XCLUSV

XCLUSV addresses a critical communication gap faced by organizations striving to engage large audiences in an era dominated by digital noise. Organizations often struggle with low engagement rates due to social media algorithms and overloaded email inboxes, which bury essential communications. This results in diminished audience interaction and missed opportunities for revenue and member recruitment.

Globally, the scale of this problem is vast. There are millions of organizations, from nonprofits and civic groups to large corporations, all vying to maintain effective communication with their stakeholders. For instance, the U.S. alone has over 1.5 million nonprofits, and many more professional associations and community organizations that could benefit from improved engagement strategies. XCLUSV's targeted broadcasting technology offers a promising solution by potentially reaching these organizations' vast audiences, which number in the tens of millions globally.

Several factors contribute to the communication challenges that XCLUSV addresses:

1. Social Media Saturation: Organizations find their messages lost among countless others on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where content visibility is governed by opaque algorithms.

2. Email Overload: With professionals receiving an average of over 120 emails per day, important updates from organizations can easily get lost in crowded inboxes.

3. Diverse Communication Needs: Organizations have varied and specific communication needs that often require the segmentation of audiences into subgroups for more targeted messaging, a task traditional platforms handle poorly.

To underscore the urgency of solving these issues, consider that engagement rates on social media can be as low as 0.09% according to a recent report, and open rates for emails continue to decline, now hovering around 20% for most industries. This demonstrates a clear need for more effective communication tools.

XCLUSV enhances civic participation and community dialogue by providing a platform where organizations can directly reach their audience without the interference of third-party algorithms. It offers features like advanced push notifications, which have been shown to increase open rates by up to 50%, and the ability to create segmented communication groups, boosting open rates by another 30%. Such tools not only enhance engagement but also foster a more informed and active community.

In local contexts, the impact of XCLUSV can be significant. For example, a civic organization using XCLUSV can send targeted updates about local elections or community events to specific segments of its audience, ensuring that those most interested or most affected receive the information they need to participate actively.

Globally, XCLUSV's potential is highlighted by the expansive market for Saas products, which is expected to grow exponentially. With its unique positioning, XCLUSV is poised to tap into this growth, providing tailored communication solutions that can adapt to diverse cultural and regulatory environments, thus enhancing global and local civic engagement and dialogue. This makes XCLUSV not just a tool for communication but a platform for fostering global community connectivity and participation.

XCLUSV streamlines organizational communication through a robust web and mobile application designed for both organizations and their members. Here’s how it works:

For Organizations:

• Membership Management: Organizations can upload and manage their entire membership database using XCLUSV's web application. This centralized system allows for efficient handling of large member lists.
• Audience Segmentation: The web application enables organizations to segment their audience into specific groups. This allows for highly tailored communications that are relevant to each segment, enhancing the effectiveness of messaging.
• Admin Roles: Organizations can assign admin roles to specific team members. These admins are responsible for managing members and creating posts that will be broadcasted to the audience.
• Broadcasting Posts: Once segmented and managed, admins can create and send out broadcasted posts directly from the web application to their members' mobile devices.

For Members:

• App Download and Registration: Members begin by downloading the XCLUSV mobile app and accepting an invitation from their organization to join.
• Receiving Broadcasts: Members receive broadcasts directly on their mobile app, ensuring they stay informed with the latest updates and communications from their organization.
• Interactive Engagement: The app allows members to actively engage with the content by responding to polls, surveys, and calls to action included in the organization’s broadcasts.
• Exploring New Connections: Members can use the app not only to interact with their current organization but also to explore and discover other organizations on XCLUSV. They can request private membership for more personalized interactions or follow organizations for general public communications.

XCLUSV is designed for a diverse target population of organizations ranging from non-profits and civic groups to professional associations and community organizations. These entities often face significant challenges in reaching their members due to the limitations of traditional and digital communication channels.

Who are they?

The target population for XCLUSV includes:

1. Non-profits and NGOs: These organizations often operate on limited budgets and require efficient ways to engage with stakeholders and donors to maximize impact and funding opportunities.

