It’s cool to be kind—a mantra Austin Kevitch seeks to promote. Bucknell graduate and former Bucknell football player, Austin Kevitch ’14 has taken, both, experience and determination to create an application that seeks to promote kindness through the means of technology. The application, called Brighten, allows users to connect with their friends, yet retain anonymity when sharing positive compliments and jokes.
After the passing of his close friend Oliver, in March of 2013, Austin quickly took note of positive memories continually shared on Oliver’s Facebook wall. Inspired, Austin, along with his friend Alec, created a “compliment box,” composing of note cards, a pen, and a box. The box was placed outside their campus house. Word quickly spread across campus, and the compliment box became an immediate hit. The popularity of the compliment box motivated Austin to take it a step further by creating Brighten.
Her Campus Bucknell had the opportunity to interview Austin days before the official launch of Brighten on iTunes.
I read that the idea of Brighten came to you after the passing of your friend. Once you had the idea, what was your initial step?
The first step was to build a prototype to see if people actually wanted to use it. A prototype doesn’t necessarily have to be the product itself. To test the concept of Brighten, I bought a small box and wrote “Compliment Box” on the lid (probably looked like a 10 year old wrote it). I left it on a table with a pen and some notecards. Students wrote stuff about their friends on the notecards and dropped them in the Compliment Box. Everyone would gather around as we opened the box and read the compliments aloud. Some notes were lovey dovey, and others were hilarious. They were fun to write.
What has been the biggest obstacle in forming Brighten?
Probably the personal sacrifices. I stayed home last year to work on Brighten full time. Most of my friends got jobs in other cities and I was jealous that they got to explore new places and meet new people. I definitely had some FOMO. A lot of people, even people close to me, nudged me to give up and get a “real” job. Taking a big life risk is really scary. Thank god I had my little brother at home to play with.
Contrasting, what has been the easiest aspect in forming Brighten?
I can’t think of one aspect that’s specifically easy. But I wake up every day excited and I’m so grateful for the opportunities it has given me. I get to live by the beach and meet with investors and celebrities (and pretend that I don’t wanna take a selfie with them). I get to bring an app into the world that’s gonna make a lot of people smile. Most importantly, I get to work with teammates that constantly make me laugh. I’m lucky. It’s not easy and ‘steering the ship’ is a lot of times scary. But it’s definitely worth it.
Brighten has an anonymous aspect to it. How is Brighten different from Yik Yak?
I think the reason for the occasional gossip/bullying/bomb threats on Yik Yak is because there’s no profiles (sense of identity). Users feel totally de-individualized. The anonymity becomes a mask to hide behind and the audience is huge.
Brighten is different because each user has a profile AKA an actual identity in the app. The anonymity is a fun feature to remove awkwardness, not a mask to hide behind. On Brighten you’re only interacting with close friends (added from phone contacts), so it’s easy to maintain a playful yet positive culture.
I’m obviously biased, but I think its way more fun to read posts on Brighten since there’s context to each message; it’s written to you or one of your best friends.
What did Bucknell teach you that you continue to carry forward?
I had a lot of awesome professors but most of what I learned came from outside of the classroom. Playing four years of football was the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Bucknell football taught me that often in life, sh*t happens. You can’t control certain events, but you can always control how you respond. And if you keep responding the right way, you’ll eventually get the outcome you want.
Football taught me that nothing in life is just handed to you. It takes a ton of discipline and constant reflection/improvement to even have just a chance to win. I also learned a lot about leadership/management from my coaches and teammates. It’s not easy to keep a group of people (in this case 100 dudes) focused on achieving the same goal. Props to our coaches for keeping us organized.
On the other hand again, what has the real world taught you that Bucknell never did?
The real world has taught me that IQ doesn’t mean sh*t.
EQ correlates with success way more than IQ does. Google “EQ.” A lot of successful people got awful grades in school yet crush it because of their EQ.
The first year out of college (the “freshman year of life”) is really tough. It’s difficult to find an appealing job out of college, especially as the economy becomes more global. If you learn how to understand, empathize, and motivate other people… there will always be a role for you.
What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
First of all, be yourself. The world worships the original.
Take classes you’re actually interested in. I made a big mistake during my first 3 years of college. I only took classes that I thought would help me become rich. I wasn’t excited to learn the subjects and I barely retained any information. It was a waste of time. If money is the only motivation, it never works.
I wish I had the self-awareness as a freshman to list my personal strengths and interests. Think about what you loved to do as a child. Embrace your weirdness. Every single person has unique passions/skills. Forget about your weaknesses! If you’re passionate about a topic, you’ll be way more excited and curious to learn. I think a wise man once said, “do what you love and the money will come.” It’s true, plus doing what you love makes learning (and life after college) a lot more enjoyable.
Our generation has a big advantage: we can learn anything on the internet. During senior year, I took a lot of online courses about product design. Any skill can be learned.
Read up on EQ. Check out the book “How To Win Friends And Influence People.” Empathy is an invaluable skill for entrepreneurs.
Where do you see Brighten in five years? What are your career aspirations as of now?
I see Brighten helping millions of people feel appreciated. Hopefully it becomes a habit that pours into real life.
I’m not sure what my career aspirations are yet. I love to sing like Frankie Valli but apparently I suck at it. I have fun creating things and making people laugh. From tech to filmmaking. I guess you can call me an artist? I need some tattoos (to look more like an artist). Don’t show this to my mom.
Quick Facts:
Fun Fact: Also played football at Bucknell (Quarterback)
Major: Management
Graduation: ’14
Occupation/Position: Co-founder/CEO @ Brighten Labs, Inc.
P.S. – please give a shout-out to my team Pomp: Jensen, Alec, Misbin, and Tim (AKA Chilly/Mitch/Dawson’s Creek). Brighten is nothing without them.