Investing in Equality
Supporting LGBTQ+ Businesses with Pride Mobile App
Episode 005
In our latest podcast episode of Gay in America, we bring you an insightful conversation with Jonathan Pritchard, a visionary entrepreneur on a mission to transform the LGBTQ+ experience in America. Tune in as we delve into the journey behind his groundbreaking app that connects LGBTQ+ individuals to owned and friendly businesses across the nation.
🌈 Episode Highlights:
🔍 Mapping Out Inclusivity: Jonathan's app redefines the way LGBTQ+ individuals discover businesses that align with their values and create safe spaces. From restaurants to services, explore how this app is reshaping the concept of LGBTQ+ community support.
💡 From Idea to Impact: Follow Jonathan's inspiring journey from conception to creation as he shares the challenges and triumphs he faced while developing an app that could transform the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals.
💪 Empowering the Community: Discover how Jonathan's app is not only facilitating business connections but also empowering LGBTQ+ individuals to have a say in the inclusivity of these establishments through user ratings and reviews.
🌎 Global Impact: Explore how this app has the potential to transcend boundaries, uniting LGBTQ+ communities worldwide and fostering a sense of belonging no matter where you are.
📣 Join the Movement: Dive into the episode to learn how you can support Jonathan's vision by promoting inclusive businesses, downloading the app, and even exploring investment opportunities to amplify LGBTQ+ empowerment.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and gain insights into the transformative power of technology in creating a more inclusive and supportive LGBTQ+ America.
Remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with your friends to spread the word about this revolutionary app and its mission to empower LGBTQ+ communities! 🌟🏳️🌈 #GayInAmericaPodcast #LGBTQ+Empowerment.
Pride Mobile App Website
Pride Mobile App Facebook Group
Download Pride Mobile App for iPhone
Download Pride Mobile App for Android
America’s LGBT Economy Report - NGLCC
Startup Accelerator for LGBTQ+ Founders | StartOut Growth Lab
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Host (00:05):
Gay in America is an oral history podcast sharing experiences of gay people from all orientations, backgrounds, and ages in America. Our goal is to inspire each other to live our best gay lives and help us all understand that our shared experiences unite us as a community. Today's guest has created an app that he hopes one day will make it possible for anyone to find an LGBTQA plus owned or supported business no matter where they are in the world. But developing an app hasn't exactly been easy. Regardless of the challenges. Jonathan says the app could help us all be safer and more economically powerful.
Jonathan (01:03):
I am Jonathan Pritchard, 52, and I'm from the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
(01:17):
So I was living in Kenneth City, which is a suburb of St. Petersburg, Florida, and there was a yacht club that reached out to me. My background is food and beverage, mostly private clubs, yacht clubs, and country clubs. And they asked me to interview for a job and they said, you can have the job if you'll be here in a week there. Yacht Club was on the East coast of Florida, and I was living on the west coast of Florida. So my, uh, partner and I started doing some research to see if there was any place where we could meet people because I'd never lived on that side of the state. State. I've lived off and on in the Tampa Bay area for many years, knew a lot of people around here. We found what we thought was three gay bars in the area. When we got over there, there was none.
(02:00):
The last one had burned to the ground, so the closest place to go out and meet people was Orlando and rra. And I just don't drink and drive like that. So I started asking some of the kids at, at work, there was a couple gay people, and I said, well, where do gay people meet? Nowhere? And I'm all like, well, like in Sarasota, there's an Outback Steakhouse on Tuesday nights. The group gets, there's nothing like that over here. And everybody's like, no. And even there was a pride, but it was so well hidden that we lived there for three years and didn't even realize there was pride.
Host (02:34):
What began as a self-centered desire to find others in the community, however, developed into a desire to support the community in a much bigger way.
Jonathan (02:43):
The Yacht Club would send me out to spend their money. Uh, they would send me to places where I had classes to go to or seminars to go to a Manager's Association of America seminar. And they didn't care where I spent their money. So I started looking for gay owned hotels. Not necessarily gay operated, but gay owned hotels. They were impossible to find. It brought up Hilton. It brought up days in and after I yacht left the yacht club, I was doing some medical transportation, one non-emergency. I take people to their, to their destination, and I either go and pick somebody else up or I wait on them. So I was doing audio books at the time and I cro come across this audio book and this guy said, most million dollar ideas come out of necessity. And I got right on my phone and I started to look for a place to pitch my idea.
