Congrats to Ally Downey, Melissa Post and Jack Downey, co-founders of WeeSpring for being our fifth PITCH finalist!
By Jessica Schimm (Assistant Editor, Women 2.0)
We are excited to be announcing our fifth PITCH Finalist today! In case you’re not caught up, our PITCH finalist startups announced to date are awesomely serving incoming college students and universities (admitted.ly, CollegeAppz), foodie/travelers (Traveling Spoon) , and consumers and merchants (Daily Dollar).
This startup addresses a bit of a different crowd, who’s dealing with a little more of a life changing event: new and expecting parents.
Ally Downey, Melissa Post, and Jack Downey all of whom have three children under the age of three among them, are experts in word-of-mouth marketing whose careers span publishing, politics, consumer finance, and strategy consulting.
The company was founded in September 2012 and provides new and expecting parents with product reviews, particularly from their most trusted sources -friends and family. See the company description below for more information.
Company Description
weeSpring helps parents collect advice from their friends about what they need for their family, from strollers and sippycups to apps and ultimately — appliances. Â It’s consumer reports for the Facebook generation, with unparalleled user engagement. Â Since launching in January, they’ve seen 25% month-over-month growth and today have more reviews on the products on their site than most major retailers.
Team Bio
Ally’s entrepreneurial spirit dates back to elementary school, when she had a face-painting business for birthday parties, and it’s carried her through roles with Random House, Eliot Spitzer, and Credit Suisse. She has an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and a BA from Colby College. Melissa spent her early professional years in digital marketing strategy at Monitor Group, then went on to lead the American Express website re-design, helping garner the JD Power award for customer satisfaction. Jack centralized New York’s digital marketing under Governors Spitzer and Paterson, coordinating all state webmasters for a major rebrand. Both Melissa and Jack attended Dartmouth College and NYU Stern.
Jessica Schimm (@JessicaSchimm) is the assistant editor at Women 2.0. She is a recent graduate of San Francisco State where she earned a B.A. in journalism and was the editor-in-chief of SF State’s Her Campus chapter. She has a strong interest in women’s issues and writes about them on her blog Women Who Run San Francisco.