We recently connected with Martika Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Martika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea came about on the edge of a failed start-up which was actually our first company. The root of what we did with that previous company also shares a root element of what we do in the new company we just thought we could do it better.

We wanted to see if we could make it easier for a world coming out of the pandemic to network without fear of spreading germs. We also wanted people to be able to network more efficiently and sustainably.

Our original startup was solving the single bio link problem on social media platforms, but our company dissolved due to creative differences regarding the company’s future direction. We wanted more, so we did what most fear to do – Start Completely Over.

We lost all of our customers, and we knew it’d be hard to win them back. There’s nothing worse than having to tell your user base that you’re shutting down.

In the end, this was a blessing in disguise as we had full creative freedom to realize our potential. After dissolution, my husband, my best friend, and I were trying to figure out our next move and what to call our new startup. My husband woke up one morning, and the first thing he said was: “Why don’t we call it BŪP?” We loved the name BŪP as it is culturally relevant (you “boop” a dog on the nose or make the sound), the long “U” was aesthetically appealing, and it reflected the tapping of our NCF device to smartphones. We also created the slogan “BŪP connects Ū” as we are in the business of connecting others.

Once we got the branding and business plan in place, we immediately started working on our new platform. I was able to take the prize money I won from a pitch competition to pay for our new startup expenses. Within two weeks, our startup, BŪP, was up and running!

We knew BŪP would be a worthwhile endeavor as it’s a digital business card – a true extension of yourself. People are big on first impressions, so shouldn’t your digital first impression be important as well? Not only that, we found that BŪP helps build relationships like no other. When you tap someone’s smartphone with BŪP, it’s opening up a whole new conversation and makes a lasting impression that person will never forget. I can’t tell you how many times our clients say that people remember them as the person that BŪP’d them!

The fact that this provides a more sustainable solution for networking was just the cherry on top.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a 27-year-old entrepreneur who went from an orchestral musician to a tech startup CEO. I wanted to be my own boss and accomplish what others considered impossible. At the age of 12, I set out on a 13-year-long journey as a classically trained trombonist studying under world-renowned musicians and winning several awards. Even though music was my life, I realized I wanted to channel my focus and discipline into other passions: content creation and technology.

After relocating to Tampa in 2018, my husband and I noticed some opportunities in the business networking industry and wanted to help innovate. So, I decided to start my entrepreneurial journey by quitting my 9 to 5 job and attending The University of Tampa where I got my Master of Science in Entrepreneurship. Midway through, I founded and launched our first tech venture and spent the next year learning the ins and outs of the startup world. This ultimately led to our recently launched tech startup, BŪP.

BŪP is a digital business card platform that helps professionals, teams, and enterprises network more efficiently and improve their follow-up success rate.

We Offer:

– Customizable BŪP digital business card via our platform
– BŪP Smart Products that attach to your digital business card
– BŪP Teams/Enterprise packages

We are also expanding into other industries, including pets (BŪP Pets – Coming Soon)!

We are passionate about the way we communicate with each other. It’s something that we take for granted on a daily basis and don’t really think about – it just… happens. We are aiming to revolutionize the way the world communicates through technology. What we’re so proud of is that all of this can be achieved through a sustainable networking solution like BŪP. A single tap can close your next big deal or bring your fur baby home. And it doesn’t stop there. We are excited about what the future has in store!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After graduating from The University of Tampa in 2019, my husband, George, and I set off to continue building our startup while being incubated at UT’s Incubator program. We even found an experienced technical co-founder to join our team. In the beginning, everything was perfect; but after a while, we found things began to pivot a little. Our initial idea was an influencer marketing platform (as my husband and I both were influencers on the side), but we were practically running a different type of business that served the same target market since it was easier to run while working on the main platform.

Over time, our main idea kept getting pushed off, and we found ourselves losing more and more time to what felt like a side project. While we liked the complementary direction of the new company, we didn’t have any creative or functional freedom over the brand. I even had times when I’d ask myself, “Am I the CEO?”. This eventually led to friction among the team and unfortunately the dissolution of the entity entirely. The truth is I never actually thought this would happen to me – nobody does. Imagine having interns and getting interviewed for magazines and having to smile and continue to run your business knowing that things just may just not work out in the next few months. All of that happened.

After our company’s dissolution, we were effectively back to square one. We had to rebuild from scratch and quickly find our footing. We decided to go in a different direction, combining what we learned over the last year and a half with something new and decidedly better – Digital Business Cards. Thankfully, around the same time, I won a pitch competition at the University of Tampa’s New Venture Expo and was able to use the funds for my new startup expenses. My best friend of over 12 years, Andrew, was studying web development and was able to step in to help with the transition and setup. My husband handled the naming and overall branding while I sussed out the operational aspects. This allowed us to greatly accelerate the initial stages of our new business venture: BŪP.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn the lesson: “Experience is everything.” It really is not. It actually put me through a lot of trouble and pain with our first startup as there was a “because I know more, I know best” mentality, which got us nowhere.

I learned an important lesson to not rely so heavily on experience. Sometimes experience isn’t all that you need on your team. You need people who are humble, dedicated, passionate, and motivated to get the job done.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bup.cards
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bup.cards
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BupCards
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bupcards
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bupcards

Image Credits
Main Feature Image Credit: Karisa Denae Photography