Hyype Space is known as a challenge-based social content platform that connects creators, brands, and nonprofits to their target audiences by offering a prize setup, a voting leaderboard, etc. To learn more about the company, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Hyype Space CEO and founder Randy Greenberg.
Randy Greenberg’s Background
Before Greenberg founded Hyype Space, he launched several start-ups, built teams, and products, and developed strategic marketing and distribution plans to successfully establish each company in its respective industries. “I was VP of Marketing and Talent Management at Always Independent Films starting its marketing and representation business which ultimately helped sell the company to Hollywood.com. I also worked with comic book company Platinum Studios as EVP of Marketing and Business Affairs, launching its licensing and merchandising business and negotiating numerous film and TV deals with production companies and major studios which helped the company go public, and I co-founded a start-up full-service entertainment talent agency raising a reported nine figures,” said Greenberg. “I’ve served as a senior-level executive at two major film studios, and have consulted with several entertainment financiers, production companies, producers, and IP owners. Some of my recent credits include Executive Producer on Meg 2: The Trench (2023), The Meg (2018), and Cowboys & Aliens (2011). I also served as the Head of International Theatrical Marketing and Distribution at Universal Pictures, among a few other positions.”
Formation Of Hyype Space
How did the idea for Hyype Space come together? “While working on a consultancy for an investor, I came across the increased use of challenges as a marketing tool in social media, but that those challenges were mixed with really bad dares and pranks which are dangerous for participants. We’ve created a platform to protect brands and creators of challenges and to protect the participants and consumers while providing a fun authentic experience in a purpose-built Challenge environment,” Greenberg shared.
Challenges Faced In Building The Company
What challenges did Greenberg face in building the company? “Hyype Space is both a marketing and a technology platform for branded creative campaign execution (via Challenges) but also a video technology platform for consumers to participate (via Challenges) and when married together produces brand-centric authentic fan-based video content creator. We believed that macro influencers would give us tremendous engagement due to their large numbers of followers. But that didn’t happen,” Greenberg acknowledged. “Utilizing macro influencers was ok for brand awareness but did not generate engagement results the way we anticipated. The followers of macro influencers were likely to view a post but not likely to follow that macro influencer to another platform. So we switched our concentration to focus on micro-influencers whose early followers are more engaged, motivated, interested, connected, and more likely to follow that micro-influencer to another platform – i.e. Hyype Space. Finally, we thought that the idea that our platform is 100% moderated would hinder our growth a bit, but it has become a big selling point and one that brands, influencers, charities, consumers, followers, and donors seem to like. You can be yourself without trolls, bad actors, and negative people having the ability to say anything they want.”
Core Products
What are Hyype Space’s core products and features? “Hyype Space is a challenge-based social content platform that connects creators, brands, and nonprofits to their target audiences by offering a prize set up, a voting leaderboard, and more! Brands can offer incentives such as discounts, free products, and chances to win prizes. Influencers can use the pay-to-enter function for their challenge to creatively connect with their followers and earn money simultaneously,” Greenberg explained. “Our features are unique to influencers by offering them 35% of the gross revenue from the pay-to-enter challenges, with a portion of the gross revenue used for prizes. We’re also empowering non-profits to use the donate-to-enter function for their challenges. Users donate prior to uploading a challenge entry, allowing them to support their favorite causes and enter for a chance to win prizes. Charities can collect 64% of the gross revenue (and at very least 54% of the gross revenue) in the donate-to-enter challenges if a charity brings their own prizes to the challenge (the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store take 30%). These features are unlike anything else seen across all social content platforms and we pride ourselves on offering new ways for users to engage and interact with their favorite brands, products, charities, and influencers.”
Evolution Of Hyype Space’s Technology
How has Hyype Space’s technology evolved since launching? “Since its inception in 2022, we have introduced a handful of new features that create new ways for users to engage with one another and provide easy-to-use creator tools like increased video creation functionality including music, emojis, and text, plus we built a new user/member video feedback, where anyone can comment on someone’s entry in a challenge (like the old text box response),” Greenberg noted. We have introduced the Hyype Space Portal where brands, influencers, and charities can create their own business accounts and create and run their own challenges without having to work through the Hyype Space admins. In addition, we have added the functionality where brands can have their Hyype Space challenge appear on their URL (think www.yourcompanyname.com/challenges). This way the challenge appears on their own website and anyone can see it, but if they want to vote or enter, they would have to go to the Hyype Space app to participate directly.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Hyype Space’s most significant milestones? “Launching! As a start-up, we’re thrilled to have our platform out in the world and to see our users have a blast participating in challenges. Getting our first paying brands at the very beginning of our launch was fantastic. In a couple of short months, we’ve given away over $15,000 in prizes to date,” Greenberg replied.
Customer Success Stories
When I asked Greenberg about some customer success stories, he cited the following:
1.) Allina Condie joined Hyype Space when we first launched and immediately began participating in challenges from push-up challenges to walking barefoot in the snow, Allina has won hundreds worth of gift cards and apparel. More importantly, Allina has connected and engaged with hundreds of other users who can all relate to her in a positive way.
2.) Haylene Rodriguez participated in several Hyype Space challenges, winning various prizes like Funko figures and gift cards, but the most significant prize Rodriguez won was the chance to speak with Michaela Jill Murphy, an actor, and voice of Toph Beifong in the animated Nickelodeon television series “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. Rodriguez took Michaela’s advice on how to grow her following on Hyype Space and has quickly become one of the platform’s top creators.
Total Addressable Market
What is the total addressable market (TAM) size that Hyype Space is pursuing? “The size of the market is the number of people that are interested in challenges which we estimate is 10% of the U.S. population – so approximately 30-35 million people. Not everyone wants to participate in a challenge but many people want to see entries in a challenge and are willing to vote for the best entries,” Greenberg analyzed.
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Hyype Space from its competition? “All Hyype Space challenges are human-vetted, to ensure authenticity and safety of others to ensure that the content meets predetermined and defined community standards before any platform viewers see it. This gives brands more control over their online experimental and experiential marketing campaigns and helps insulate them from any potential reputational damage. Hyype Space is a platform where all parties win. Hyype Space also allows a significantly larger percentage of monetization to influencers, brands, and charities than other platforms allow,” answered Greenberg.
Future Company Goals
What are some of Hyype Space’s future company goals? “We aim to be the premier destination for brands, nonprofits, and influencers around the world to work together and provide a more engaging experience. We have a model in place to provide creators with a more streamlined and beneficial monetization platform. We want brands to come to Hyype Space knowing that any partnerships they engage in will deliver positive results without the worry of negative viral responses. We also see ourselves as a champion of charitable organizations with the goal to work together and produce incredible content that turns into donations. Future viral challenges will now have a proper monetization tool to ensure that short-form videos come with positive change,” Greenberg concluded.