2. Professional Associations: These groups need to maintain active engagement with their members to deliver value through industry updates, professional development opportunities, and networking events.

3. Civic Groups: Focused on local or national advocacy, these organizations aim to mobilize members and the public around specific causes or issues, requiring precise and effective communication strategies.

4. Community Organizations: These groups work at the grassroots level and need to communicate effectively with local communities to drive participation in events and initiatives.

How are they underserved?

These organizations are underserved primarily due to the inefficiencies of existing communication platforms:

• Low Engagement Rates: Reliance on platforms controlled by algorithms, such as social media, results in significant content dilution, making it difficult to ensure messages reach their intended audience.

• Overloaded Communication Channels: Traditional methods like email are no longer as effective, with high volumes leading to user fatigue and low open rates.

• Lack of Personalization: Many current tools do not support easy segmentation and personalization of messages, which is critical for increasing relevance and engagement.

How will XCLUSV address their needs?

XCLUSV offers a suite of features tailored to address the specific needs of these organizations by enhancing direct engagement with their audiences:

1. Targeted Broadcasts: XCLUSV allows for the segmentation of audiences into specific groups, enabling organizations to send targeted communications that are relevant and engaging to each subset of their audience.

2. Advanced Notification Features: The platform’s advanced push notification capabilities, including interactive elements like polls and surveys, significantly increase engagement by making communications interactive and attention-grabbing.

3. One-way Broadcasting Platform: This feature ensures that messages are delivered directly to the members' devices, bypassing the noise of social media and crowded email inboxes. This direct line of communication is crucial for urgent updates and mobilization efforts.

4. Omnichannel Ecosystem: XCLUSV supports a comprehensive communication strategy by integrating various channels under one platform, facilitating both private communications with members and public posts to engage the broader community.

By leveraging XCLUSV, these organizations can overcome the challenges posed by traditional and digital communication barriers, ensuring higher engagement rates, more effective mobilization, and sustained interaction with their communities. This direct and targeted approach not only serves the operational needs of these groups but also significantly enhances their ability to drive change and maintain active, informed memberships.

The XCLUSV team, led by Founder and CEO Leon Fowler II, is adept at addressing communication challenges through their diverse personal and professional experiences. Each member has encountered firsthand the barriers and inefficiencies within various professional and civic organizations, giving them a practical understanding of the gaps in effective communication.

This insight is critical in designing XCLUSV's platform, which aims to enhance community dialogue and civic participation by cutting through the noise of traditional communication channels. Their real-world exposure informs the development of a system that ensures messages are not only delivered but also received and engaged with by the intended audiences.

The team's collective background and direct involvement in non-profits and civic groups, enriches our approach. This blend of personal experience and professional expertise allows XCLUSV to offer a robust solution that overcomes traditional communication barriers, fostering clearer, more direct interactions, and enhancing the effectiveness of organizational communication.

Additionally, over a year of beta testing with both local and international organizations has been instrumental in refining XCLUSV. By actively listening to concerns and incorporating feedback, the team has continuously improved the platform's design and functionality. This iterative process ensures that XCLUSV not only meets but exceeds the specific communication needs of its users, making it a transformative tool for organizations striving to enhance engagement and effectively mobilize their communities.

In May 2023, XCLUSV initiated its beta testing phase by onboarding six diverse organizations, ranging from local entities to international groups, with audience sizes spanning from 100 to 13,000 members. This strategic selection allowed XCLUSV to gather varied insights across different scales and geographical contexts, providing a comprehensive testing ground for its mobile app.

During this beta phase, substantial feedback was collected from these organizations, revealing crucial insights into user experience and functionality. Based on this valuable input, significant adjustments were made to the design and development of the mobile application to enhance usability and meet the specific needs of large and dynamic audiences. This iterative process was crucial in refining XCLUSV's offerings to better align with the practical needs of its users.

