The Startup Bad Pitch: Klip Social Video App

It's been nearly two years since last outing someone on the Bad Pitch blog because it's taken this long for a bad pitch to achieve a new level of suck. Somehow it's fitting that a startup is innovating in this area -- using technology and questionable communication tactics to up the ante.

Klip Crosses the Line to Compete
Klip has everything a startup needs: millions in funding, a San Francisco-based headquarters and an app best described with shiny new words like mobile, social video and sharing.

Unfortunately Klip is so focused on building a user base, perhaps to differentiate from competitors like Viddy, Color, Socialcam and Tout, it's taking over-aggressive steps that you'd expect from a heavy-handed spam farm.

So-Called Invite = Mass Email
When Klip's email invite pinged me on Friday, evening it was quick to point out Apple "recently named it App of the Week." I've used video sharing apps in the past so I installed it.

Smart apps like Instagram, and websites like Pinterest, make it easy to sign up and use their platform by accessing your Facebook or Twitter profile information. Some apps will also use this access to help users find others on the platform you may already know.

Spam Tactics
Every. Single. Time. I've done this in the past, it's been a good experience. If the platform also wanted to use my information to invite my friends to the platform, or to post my activity as a status update to Twitter or to Facebook, it alerted me of their intent. I was also given the option to stop this from happening.

Klip does NOT make its intent clear. So I got a well-earned "wtf" from friends on Facebook and Twitter when my first, and only, use of Klip polluted my social stream. After deleting all of the activity, I deleted the app.

From Spam to Worse
On Saturday I received two more invites to download the app. Each invite was sent to a different email address. And on the new invites, "people you may know on Klip" are shown to encourage you to download the app. The invites served up my own name and picture.

So not only was it spamming me across accounts to get me to use Klip, it took information gleaned from a single use to invite others. And the invite said I was a user after I deleted the app.

Shame On Me, Or On Terms of Service?
After this all took place, it became obvious I'm not the only one being spammed by Klip's so-called invite emails. And I've learned its "recent" app of the week accolade is at least four months old.

But I regret not questioning the initial, unrequested email or looking at setup more closely. Klip's terms of service surely spells out all of this sketchy marketing. A terms of service can help ensure there's no confusion, but it shouldn't be the single way you tell users how their information will be used.

In hindsight, the following quote from Klip's vp of marketing is telling.

"We know that it's essential to enable as many users as possible to join and engage with the community wherever they are." -- via this recent interview 

Klip's over-aggressive focus on building a user base is doing less to enable and engage and doing more to violate and enrage.

Do High Stakes Cause Short Cuts?
As a mentor for The Brandery, a marketing-focused venture accelerator, it was tough for me to call out a startup. I know that all startups can/do/should make mistakes. Launching a company requires a broad set of skills, usually broader than a startup's core subject expertise.

Klip's is not a mistake made unknowingly. The year-old startup includes a CEO and vp of marketing with tenures at companies, including YouTube, Apple, Deloitte and even Ogilvy. They know better. And now you do too. So don't download the Klip video app.