Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Knittle.
Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.
I created the app called “In Range Contacts” as a Fortune 500 senior manager who spent many years “on the road” – in airports, conferences, trade shows, and visiting cities around North America and the world.
After meeting and speaking with countless fellow road warriors, I designed In Range Contacts to offer a practical, simple, and most importantly, private solution that lets people strengthen their network of relationships as they move around.
Has anyone ever said to you, “I was just there!”? You are unknowingly missing friends or relatives in the airport, ballgames, movies, concerts and other events more than you know!!
My point was that knowing when friends and professional connections could be nearby would be nice to learn, but not by being tracked on maps in real time on their phones! Most location-based apps are designed to show where your contacts are located on a map, which is really pretty worrisome, not to mention feeling your privacy is being invaded. My app is specifically designed for people who care about their privacy, want flexibility and discretion about who and how they connect with others, but also wish to know when a contact might be in their range in order to seize a potential opportunity.
The app pushes simple, unrevealing notifications to the phone when contacts are within the ranges specified and it doesn’t drain the phone’s battery in the process, unlike the other apps.
Furthermore, users keep their location info private while still being able to connect with others based on their mutual preferences.
Lastly, I feel I have been a leading pioneer for location data privacy when I purposefully refused to save, or even worse, sell people’s location data. I have bootstrapped this creation thus far and people from around the world have started to use it. It’s free to download and connect with others, and there is a $2.99 in-app purchase available to upgrade capabilities for setting ranges.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not as smooth as I had hoped! Ha! First there was the debugging upon launching the app, even after testing you still do not get the full force of potential functionality issues until you have many users.
Also, I have found that my greatest challenges center around reaching a scale of awareness about the app and what it does. This has meant getting familiar with many of the large social media platforms and understanding how best to communicate within each of them. Being a CPA by training, marketing is my kryptonite, so this is where I am working with others who know how these things function.
The app enables people to send invites to connect with their friends, but many people take these invites as spam if they don’t know the app.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
I think I probably touched on some these responses in my previous comments, but let me add a few points here. I found that there are many people like me who are moving around more and more these days, and they miss opportunities to connect with others they know.
People probably don’t want any more intrusion into their lives than they already have from their devices, nor do they want to have yet another app that they have to engage with all the time.
With my app, it offers very simple, easy to use, and customizable ways of staying in touch without being addicted to your phone or the app. I wanted something I could set up and not have to check for lengths of time because it will push a simple notification when people are nearby that I would like to connect with.
Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
While I live in Keene, NH, I love getting over to Boston whenever I can as it is only a couple hours to the North End, Back Bay, Logan, etc. I would move there if my app starts to gain more traction since there is a phenomenal technology infrastructure and the population is diverse and creative, which would allow me to more easily market the In Range Contacts enterprise version.
Pricing:
- An in-app upgrade to set low end of any notification range setting below 30 miles (or 50 km) for $2.99 /yr.
Contact Info:
- Address: 631 Park Ave #108
- Website: www.InRangeContacts.com
- Phone: 6039030406
- Email: p.knittle@InRangeContacts.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/InRangeContacts/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/InRangeContacts
- Other: www.linkedin.com/company/in-range-contacts/
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
