Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Jackman.
Hi Nathan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up, I always had a tremendous interest in cars. I started my first business, Premier Detail, at the age of 17. I offered mobile detailing services where I went to customers’ homes and deep cleaned their cars. This allowed me to spend time around many different types of cars including the exotic sports cars that I loved. The first year of this endeavor was spent working hard and earning money so I could expand the company.
I was eventually able to hire several employees in multiple states and cities. Bringing on new employees gave me experience in many areas of business besides just providing the actual detailing service. I had to put on an HR hat when onboarding and training new hires and when running payroll. In this capacity, I tried to find creative ways to provide professional development as I coached out-of-state employees and trained them to work in their regional areas. I also had to put on an accounting hat as I learned the basics of finance and taxes.
One of the most important hats I wore while expanding Premier Detail was the customer support hat. I quickly learned that without satisfied customers, the company would be nothing. Learning these skills and the basic operations of a business would end up helping me significantly in future ventures. In the back of my mind while working Premier Detail was always the thought of “what’s next?” I often thought about different business ideas and how to touch different industries. Since I was young, I knew I didn’t want to stay put in only one field of employment.
Instead, I wanted to be involved in multiple business endeavors that allowed for creativity and variety in my days. In 2019, I was on the phone with my brother, Josh, and our friend Clayton. We had a few business ideas and were discussing which project we might want to work on first. Throughout the conversation, our focus narrowed in on the tech industry. We knew this was a vast sphere with lots of room for growth. We started talking about social media and where we could make improvements, which reminded Josh and Clayton about conversations they’d previously had about the social media industry.
After a lot of thought and knowing this would be a David-and-Goliath undertaking, we decided we wanted to take a deeper look at the option of creating an entirely new social media platform. For the next year, we worked on refining the idea and finding/building a team that could help turn our idea into a real product and thriving business.
Fast forward to Sept. 8th, 2021. Pyvott, a new social media platform, launched on the App Store and Google Play Store.
When creating Pyvott, we knew we had to bring new value to the social media world. We wanted to create a place where the content was king and where creators didn’t have to fight so hard against algorithms to get their content seen. We didn’t want users to worry about a corporate agenda or having their privacy encroached on. We wanted to create a safe environment within social media, and we wanted the users to feel they could take back control of their social experience.
Although the app is brand new and has a lot of development left, I believe we’re on the right track.
I’m only 22, and even though I’m young, I’ve learned that you’re never too young or too old to do something that can make a difference. I’m learning that much of our successes in life will be attributed to our persistence and consistency. I’m learning that if you’re going to succeed at anything, you need to truly commit and go all in – a partial effort will never be enough if you’re trying to do something that is truly great.
I’ve learned that the people you surround yourself with are key to the person that you’ll become. I’m humbled and very grateful that in my short business career I’ve had the opportunity to work side-by-side with some extremely sharp, hard-working, fearless, and driven individuals. I love working with a team that is so diligent and who is willing to be patient with me as I grow and improve along the way.
I’m glad to have family and friends who support me in these ventures and I’m excited to see what the future holds and for all the experiences ahead.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I would say my pathway has been somewhat unique. My mom was kind enough to loan me $1000 which I used to buy supplies to get Premier Detail moving. Though I greatly appreciated her support as I got my feet under me, I worked hard to pay her back quickly because I valued the principle of being self-reliant. It started slow, as many businesses do, but picked up the more I worked and the more I networked with as many people as possible.
I felt very blessed that during Covid, while many people were unfortunately out of a job and many businesses faced extreme hardship, my business boomed. I had more work than I could keep up with and ended up hiring employees to help. I faced the typical challenges that many small business owners experience including financial ups and downs, learning how to manage employees/quality assurance, and learning how to balance the many hats that business owners wear.
The most challenging piece was the learning curve associated with doing things I had no prior experience with like advertising, website creation, content creation, and quality control in an industry where each job has variation within. No detailing job is exactly the same.
Now focusing on Pyvott, the biggest challenge for us is that we’re competing in an industry with only a few players, but the players in the social media arena are some of the largest companies in the world. We’re really going after the big guys! We’re up for the challenge though and are excited for what’s ahead.
On a personal note, I feel I’ve been lucky to avoid several of the struggles that many people face in business. I’m still young though and know there are plenty of obstacles ahead, so I’ll be working through each one as it comes.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Pyvott is a brand new social media platform. Most people are aware of the large social media players and the way social media works. We knew we had to be different. When we started Pyvott we didn’t want to push a corporate agenda on our users, and we wanted them to feel safe. We want our users to know that we’re not just another data-hungry tech company.
We offer a new social experience through what we call, custom feeds. This allows our users to be in control of what they see. We have multiple channels on T.V. So why not on social media? Pyvott gives you a chance to create feeds that will generate content based on your interests. If you get tired of what you’re seeing or you want to change it up, you simply delete the feed and the data is wiped clean so you can start fresh.
I’m proud of the simple design and interface of Pyvott. Instead of a bottom navigation bar like every other social media platform, we’ve cleaned it up with the Pyvott button. This provides a fresh, clean, content-focused experience for the user. Pyvott is still young, and we’re continuing to add and refine various features, but we’re committed to providing our users with a high-quality social experience.
I’m also proud of the partnerships we’ve been able to make through this process. Not only did we want to create a fresh new platform, we also wanted to focus on doing good as an organization. We just finished running a campaign to fight against human trafficking. For every free download of Pyvott we donated $1 to Run Against Traffic, a local nonprofit dedicated to helping the survivors of human trafficking.
I’m proud of our organization, what we stand for, and that we’re striving to make a huge difference in the world for the better.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I’ve always loved the outdoors. One of my favorite memories growing up was going up in the canyon with my family spending time eating food and playing sports at one of the parks in the canyon.
I remember one weekend we went up, and for whatever reason, the park was completely empty, we had the whole area to ourselves. We had lunch and played football and ultimate frisbee. It was lots of fun. I’ve always loved the mountains and being active.
Contact Info:
- Email: customersupport@pyvott.com
- Website: Pyvott.com
- Other: https://pyvott.page.link/Aq96QyeuRrvPqQgT9