One significant outcome from the beta testing was the identification of a critical need for a web-based application. This new component was envisioned to provide organizations with robust tools for managing large audiences more effectively, addressing the complexities and scale of operations that come with larger member bases. The development and subsequent launch of this web application marked a pivotal expansion of XCLUSV's platform capabilities.

With the web application completed, XCLUSV shifted its focus towards optimizing its market entry. The waiting list was strategically managed to prioritize organizations with larger audiences, which are better suited to leverage the comprehensive features of the newly developed web platform. This approach allowed XCLUSV to target potential users who could most benefit from and contribute to the platform's ongoing enhancement.

Currently, as XCLUSV rolls out its go-to-market strategies, the company remains in a pre-revenue stage. This period is crucial for testing the market’s response to the platform, refining marketing strategies, and establishing a solid user base that will contribute to sustainable revenue streams in the future. XCLUSV’s strategic focus during this phase is to demonstrate the value and efficiency of its platform to potential clients, thereby setting the stage for a successful commercial launch.

- Financial Support: The $10,000 prize from Solve, along with access to additional funding through grants and investments, provides XCLUSV with crucial capital to refine and execute its go-to-market strategies effectively. This financial backing enables marketing efforts, product development, and scalability plans.

- Media Exposure: Gaining exposure in the media and at conferences through Solve’s platform amplifies XCLUSV's visibility, helping to attract potential users and partners, which is critical during the go-to-market phase.

- Networking Opportunities: Solve’s curated networking opportunities allows XCLUSV to connect with a diverse group of peers and leaders from various industries. These connections can lead to new client relationships and partnerships, expanding XCLUSV's global reach.

- Monitoring and Evaluation Support: For XCLUSV, this means being able to quantify the effectiveness of their platform in enhancing communication and engagement for organizations, an invaluable asset when communicating value to potential clients and investors

XCLUSV stands out as an innovative communication platform by redefining how organizations engage with their audiences in a cluttered digital environment. Its approach combines targeted broadcasting with high levels of personalization and interactivity, bypassing the pitfalls of traditional social media and email communications. Here’s how XCLUSV is setting a new standard for communication tools:

1. Direct and Targeted Communication: Unlike social media platforms that rely on algorithms to determine what content reaches which users, XCLUSV allows organizations to send messages directly to their audiences. This direct line ensures that communications are not lost among other posts or filtered into secondary folders as often happens with emails.

2. Enhanced Engagement through Interactivity: XCLUSV integrates advanced features such as interactive push notifications, which include elements like polls and surveys. This not only increases the open rates by making messages more engaging but also facilitates real-time feedback and interaction, enhancing the user experience and engagement levels.

3. Segmentation Capabilities: XCLUSV enables organizations to categorize their audiences into specific groups based on interests, demographics, or past interactions. This segmentation allows for highly personalized communications, ensuring that the content is relevant to each subset of the audience, thereby increasing engagement and effectiveness.

4. Bypassing Algorithmic Limitations: By avoiding the unpredictability of social media algorithms, XCLUSV ensures that all messages reach their intended recipients, which is particularly crucial for timely or critical communications. This reliability is a significant advantage for organizations that need to ensure wide reach and visibility.

5. Impact Measurement: With built-in tools for monitoring and evaluating the impact of communication campaigns, XCLUSV helps organizations to measure and understand the effectiveness of their communications. This data-driven approach aids in refining strategies and proving ROI, which is invaluable in today’s data-centric world.

By addressing the core challenges faced by organizations in reaching and engaging their audiences effectively, XCLUSV is poised to change the landscape for communication tools. It offers a more reliable, engaging, and measurable method of communication that could become the new standard for organizations looking to maintain a direct and impactful dialogue with their stakeholders.

1. Problem Identification: Organizations struggle to engage their large audiences effectively due to the challenges posed by social media algorithms and overloaded email systems, which lead to low open rates and engagement.

2. Intervention: XCLUSV provides a targeted broadcasting platform that allows organizations to communicate directly with their audiences without the interference of external algorithms or the clutter of crowded inboxes.

