C. STINNETT: Henderson native creating new social media app business

HENDERSON, Ky. – Starting and running a business can be a roller coaster. Buts Jonathan Burdon loves it anyway.

“I’m an entrepreneur,” the 27-year-old Henderson native said. “I’m not motivated by money. I’m motivated by challenge.”

His challenge now is SocialCoaster, a social media app he hopes will suck you into its special-interest communities.

“It allows people to connect with people who have similar interests rather than a community of friends” like Facebook, said Burdon, founder and CEO of SocialCoaster.

Burdon was born to Hendersonians Tim and Joyce (Kloke) Burdon. His father was pastor at New Hope Baptist Church, but was called to another church when Jonathan was a toddler. The family remained in Western Kentucky, however, and Jonathan graduated from Murray State University with degrees in organizational communication and marketing.

While still in college, he created an online marketing business, operating it for six years before selling it last year. Using some of the proceeds as well as capital from some angel investors around Western Kentucky, he created SocialCoaster, a Nashville-based company that employs five people.

Three developers write software for the iPhone and Android versions of the app while Burdon and another employee tend to business matters.

“My passion is the business side of things,” he said. “I’ve got an awesome team of developers; I’m the most replaceable member of the team.”

SocialCaster consists of a variety of special-interest communities or “loops” that people can join or create. There’s a loop for Murray State University alumni and foodies who like the blog TheSouthernLadyCooks.com and fans of Kentucky basketball. Followers of a loop can make comments or post photos.

Burdon said he has intentionally grown it gradually. “The product is constantly changing,” he said.

“With a lot of the most successful businesses, a core group of users provide a lot of great feedback, verbally and nonverbally, on what they use and what they don’t use.”

“Our goal is to become a more modern form of (online) forum and bulletin board,” Burdon said.

“We’re not there yet, where we want to be” — many loops have just a few dozen followers, although Phone Photographers have nearly 800.

But Burdon said that’s all right. “We’re trying to control our growth since we’re learning so much” about what users “do and don’t do, like and don’t like,” he said.

Right now, SocialCaster has no revenue. Burdon hopes by October to make the various loops available to sponsors who will be able to present exclusive content of interest to members of that community.

“I think we’ll be in a totally different place when we monetize” the app.

Business Editor Chuck Stinnett can be reached at 270-831-8343 or chuck.stinnett@thegleaner.com.

C. STINNETT: Henderson native creating new social media app business