Redefining Social Connection and Experiences: Joel Puthoff’s Vision with Linxy Inc.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Joel Puthoff, the Founder and CEO of Linxy Inc., a company revolutionizing how people connect and engage at events. As a visionary entrepreneur, Joel is deeply passionate about enhancing human connection and performance. With extensive experience in building and scaling organizations, he has also developed expertise in neuroscience, epigenetics, and leadership, which led to the publication of his book Capability Fuel.
What motivated you to launch your startup?
After a decade of attending conferences, networking events, and festivals, Joel kept seeing the same problems with the current solutions in the marketplace:
- Why is there no software that optimizes the experiences and connections people can make while attending these events?
- All the event platforms are barely used and deleted after the event because none of them offer what people are there for most — making preferred connections effectively and efficiently.
- There are so many physical bodies around us, but no tool to provide insights on optimal connections nearby. Attendees have little to no awareness of the great connections all around them.
- After years of hearing and seeing these problems, and seeing the success of Pokémon GO, Joel envisioned combining real-time connections and location-based entertainment, all into one, easy-to-use platform.
What excites you about what you’re building?
Technology and other elements within our world are fracturing human connection and flourishing. The Linxy team has built a product to save people from online scrolling and swiping, and to empower individuals with a tool that shows where the action is happening, and ways to find preferred connections and experiences in your local community, and when you travel. We have an opportunity to revolutionize how people connect, skipping the awkwardness and small talk that don’t offer optimal connection and engagement experiences. Watching individuals and groups come together seamlessly, with a fresh spin on new social interactions, has been an invigorating experience for Joel and the team.
Linxy is also currently building its most robust features yet, and seeing all the early engagement before releasing our next features provides excitement for what new social experiences we can manifest.
What has been your biggest challenge when growing your startup?
The biggest challenge is getting individuals and event hosts to believe in new event software. Everyone has had poor experiences with event and social software, so introducing a new solution can take time and trust to build. Linxy has tackled this by offering free trials and showcasing the app at several large events, while continuously improving product capabilities and user experience.
What are your future plans for your startup?
The future plans for Linxy are to continue advancing features for event hosts and community leaders. With the marketplace lacking quality community-building software, Linxy has set its sights on providing a unique solution that gives business owners and event organizers new tools for growing and expanding their community goals.
Linxy has just begun expanding its services outside Charlotte, NC, where they tested and launched their original product. Now, with the product upgrades launched, Linxy has expanded into Ohio, Tennessee, and Florida. Over the next 12 months, Linxy will be available nationwide, driven by the requests of community leaders and business owners in new cities across the U.S.
If you had to share words of wisdom with a Founder who’s about to start their own startup, what would they be?
Find real problems in the marketplace and envision optimal solutions to those challenges. Then study why no one has solved them before, and understand your competition and the industry.
If you really want to create a thriving business, you must be patient, relentless, and passionate about leading the movement toward the brighter world you envision.
Find people who share a similar passion for solving this problem, and collaborate to move the vision forward with commitment and grit.
Take optimal care of your body, mind, curiosity, and relationships.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can follow Linxy on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, or Youtube with handle @Linxylive
instagram.com/linxylive
https://www.linkedin.com/company/linxylive
https://www.youtube.com/@LinxyLive
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
