We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jake Aronskind. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jake below.

Jake, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

I work in consumer social. Consumer social is the intersection of consumer daily habits and fostering community. Within social, it’s become clear that consumers are beginning to wake up to the NEGATIVE efffects of social media on their brains. Like cigarettes 50 years ago, consumers are beginning to take an active stance against engaging on social media in fear of what it may be doing to them.

Doom scrolling is being recognized for what it is: unproductive and toxic. Social media has been historically a place to showcase the highlights of your life. By nature, this can have a negative impact on how others perceive their own lives: if everyone else is ALWAYS having fun, then why do I feel like I’m 99% sadness and 1% fun?

The perceived ratio of highlights to real life is detached from reality when consumers ONLY post their most fun times. Days are sunnier, people are more attractive, and worries seem not to exist on social media. Simply put, social media supports the best of the best. And the perfectly okay reality is we are not always at our best. I’ll repeat, THAT IS OKAY.

So, with this trend in mind, I believe that our social media time will diminish, and instead, we will begin engaging more heavily in two specific types of platforms: vertical socials (communities that provide utility around one single niche) and productive habits (apps that make us truly feel better).

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I co-founded Pepper in September 2021 to help home cooks around the world share recipes with friends. Since then, we’ve grown to over 1M+ home cooks, shared nearly 100k recipes, and helped countless people find a community of like-minded food lovers.

On Pepper, you can:
– build a cookbook of all the recipes you make
– save recipes from around the internet
– recreate your favorite creators’ recipes with one click
– order ingredients for same-day delivery via Instacart
– decorate a digital charcuterie board as you level up your cooking

How’d you meet your business partner?

My co-founder, Matt, and I met at sleep-away camp when we were just 8 years old. We’ve stayed close ever since – interning together freshmen year of college, going abroad to Barcelona together, and then moving into a Manhattan apartment with another friend post-graduation. But it wasn’t until the pandemic started in 2020 that we finally sat down and prepared to get this business off the ground.

They tell you not to work with friends. And the truth is that it’s not always easy. But if you work hard and always maintain strong communication, it can be one of the most gratifying experiences of your life. The wins are that much sweeter. And during the losses, at least you’re doing it with your best friend.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The key to success in startups is grit. There will always be obstacles, there will always be noise, but the ones that succeed are the ones that wake up everyday and choose to fight past each. For us, resilience looks like raising multiples less than our competitors, running a lean operation, and waking up everyday saying “why not us?” And when all the dust settled, many of our competitors folded while we were able to continue to succeed just simply by continuing to exist.

Grit is your best friend. Running a startup is hard because you are the safety net. If you don’t do anything, the company does not move forward. But if you do, and you keep moving forward, you will be far part the ones next to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://peppertheapp.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/peppertheapp
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/peppertheapp