A Buffalo-based software startup, founded three years ago, has landed a major regional client. The company's founder hopes this partnership serves as an example to other bigger businesses, by encouraging them to help other smaller companies get off the ground.
ClearView Social was launched in 2014 by Adrian Dayton, who moved to Buffalo from Utah to attend law school. His company, he explained, uses software to help clients identify the ideal times and social media platforms on which to deliver key messages.
"A marketer or administrator within the firm chooses the articles or news that they want the employees to share, plugs it into our software and then the employees receive an email, asking them to push a button," Dayton explained. "They push one button and it will schedule that article to be shared to their social networks."
Dayton explained that companies face obstacles including a lack of time for employees to do more of the social media groundwork, as well as a lack of "buy in" by some employees.
The company began by working with law firms, then expanded into accounting and employee recruitment firms. More recently, it signed into a partnership with Monro Muffler Brake, a Rochester-based company with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Monro operates more than 1,100 retail outlets nationwide under numerous brands, including Mr. Tire, Kost Tire, Car-X and Tire King.
Dayton says Buffalo's environment is ideal for startups. He noted that his own company was among the first businesses developed through STARTUP NY and the Z80 incubator. But he says for smaller, newer businesses to reach the next level, they need other bigger, more established businesses to take a chance, like Monro did.
"There are a lot of big companies in Buffalo that are sponsoring startup events, or there's 43North, and that's great. But what startups in town really need is we need local companies to give our products and our services a try," Dayton said. "If we can be successful with the local companies, it'll make it that much easier to grow nationally."