3. Activities:

   • Direct Messaging: Sending tailored messages directly to the audience’s mobile devices.
   • Interactive Features: Incorporating interactive elements like polls and surveys to increase engagement.
   • Audience Segmentation: Allowing organizations to categorize their audience into distinct groups for more personalized communication.
   • Unified Communication Platform: Offering a single platform that supports various types of communication (push notifications, public posts, private messages).

4. Outputs:

   • Increased delivery and open rates of messages due to direct and targeted communication.
   • Enhanced engagement from audiences through interactive content and personalized messaging.
   • Higher efficiency in communication management for organizations using a unified platform.

5. Outcomes:

   • Organizations achieve better engagement with their audience, leading to higher participation rates in events, initiatives, and calls-to-action.
   • Improved satisfaction and retention rates among audience members due to more relevant and timely communications.
   • Enhanced ability for organizations to measure the impact of their communications and adjust strategies accordingly.

6. Impact:

   • Organizations are able to maintain a more informed and active community, contributing to sustained growth and success.
   • A shift in the standard communication practices, moving away from reliance on traditional social media and email to more effective and direct methods.

By following this theory of change, XCLUSV aims to create a more efficient and effective environment for organizational communication, ultimately leading to more engaged communities and successful organizational outcomes

1. Enhanced Community Engagement and Participation

Impact: Organizations will see a direct increase in active participation from their audience due to more effective and engaging communication strategies facilitated by XCLUSV. This means higher attendance at events, more responses to calls-to-action, and an overall more vibrant community interaction. Measurement: Track attendance and participation rates at events, analyze the response rates to calls-to-action, and conduct surveys to gauge community satisfaction and engagement.

2. Improved Organizational Efficiency

Impact: XCLUSV's streamlined communication platform reduces the time and resources spent on coordinating multiple communication channels, leading to cost savings and a more focused application of resources toward mission-critical activities. Measurement: Monitor the time and resources spent on communication before and after implementing XCLUSV, and assess cost savings and resource reallocation.

3. Increased Revenue and Funding Opportunities

Impact: With higher engagement rates and more effective communication, organizations are better positioned to mobilize resources through increased fundraising efforts, higher attendance at paid events, or more effective campaigns for donations and grants. Measurement: Evaluate changes in revenue streams from events, donations, and fundraising activities, and track the growth rate of new funding opportunities.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

Impact: The ability to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategies provides organizations with valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t, enabling more strategic approaches in their planning and execution. Measurement: Use analytics tools provided by XCLUSV to gather data on open rates, engagement metrics, and feedback. Perform A/B testing of messages to refine strategies.

5. Building Long-Term Loyalty and Trust

Impact: Personalized and direct communication helps build deeper trust and loyalty among members and stakeholders, which is critical for long-term sustainability. Measurement: Conduct regular feedback sessions and loyalty assessments with members. Measure retention rates and the frequency of member interactions with communications.

6. Broad Social Impact

Impact: Organizations equipped with effective communication tools can better educate, inform, and mobilize their communities around important issues, leading to more informed citizenry and active participation in societal development. Measurement: Track community initiatives and their outcomes, assess public awareness and involvement levels through surveys, and evaluate the societal impact of key projects.

7. Global Reach and Inclusivity

Impact: With the ability to overcome traditional barriers to communication, organizations using XCLUSV can extend their reach globally, connecting with international audiences effortlessly. This promotes inclusivity, ensuring that vital information and opportunities are accessible to a broader and more diverse audience. Measurement: Analyze geographic and demographic data of the audience to assess reach and inclusivity. Evaluate engagement levels across different regions and compare the diversity of participants before and after XCLUSV implementation.

Mobile App

The mobile app is central to XCLUSV's strategy, serving as the primary interface for end-users—members of the organizations using XCLUSV. Its design is tailored for on-the-go access, providing real-time, direct communication that reaches users wherever they are. This immediacy is crucial for ensuring that messages have the highest impact and engagement potential. The app includes features such as:

• Push Notifications: Interactive and immediate, enhancing the likelihood of higher open rates and engagement.
• Personalized Content Delivery: Tailored to user preferences and demographics to ensure relevance.
• Real-Time Interaction: Polls and surveys that can be responded to directly from notifications.

