SocialLadder: consumer engagement startup wins Phorum’s Demo Pit

SocialLadder, a mobile consumer engagement  startup, won the top startup award at PACT’s Phorum conference earlier this month.

Run by Raavi Iqbal and Alana Bly, the Rittenhouse Square startup focuses on mobile customer engagement. Bly, who used to work as an event producer for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Iqbal, the former VP of Product Development for King of Prussia-based software company ObjectBuilders, quit their jobs to run SocialLadder full time about three months ago, Bly said.

SocialLadder offers a white-label mobile app option for companies and a consumer-facing mobile app that allows small- to medium-sized businesses to offer deals to influential users. The mobile app has seen more than 3,000 downloads, Bly said. SocialLadder curates the offers that are featured on the app and they include a free dinner for two at buzzy Old City restaurant High Street on Market and $30 to spend at the Franklin Flea Market. Businesses pay a $20 monthly subscription fee to be featured on the app, among other benefits.

The company plans to launch their first white-label app in the next few months, Bly said.

SocialLadder pitched at Philly Tech Meetup in the summer of 2012.

Phorum’s Demo Pit contest was judged by:

• Bob Moul, CEO of Artisan Mobile
• Scott Kinka, Chief Technology Officer of EvolveIP
• Nate Lentz, Managing Partner of Osage Venture Partners.

The other DemoPit startups included (asterisk denotes that it was a finalist):

• BuyerMLS* — a Center City company that offers a real estate marketplace
• Canvas* — a Reston, Va. startup that helps businesses go paperless. Demo Pit judge Nate Lentz is on the board of Canvas.
• CLUTCH — a shopping mobile app based in Ambler
• Grassroots Unwired — a mobile campaigning startup based in Venturef0rth
• RJMetrics* — a Center City ecommerce analytics company
• tapCLIQ — a mobile customer engagement startup that participated in the Project Liberty Digital Incubator
• Yorn — a real-time feedback company based in Center City

See coverage in the Inquirer.