Patrick Baynes spent six months looking for his next venture.
The former PeopleLinx exec was offered the CEO role at a dozen startups, local and elsewhere, he told us. For a time, it looked like he was going to cofound a startup with his friend and Philly Mag publisher David Lipson, but he eventually walked away from that project.
The startup he finally chose? One that automates social media marketing for bars and restaurants. It’s an idea he had a few years back, when he was working as a bartender. It’s called GameTimeUpdates.
Baynes declined to share too many details, but the software-as-a-service outfit appears to help bars turn sports fans into customers via social media. He said the company already has a dozen paying customers around the region and he plans on self-funding the company for as long as he can.
“I want to get as much traction as possible with as much runway as I can afford,” he said in a phone interview this week.
His cofounder is Michael Coupe, his best friend from his undergrad days at upstate New York’s Alfred University. He convinced Coupe, who’s worked in both marketing and sports medicine, to move to Philadelphia from San Francisco. The software was built by developer Will Dyson, who’s GameTimeUpdates’ acting CTO.
Baynes is currently sharing an office with Center City social network VUID, where Baynes is helping out as part-time COO.
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