Tech startup Locket

Locket: A Cinderella Story For Startups?

So many times we romanticize about startup founders and make it seem like they’re basking in “overnight success.” It’s so easy to forget the road to being an entrepreneur is hard, it requires a lot of late nights, and let’s not forget extremely hard work when you’re likely broke and working out of your parent’s garage. Well, this story has most of that, too, but “overnight success” is not a far stretch for the group who founded Locket.

It’s an NYC-based company that transforms how brands advertise to consumers through what they call “First Glance Advertising.” The concept is simple. They deliver beautiful, print-quality advertising on smartphone lock screens, then the app rewards users for simply using their phone. It’s the reverse of other application models. Instead of making you pay to have an ad-free version, they make it so brands pay you to display their ads. You’re probably thinking, “That can’t be right.” Well, they’re really doing that. Granted, it’s not a ton of money, but it is something. Here’s how it started…

Yunha Kim used to work in an investment bank. She graduated magna cum laude from Duke University, having done everything right. But, she was bored. “I wasn’t able to do anything fun on my monitor, so I was checking my phone probably 200 times per day. That’s when I realized I keep on checking my phone every single day, bringing it to the restroom, everywhere I go, ” said Kim. “Every single one of those moments I was unlocking my lock screen. It was a picture of a daisy, and it was pretty ugly. I was looking at it and thinking why isn’t anyone doing anything with this lock screen.”

This was in February of this year, and Kim didn’t wait to do something about it. “I decided to leave my company within a week of having this idea, ” said Kim. “This is going to be the next thing, we’re going to see ads on the lock screen, and I want to be the first one to do it.” After quitting her comfy job in banking, she grabbed three of her guy friends and moved in to a two-bedroom apartment with their three dogs and 1 hamster.

“It’s been a crazy rollercoaster, ” said Kim. “We have three guys who are living in one bedroom, and we have two bunk beds. And the other room is me because I’m the only girl, so I’m lucky to have my own bedroom.” Now, this is where they sound like your normal startup. Working all hours of the night, eating cheap food like hot dogs and pizza. But, they didn’t have to wait long for others to recognize the potential that Locket provides, and those eating habits only lasted about a month.