Posse is an online place where users can build their own ultimate street filled with their favourite stores from anywhere in the world. They then combine their street with the streets of their friends to build an awesome town filled with peer generated recommendations.
It seems like the popular computer game of SIMS, but it’s with real stores and communicating with real people. Posse.com has already had an interesting journey.
Founder & CEO Rebekah Campbell previously worked in the music biz, promoting concerts and tours when she thought up the original idea of Posse.
Ryan: Why did you begin Posse, and what did it originally set out to achieve?
Rebekah: I experienced problems promoting a tour for Evermore. Tickets weren’t selling so I asked fans on our database to help promote the gig. It was hugely successful so I built an online platform to do the same thing. We tested it on tours for Evermore and Lisa Mitchell and it worked really well so I raised some money, built a team and went for it.
Rebekah and her team sold over $2 million worth of tickets but it wasn’t easy. The heavy weights of ticketing – Ticketmaster and Ticketek – have strict, exclusive rights deals with concert venues making it tricky to new entrants to the market.
Rebekah told BRW Magazine earlier this year, “If you really wanted to do it properly you had to be integrated with everybody.” Moving global would also cause more problems and be excruciatingly time consuming so she took a risk, pivoting Posse.com to its current form.
Where do you hope Posse will be in 5 years?
We hope Posse will be a massive global brand with over 10 million users.
We want to help people get search results relevant to the kind of places they’re looking for. That helps retailers recognise and reward customers who support them. We want Posse.com to be a social media platform that makes the real world better.
How do you balance your time between your business and your life?
I exercise a lot, which I think helps reduce stress. I’m also on the board of directors for Campaign Action and Chapel By The Sea in Bondi which my local church. They run the Bondi homeless shelter, Women’s Refuge, kindergartens and a number of other community initiatives. I’m also on the advisory boards of Global Poverty Project and The Oaktree Foundation.
Being the founder and CEO of a start-up must be time consuming, I thought doing that would mean you’re busy enough without other projects?
I can’t help it but I’m pretty addicted to work so I balance that out by working on other projects that I really care about to give me some balance and perspective. I also have a small group of really close friends who are scattered around the world that I try to see as much as possible – they are are a great source of inspiration and energy.
Even if you don’t get much spare time, when you do, what do you do?
Some weeks I look back at the week and realise I didn’t have any time to spare at all! Although sometimes on Saturday sometimes I just crash on the couch, put The West Wing on and sleep all day.
What do you do on a ‘normal’ working day.
There’s no such thing as a normal day. I get up at around 6, go out running or to yoga, get to the office at 9, meet with the team at 9.15, then I’m usually either in the office or out at an event ‘til around 9 at night.
Who are your role models in life, and in business?
I’m inspired by Steve Jobs and also imaginative authors like Roald Dahl and
Lewis Carroll. So in terms of my product, my dream is for Posse to capture the imagination and delightful magic of these authors and the slick and beautiful design of Steve Jobs.
In terms of leadership, I’m a huge fan of Robert Kennedy and I carry a book of his quotes and vision with me everywhere. In life, I’d love to be an entrepreneur who does something great so I’m very inspired by Bill Gates, Chris Anderson (TED) and Ted Turner (CNN).
What do you say to other Aussie’s considering going out on their own, and starting their own business?
Just start! Don’t spend ages reading books, studying or going to conferences. Be prepared to make mistakes but just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Consider how scary it would be looking back at life and knowing you never tried something.
Posse.com re-launched in June in Australia and is currently planning its move into the USA, hoping to open there sometime this year. Check out Posse.com or Posse on Twitter or Facebook. You can follow Rebekah Campbell on Twitter here.
