Balloon, a Mansfield SunDown RunDown alum, has now raised $2.1 million

Fledgling company Balloon announced today that it has raised $2.1 million in seed funding, led by angel investor Jason Calacanis, who was an early investor in Uber. Balloon, however, has nothing to do with the sharing economy. Rather it is a workplace communication platform similar to Slack but anonymous so co-workers can share ideas without the fear of judgement or failure. The idea is that in-real-life workplace meetings are unproductive because they are monopolized by senior-level management, said Balloon co-founder and CEO Amanda Greenberg, adding that many people don't feel comfortable sharing in such a setting. Because of this, according to Greenberg, many good ideas are never born. Greenberg founded Balloon with her husband, Noah Bornstein, in 2015 in order to create a product that allowed merit-based ideas to balloon to the surface of the company. "We wanted a name that really captured the movement. Information is being ballooned, pumped up and taking off in a company,” said Greenberg. While this is Greenberg's first startup, Balloon already has some big name customers, including Capital One, Thumbtack, Google, US Cellular, and the LA Angels. Balloon makes money by billing customers an annual subscription. Here’s how Balloon can work: At the end of a big project, a company can seek feedback on what worked and what didn't. Employees can post anonymously and click on the balloon icon, similar to a “Like.” Posts with the most balloon clicks rise up above the lesser ones. If someone has a really good idea that gets a lot of balloon pumps, as Greenberg calls them, the employee has the option of casting away their anonymity and revealing themselves to certain people or everyone. All nine of Ballon’s employees work remotely, but five are based in San Francisco. With the new capital, Greenberg expects to hire several employees and set up a brick-and-mortar office somewhere in San Francisco in the new year.

Balloon, a Mansfield SunDown RunDown alum, has now raised $2.1 million
crossmenu linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram