Crime solving startup founder, Jim Brown, discusses his website Uncovered.com, which aims to involve the true crime community in solving cold cases. The podcast explores the profitability of solving murders, filling the resource gap in law enforcement, empowering Asian Americans through a sneaker brand, challenges of scaling the business, and the potential of a media company generating venture scale returns by solving murders.
Uncovered aims to solve cold cases by bringing together a passionate true crime community and providing a platform for users to engage and contribute information, leading to successful case resolutions.
Uncovered employs a multi-faceted monetization strategy and targets women aged 25 to 45 as its primary audience, focusing on building a supportive community rather than relying on financial rewards for participation.
Deep dives
Uncovered: Solving Cold Cases with a True Crime Community
Uncovered is a media company that aims to solve real-world cold cases by bringing together a passionate community of true crime enthusiasts. With a database of 49,000 cold cases, Uncovered provides a platform for users to explore and engage with these unsolved mysteries. The community-driven approach allows users to contribute information, follow cases, and participate in crowd-solving activities. Uncovered has seen success in solving cases, including a 62-year-old cold case that led to the discovery of a bullet. While Uncovered currently generates revenue through programmatic ads, paid sponsorships, and a membership model, the long-term vision includes potential partnerships with law enforcement to provide data solutions and collaborative tools for investigations. Despite facing challenges in fundraising, Uncovered continues to focus on building the community and expanding its reach in the true crime genre.
Monetization Strategies and Target Audience
Uncovered employs a multi-faceted monetization strategy, including programmatic ads on their website, paid sponsorships of their newsletter, and a paid membership model. The target audience for Uncovered is primarily women aged 25 to 45, who are avid consumers of true crime content. Uncovered recognizes the importance of community for its audience, offering a safe space for like-minded individuals to come together, share information, and support each other. While the community is committed to helping solve cold cases, financial rewards are not a significant motivator, as the focus remains on justice and advocacy. Uncovered aims to grow its traffic and paid membership base, while also exploring potential collaborations with law enforcement agencies.
Challenges and Adaptation
Uncovered faces challenges in fundraising, particularly due to the changing economic landscape. Despite these obstacles, the company has modified its approach to focus on sustainability and cost-cutting measures. The team remains dedicated to maintaining essential operations and nurturing the community, even with limited resources. Uncovered recognizes the need to evolve beyond being solely a media company and aims to leverage technology, such as AI, in the future to enhance data analysis and provide insights to aid in solving cold cases. While the company acknowledges the potential of an AI-powered platform, its current priorities lie in building a thriving community and generating revenue through existing channels.
The Founders' Determination
Despite facing setbacks in fundraising, Jim Brown, the founder and CEO of Uncovered, remains committed to the mission of the company. He firmly believes that Uncovered has a vital role to play in bringing justice to cold cases and advocating for those who have been victims of crime. Jim is willing to invest his own resources and explore alternative strategies to sustain and grow the company. While acknowledging the need to consider new directions, Jim remains steadfast in his commitment to creating a successful business that positively impacts society.
If you're murdered in the US, there's only a 57% chance your killer will be found. Jim Brown aims to change this statistic by enabling the massive true crime community to solve cold cases on his website Uncovered.com. But mysterious circumstances in the studio lead us to a question. Can a media company produce venture scale returns by… solving murders?
To learn more about Jim's crime solving startup and the investors featured on this episode, check out the Uncovered show page. If you want to go deeper on each company featured on the show, subscribe to our newsletter The Pitch Insider.
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