a Chrome extension, right. There is one called Pop Hertel that helps you deal with, you know, like all of these pop ups that happened. It was basically a privacy based version of it. There was one called Poper Blocker that really took data from users, like they took keystrokes. So it’s very, very confusing to navigate that space. And some users didn’t know that their data was compromised in that process. So Popaditch was to solve that. Eventually, I decided to move on to hit a snag, because it seemed like it had a greater market opportunity.
Lee Kantor: [00:03:04] So now everything you’re doing is, is this to like find the, you know, the lottery ticket winner that this makes you millions of dollars?
Aidan Pratt: [00:03:12] I know it’s really to be useful to people. So I like being useful. I really, really like making things people want. Ever since a little kid, I’ve just built things that like help solve the problems that I had myself. So I’m really, really looking into building something that can go big, but also just being able to go towards something that drives like a product market fit.
Lee Kantor: [00:03:31] So now, when you were deciding where to go to school, why did you pick Georgia Tech?
Aidan Pratt: [00:03:36] Oh, it was my first choice, like hands down. So I grew up with tech. I’ve ever apparently one of my friends hit me up and asked if I got in from like, you know, like fourth grade. And I’m like, wow, I really plan back then to now. I did not realize that. So it was a stressful senior year. But honestly, I love this place for the startup energy. You know, Chris Clough’s, he’s a legend. All these startups like Staud Gimme Vending, like all of these places, like I’ve met some of these founders and they are like, it’s exactly where I want to be. Like startups really help me explore every facet of like the way things work. And that’s just how I drive my knowledge.
Lee Kantor: [00:04:11] So now any advice for young people out there who maybe they thought, I’m going to get a real job, but they decided, you know, they are on the fence about entrepreneurship because, you know, it’s an age where you can’t world as an entrepreneur.
Aidan Pratt: [00:04:24] Oh, yeah. So first things first. I would usually just say if you’re in college or you’re young, you have plenty of time. Like usually people are worried about, oh, I got to go get that internship or, oh, I got to go get this specific job. But there was one guy who’s a senior at Tech. Well, I’m literally trying to convince as we speak to start his own startup and come to the fellowship program. I was in this program called the Startup Exchange Fellowship, helped me launch a hit snag almost seven months ago. Very nice people. I was the only high schooler in that program. Me and my co-founder, I was for college, only college students at Georgia Tech. And yeah, I’m just like, let’s test that. I’m just gonna knock on the door, say hi. I knew the guy in charge of a club. I’m like, I love this place. Like and he’s like, I don’t know, man, but go talk to this guy. And then I went to talk to that guy and then I went to another guy. And then somehow here we are and we actually won the program. So for any young founder just thinking, just remember that anything is possible. Like, I know it seems so cliche, but honestly, just do the things you care about and then removed the word can’t from your vocab. And you actually get to where you want to go.
Lee Kantor: [00:05:25] So now what brings you to code launch?
Aidan Pratt: [00:05:27] Honestly, Abass, we just we just got here. So we just got on this bus. I try to convince my roommate. His name is Ahmed Qasab. And I met this legend over here who’s just sent it over there. But yeah, so really just helping other Georgia Tech students find entrepreneurship is a huge thing. And also networking, because, you know, my co-founder just dropped because he’s headed to Stanford from hit snag. So right now I’m just like looking around for, you know, other co-founders, really just getting to know the the ecosystem. A minute tech. I’ve known it for many years, but, you know, I was there on campus for like, you know, like eight years, you know, walking around startups. And they’re like, by the way, do you want to go here for college? And like, heck, yeah. So, you know, now here we are and just chillin here and sitting with you guys.
Lee Kantor: [00:06:12] This is awesome, by the way. So now at code launch, what’s your objective to get the most out of this event?
Aidan Pratt: [00:06:16] Honestly, just look around and have fun. There’s some tech students that I’m with trying to build some friendships and then also look at, you know, the Alpharetta tech scene. You know, a little bit of that. I’ve always been interested. I was actually the youngest member at the Atlantic College for a while. Like, I pitched. And it’s you know, it’s you know, you’ve grown when you look back and cringe at what you’ve done some times, like the first pitch at the Atlantic College really did not know what I was doing. And I was like very quiet about it. My idea is safeguarding it. And I’m like, yeah, no, now let’s fix that and actually like be open, because then no one told me that, like, I need my baby to be bullied, like I need to know, like what’s wrong with it? Is this actually hair on fire problem? So just getting up here, seeing what the tech scene is like, a piercing, like awesome things like what you guys are doing.
Lee Kantor: [00:06:58] So now if somebody wants to learn more about hit snag, what’s the best way?
Aidan Pratt: [00:07:01] Hits NASSCOM. That’s HIIT as an ag NORCOM. Basically, it’s free right now. Feel free to go and just sign up yourselves if you use any of that stuff.
Stone Payton: [00:07:11] Well, thanks for joining us, man. Keep up the good work for us. All right. We’ll be back in a few with code launch Atlanta. Twenty twenty one.