The use of a mobile app allows XCLUSV to leverage the widespread adoption of smartphones, tapping into the habits of users who frequently use their mobile devices for communication, thus ensuring that messages are not only delivered but also seen and interacted with promptly.

Web Application

The web application complements the mobile app by providing a robust backend platform for organizations to manage their communication efforts effectively. It’s designed for administrators and communication teams to orchestrate and analyze their outreach campaigns. Key features include:

• Audience Segmentation Tools: Sophisticated options for dividing audiences into targeted groups based on various criteria, enabling personalized communication strategies.
• Campaign Management: Tools to create, schedule, and deploy messaging campaigns.
• Analytics and Reporting: Dashboards to track engagement metrics, analyze the effectiveness of different strategies, and refine approaches based on data-driven insights.

The web application is crucial for handling the complexities associated with managing large audiences and diverse message types. It provides the necessary infrastructure to support detailed administration and strategic planning, which might be cumbersome on a mobile interface. This platform ensures that organizations can maintain an overarching view of their communications, manage large datasets, and perform extensive analytical tasks.

Integrated Approach

The decision to use both a mobile app and a web application stems from the need to serve both the end-users (audience members) and the organizations effectively. While the mobile app prioritizes user engagement through direct communication, the web application focuses on the administrative and analytical needs of organizations. This dual approach allows XCLUSV to offer a comprehensive communication solution that is not only user-friendly but also powerful enough to handle the backend needs of large, diverse organizations looking to communicate at scale.

1 Full Time

2 Contractors

2 Years

XCLUSV's commitment to diversity was prominently reflected through its leadership and team composition. As a Black male CEO and our previous co-founder being a Black female, XCLUSV set a strong example inspiring a culture of inclusivity within the organization. This commitment extended to the broader team, where 9 out of the 10 contractors and part-time workers were people of color, demonstrating XCLUSV’s proactive approach to maintaining a diverse workforce. Such representation at all levels fostered an environment where different perspectives were valued, enhancing creativity and innovation.

XCLUSV operates under a business-to-business (B2B) Software as a Service (SaaS) model, targeting organizations that require effective communication tools to engage with their large audiences.

XCLUSV's subscription model is designed to cater flexibly to the varying needs of organizations based on the size of the audience they wish to reach per post. This approach allows organizations to choose subscription tiers that align closely with their communication volume, ensuring they only pay for what they need. The subscription tiers are structured to accommodate organizations with different recipient capacities, which includes basic, standard, and premium levels, each offering a set maximum number of recipients per post—from small groups up to 5,000 recipients.

For larger organizations or those with unique needs, XCLUSV offers an enterprise tier. This tier is particularly versatile because it allows organizations to specify the exact number of recipients they need to reach. The pricing for the enterprise tier is then calculated based on this number, providing a custom solution that ensures organizations are not overpaying for unnecessary capacity while still receiving all the necessary features and support tailored to their larger scale.

XCLUSV has successfully secured significant non-dilutive funding from several sources, enhancing its financial stability as it prepares to launch publicly. The startup received $70,000 from the Act Tulsa accelerator, which is known for supporting Black and Brown Founders who demonstrate potential for growth and innovation. Additionally, XCLUSV was awarded $5,000 from Builders and Backers through their Pebble non-dilutive funding initiative. Furthermore, XCLUSV also obtained a grant of $2,500 from Build in Tulsa's Boost Grant program, which supports entrepreneurs in Tulsa with funding to accelerate their business growth.

As XCLUSV moves forward, the plan is to generate revenue through the onboarding of new clients who subscribe to the service. The variety of subscription tiers offered allows flexibility for a wide range of organizations, from small non-profits to large enterprises, fitting their specific communication needs and budgets. This strategy is expected to kick-start a sustainable revenue stream as XCLUSV establishes itself in the market, leveraging the initial non-dilutive funding to maximize its reach and impact during the critical early stages of its public launch.