(03:37):
And I found a website who put me in touch with five developers. And the first four developers were like, unless you got a hundred thousand dollars, we're not even gonna talk to you. The last one was, wait a second, I wanna pitch this to our board. Can I have 24 hours? And I said, sure. He called me back in 24 hours and he says, they're very interested, but we wanna research the idea. Can you gimme another 24 hours? And I said, sure. And they came back and they gave me a dollar amount to do wire frames, which if you don't know, is a mockup. I paid for that. And a month later we had a, we had a total on what it would cost to do the app. Now it's doubled that <laugh>, that cost. That's how the app started. And that was, uh, February of 2020 that I paid for the wireframes. And in April, I paid for the development of the Google app. And it took us about a year to get in the Google Play Store. Right before we came out in the Google Play Store, I paid for the Apple app and it came out. So in June of 2021, the Google app came out. In December of 2021, the Apple app came out.
Host (04:54):
The concept of a gay business directory isn't really new.
Jonathan (05:00):
The first thing I do when I landed to a city is I wanna see where the gay people are. The gay community has always been loyal. Back in the day you found the closest gay bar. You went in there and there was a magazine and it would have maps of the places that you could go. There was the gay pages, there was the pink pages, there was the triangle pages, depending on what part of the country you were in. And then the, the, the guide of all guides, the Damron guide and all those guides have gone online, but they're not up to date. I had one site scraped for the businesses. I got 5,600 businesses. I called everyone or did internet searches. If I couldn't get ahold of somebody, only 800 of those businesses were still open. So my solution to that in the app was that we do a rating system because you can't police whether place is gay friendly. The only way you're going to know is if you get 15 people that say, I went in here and I was mistreated, and then I can delete them outta the app within seconds. You know, if a business is closed, I can get it outta the app within seconds so I can go in and check the rating systems.
(06:21):
The gay buying power in the United States is 3.7 trillion, trillion dollars. You know, I said on online a while, uh, and got attacked about it. You know, that we could cripple any business. I don't want to cripple any business. I just wanna take my business elsewhere. They don't want my money. That's fine. I don't want to force you to bake a cake. I don't wanna force you to build a website. For me. There's 5.4 million businesses in the United States that already cater to the Lgbtqiaa plus community. I feel I would rather give my money to a gay owned business.
Host (07:00):
The app itself is pretty simple and has some interesting features.
Jonathan (07:09):
So when you open the app, the first page should show you the businesses that are closest to you. And then when you go to the map, it shows you the ps. And there's three different colors. There's one for gay owned, gay operated, gay friendly. In the next update, you'll be able to search by each one of those categories and then be able to search by the the subcategories. The other thing I want to do is I want some sort of loyalty program so that businesses can offer discounts through the app along with push notification. So if you're driving by Jonathan's Florist and I off, and I'm offering 10% off in the app, I can send a push notification out saying, Hey, we're, we've got 10% off today, which gives people a reason to open the app. And then, you know, we've talked about badges so that you leave so many reviews, you get a badge and just little things
Host (08:00):
Before this app can actually be useful. On a big scale though, Jonathan says he needs more businesses to create profiles for customers to search.
Jonathan (08:12):
So we, we haven't talked about the three accounts that there are with the app. I always wanted there to be a free business account because I want every business to be able to be on there. And then there's a paid subscription, which is $59 a month or $599 a year. So you save some, if you pay by the year, you can do unlimited pictures. You can put more than one location in which the free one doesn't do. You can put your website in. You can put whether your're, dog friendly, a few other things. And with the next upgrade, the push notifications and, and the others loyalty program will go into effect on the paid one. And of course, it's free for users. So when you sign up as as a business, you get a choice. So you're gay owned, you gay operated, gay friendly, then you choose whether you are a accommodation bar, restaurant or services. It's capable worldwide right now. But right now I'm focusing on the United States.
Host (09:09):
As many entrepreneurs know, having an idea is one thing, making it work financially. Well, that's another thing.
Jonathan (09:25):
I went through a business accelerator, I learned a mountain of things, but they didn't know what to do with me. They had not dealt with an L B G T Q I a business within their hyper accelerator. And when they got done, they're all like, who do we give him to pitch to? Most of the people with money that I'm pitching to are straight white males that have never been discriminated against.
