Techstars: Powering Partnerships

Cox Enterprises is proud to partner with Techstars Atlanta as a supporter of its third annual cohort. The 10 companies chosen to participate in the 12-week startup accelerator program this year represent best-in-class entrepreneurs from six U.S. states and Israel. The program is housed at Ponce City Market in Atlanta.

With the rise of ad blocking, the most tech-savvy and engaged computer users have become increasingly difficult for advertisers to reach.

PowerSpike has a creative solution to that problem. The company matches the top creators on Twitch, a video game livestreaming platform, with sponsors who are willing to pay for their products to be promoted on the channel.

The creators (the people who play the video games on Twitch) may give a shout-out to a new app or encourage watchers to sign up for a new service. Or they might simply wear a branded item of clothing. Anything to catch the audience’s eye and get them interested in a particular product.

For example, Meg Kaylee, a creator who has partnered with Powerspike, recently wore a T-shirt branded with Soylent, a meal replacement product, and took time to drink and endorse the product while interacting with her viewers.

Audience Awareness
“Many members of the Twitch audience use an ad blocker,” said Powerspike founder and CEO Angelo “A.J.” Damiano. “It’s difficult to connect with this tech savvy audience. We provide an organic way to do that.”

A.J. and Michael Paris, the product designers for Powerspike, know their audience well, because they were influencers themselves on YouTube. They created content around video games before transitioning to Twitch.

As Techstars Atlanta reaches the three-quarter mark of the 12-week program, PowerSpike’s team of nine is working to retool the platform to make it more user-friendly, as well as preparing to scale the service and software to work with other livestreaming services.

Being a part of Techstars has provided the company the opportunity to get unique perspectives from experienced and industry-leading mentors on all aspects of the business, said A.J.

What’s next?

Techstars Atlanta culminates in a Demo Day Oct. 15, where the company founders pitch their unique business plan to hundreds of potential investors and community supporters.