Starsona.Com

With Netflix’s latest announcement about Moesha, The Game, Girlfriends and more, all of Black Twitter is buzzing about their favorite 90’s shows! Remember when Julie went up the stairs on Family Matters and never came back down? Remember when Sweet Pea taught Jodie how to throw a punch on Baby Boy? Remember when Niecy & Moesha served the best in 90’s fashion on Moesha? Needless to say shows like Family Matters, Baby Boy and Moesha will go down as some of the best shows of our youth!

Ever wonder what is going on with some of these stars? We are connected now more than ever given the myriad of available social media channels. We follow people we’re interested in, look up to, or just enjoy being a fan of. However, it’s nearly impossible to hear directly from those illustrious Stars you follow, especially if they have tens of thousands of followers until now with Starsona!

Peter Karpas

Founder & CEO

Peter Karpas is a fanboy geek semi-famous for having action figures, steampunk art, and random toys in his corporate office despite being a C-Level or top executive at such high growth tech companies as Intuit & PayPal. At Intuit, Peter had many jobs including CMO, CPMO, and GM of the Quicken Business. At PayPal, he was GM of N. America SMB & ran N. American marketing. And at other companies, he continued to serve small & medium businesses owners, who he’s incredibly passionate about helping. He’s also proud of having been on the Board of Trustees for the Computer History Museum for well over a decade, now serving on its Executive Committee.

Peter used to be the entertainment industry’s dream consumer, as his interests include audio, board games, books, football, graphic novels, movies, music, theater, and video games. But now he has a lot less time for any of those things because he founded a company.

Matt Martin

Founder & Head of Operations

Matthew Martin loves to problem solve, in fact you could call him a serial solutionist. He’s always had an innate fascination with how to improve on the way things work and interact. Having the opportunity to build solutions at the intersection of technology, commerce, and community; Matthew capitalized on these strength’s having held multiple management roles at Align Technology (makers of Invisalign) leading their strategic practice development initiatives helping customers scale their business. He was also a founding member and COO at Goldenslate, a SaaS solution for service professionals to manage their referral channel.

Now, as co-founder and Head of Operations for Starsona, Matthew drives innovative solutions in bringing mass moments of joy to the Starsona community… and having some fun along the way.

Vocal readers please enjoy our interview!

Tammy Reese:

What inspired you to create Starsona?

Peter:

It wasn’t either Matt’s or my idea. One of our other co-founders, Randy Kessler, had an idea he called “the happy birthday app”. Randy’s a lawyer who tends to represent famous people (athletes, musicians, etc.) and he saw how his clients’ fans always wanted to connect with them - in the office, in the elevator, walking to lunch. He thought any fan should be able to get something like a selfie video, and his clients should be able to get paid for them.

Tammy Reese:

What has the feedback been from users of the platform?

Matt:

The response from both our Star and fan users has been nothing short of amazing. Fans have been extremely receptive and are utilizing Starsona on a more frequent basis to interact with the Stars they admire and love.

As summed up by one of our more popular stars, “My Starsona storefront enables me to provide interactions to my fans that I couldn't otherwise and it's awesome!" We essentially fulfill and provide a solution for our Star’s basic needs when interacting with their fans: make money, manage their time, promote their brand, and remain safe.

Tammy Reese:

What are some of the most used features on Starsona? Why do you think that is?

Peter:

DMs, because they’re the least expensive way to connect with a creator and still support them.

And “Fun Stuff” because… well… they’re fun! To be able to get a unique experience from a creator (having them record your voice mail, provide make-up tips, cook with you, critique your avocado toast, etc.) is an awesome thing.

Tammy Reese:

What sets Starsona apart from other star interactive platforms?

Matt:

There has been a multitude of video shoutout companies recently entering the market, but we’re significantly different in terms of how we cater to our customer’s segments (both Stars and fans). For fans, they have many more experiences to choose from, beyond just shoutouts which barely scratches the surface of fan engagement.

For Stars, they’re empowered to stock their own storefront with fan experiences that support their brand as well as on their own terms. We also give them access to their fan data, unlike other platforms who keep it for themselves, so they can use it for additional marketing. And lastly, our fees are lower which puts more money in their pocket.

Tammy Reese:

What do you think is the future of the entertainment industry?

Peter:

We are witnessing a true rarity right now: the creation of a new product category. “Direct connections and personalized interactions with fans” as a category have hit scale only in the last few years.

It used to be that people with fame made money in two ways:

From the thing they did that made them famous (make music, make videos, act, play a sport, etc.), and from sponsorships or endorsements.

In neither of those were they paid directly by the fan. But with the rise of Patreon, Kickstarter, Starsona, and others like them, for the first time fans are paying talent directly.

I see a future where almost all creators and people with fame are using three types of platforms: something like Patreon for subscriptions, something like Kickstarter to raise money for specific projects, and something like Starsona for personalized interactions.

Tammy Reese:

How has the pandemic shaped your lives?

Matt:

There has been quite a number of learnings and insight coming out of this adjustment to the “new normal.” During this pandemic, we observed the masses adapting to new paradigms of communication. Our customer habits were gravitating towards these personalized virtual experiences which now have been shaping the market; more so, the online virtual habits that have been accelerated due to the pandemic. For us, that only validated what we’ve built with Starsona and the opportunity to capitalize on the current market tailwind.

Tammy Reese:

Why should fans use Starsona?

Peter:

I don’t think of it as fans using Starsona - that’s like saying consumers use Shopify or Wix. Rather, creators use Starsona to offer amazing experiences directly to fans - so the reason fans will utilize Starsona is because they want an experience from the creator!

Starsona enables Stars a way to build a direct relationship with the fans who most support them. Experiences include video shoutouts, 1:1 interactions, personalized merch, DMs and so much more.

Get connected now on Starsona.Com