(09:50):
It has, it has been a struggle. I know my, my other half would wish that it, it would take off or go away. Um, that's, that's kind of where he is because the app has become a full-time job and I'm still working a job right now. I'm doing medical transportation and Uber and Lyft to keep the bills paid. And it's come to the point where I've stopped investing in the app because it, I just can't anymore. So I'm maintaining that and doing what I can with through social media for, for free. Uh, I have had a few people that have come on board with percentages that have, that are helping me out. Some influencers, a social media marketing person. In the beginning it was a lot of fun and you know, it was, it was kind of, if I build it, they will come in a way. They have, you know, there's 4,000 businesses in the United States listed in the app, about 200 outside the country. There's probably about 15,000 users of the app, but there's no reason for them to open it daily. So the next upgrade that we have in the works will do that, but at this point, it's going to take some investment and some marketing.
Host (11:10):
Jonathan is willing to overcome these challenges because he focuses on the benefits the app will have for the community.
Jonathan (11:20):
For me, in the beginning it was about finding gay owned businesses. Socially we have changed, apps have changed our lives. We're more accepted. We can lay in bed in our pajamas and find someone to meet up with. The gay operated businesses have been in decline. 10 years ago, there was over 3000 lesbian bars in the country. Today there's less than 20. Even in my area, you know, the smaller cities that used to have gay operated businesses are, are long since gone. And you've gotta go to the Orlandos and the Tampas and the St. Petersburg and the New York cities to, to find these businesses.
(11:59):
So last year I had an issue at the house. We had to call an insurance adjuster in. He comes to my home, sees that I'm a gay man, and blatantly tells me that his daughter's gay. He doesn't speak to her, he doesn't want to do business with gay people. You know that we're an abomination and so on and so forth. If you are transgender, especially in the climate that it is today, the people that you invite into your house, you wanna make sure that they're not going to accost you. I see the app for some young LGBTQI plus person in the middle of Iowa, opening the app and finding a safe haven. I could see the app saving lives.
Host (12:55):
The Prime app is out there and people are downloading and using it.
Jonathan (12:59):
I'm seeing about 500 a month with the work that we're doing. It, it's all about marketing. And one of the things I learned from the hyper accelerator is maybe I need to start in Florida. You know, just 'cause I have a good following here already. There's a lot of businesses in Orlando, Tampa, St. Pete, south Florida's growing, and it seems like a place to start and it won't take that many paying businesses for the app to start generating enough money to start marketing several states at a time. There's a good amount of businesses in New York City. So I would probably do Florida and just New York City and then start with Georgia, north and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and start working that way with maybe picking some larger cities in the Midwest, in, in California to market to anywhere that people will travel, I think is a good place to start because they'll take it back with them.
(13:52):
And Orlando's, uh, Orlando's it, you know, so it's, it's all about exposure right now. And, and I worry about that myself. So my, my plan has always been the more businesses, the more users, the more paying businesses. So with the 4,000 businesses listed in the app and it is growing, you know, I mean, I see, I see probably a couple dozen a month signing up as they come across it. At this point, I need to start finding users in the cities where there are businesses. I truly believe at this point, if I invested less than a hundred thousand dollars in the state of Florida for advertising that the ad would start paying for itself.
Host (14:36):
But this is where Jonathan could really use the community's help.
Jonathan (14:41):
You don't find businesses in your area. Tell all your favorite businesses that you already know that are gate friendly, you know, tell your favorite businesses to join. They can for free.
Host (15:03):
Remember, our community has an estimated $3.7 trillion worth of economic power. In my humble opinion, Jonathan's app could really help our community concentrate that power by allowing us to find each other and spend our money within the community. First, if you want to help Jonathan get this app off the ground, there are a few things you could do. First, if you know any LGBTQA Plus owned or friendly businesses, tell them about the app so they can make their free or premium profile. Second, Jonathan needs investment to push the gas pedal on marketing. If you're someone looking for an investment opportunity, reach out to Jonathan. He has an investor plan you'll want to hear. And finally, download and use the app. It's actually pretty cool. There are links in the show notes where you can learn more about and download the app. This podcast is produced by me at Open Roads Media, L L C, and features new episodes each month. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share with your friends. Leaving Positive Reviews helps a lot more than you think it does, and we do love hearing from you. Tell us how this podcast has impacted your life. Go to our website where you can drop us a voice message. We may include it in a future episode of Gay in America.
(16:51):
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Host (17:05):
Thank you so much for listening to the Gay in America podcast and keep coming back for more inspiring stories about being gay in America.
