Q&A with Slash - mobile search engine inside your keyboard

In this post we are talking to Cem Kozinoglu, co-founder and CEO of Slash, Techstars '15 company from New York City.

1. What is Slash in 140 characters?

Slash is a mobile search engine built right inside your keyboard, so you don’t ever have to leave your conversation to find and share information.

2. Why did you start the company?

My lifelong passion has been search engines, and last decade has been mobile. I strongly feel mobile search is broken, and I wanted to take a shot at it.

3. What does your product do?

This video is worth more than thousand words, please watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hUNeRcZ-WQ&feature=youtu.be

4. What are cool tech challenges about building Slash?

We are learning how to build data structures that improves your typing experience. Ton of search algorithms, tree structures and optimizing memory and resource consumption.We are also figuring out ways to learn where users fingers land so we can adjust our keyboard per users physical properties. Heatmaps.Slash is A-Z computer science, from 101 classes to PHD level classes we are facing core algorithmic challenges.Fun does not end there, we are also figuring out cross platform challenges and see how we can enable Slashes cross platform on the top of cross app.It is a trojan horse, and from networking to data structures, from core algorithms to search problems, limited memory issues to iOS limits, it is all there to be tackled :)

5. What are top things your users love about Slash?

How simple it is to use and how liberating it is to be able to access and share any information without switching apps. Oh and Gifs and Stickers, but who doesn’t love them ;)

6. How do you go about marketing consumer app like Slash?

We have focused tactics that we are deploying depending on what version launches we are doing and why.For example we did our first launch at Product Hunt, and wanted get tech crowds feedback as they are honest and very detail oriented. We learned our lesson and did another launch which got featured in App Store, won the Product of the year at PH, announced our funding at TechCrunch and few other publications.Now we are learning from a broader audience. Next, we will be much more aggressive to keep the momentum and let’s keep what is coming a secret for now to surprise our current and future users :)Long story short, don’t afraid to release your product out there, as long as you can move and execute fast, and adjust your marketing depending on what your goal is. Oh and don’t just rely on PR, find ways to engage with your audience organically.

7. What is your long-term vision for the company?

Become the cross-platform, cross-app mobile search engine.

8. What is your advice to your fellow founders?

Go fast, fail fast, learn fast, build fast, break fast, and do not give up fast. Listen to your gut feeling, because there are no limits other than yourself when you have ambitious goals.Surround yourself with smart if not genius mentors who you trust and respect and vice versa. Get the right strategic partners on your side fast.1000% apply to Techstars, create an awesome network, tap into Alumni, and kill it at the Demo day, amazing things happen, I promise.