Tinsley Merrill is the Chief Revenue Officer and one of the co-founders of Pairr. Pairr is a new experience platform that connects members with customized events from popular brands influencers and artists. Users sign up on www.pairr.com and select activities/experiences and brands that interest them. Pairr partners with brands to bring a unique event experience to users. Users are invited to exclusive events based on their interests and geographic location. I had a conversation with Tinsley about her experiences growing the platform and how she got on board with the startup.
Launching an ecosystem like Pairr takes more than one person.
“When I met my two co-founders the platform was open market to brand, but we had to figure out how to bring consumers in,” said Merrill. “I saw an opportunity through the influencer marketplace as well as connecting with Gen Z and Millennials. I began my career working in Influencer marketing with Reward Style. In that role I matched brands with influencers based on their goals and target market. I’d go to events where I met bloggers and interacted with different brands. I felt there was a huge gap in the market. It was then that I saw an opportunity for experiential marketing.”
Merrill interned every semester while she was a student at Southern Methodist University, which helped narrow down her career interests. Her entrepreneurial interests were peaked by her sister Brittany Merrill-Underwood, who started the Akola Project in 2007. Tinsley met the founder of Bumble on SMU’S campus, and interned with the then start-up to grow its campus ambassador program. While studying abroad in London, she interned with Latimer, where she learned about crowdsourcing.
After meeting her two co-founders in 2018, Merrill was eager to jump on board. The technology for the platform had already existed, but Merrill helped create a vision and brought it to life. The vision was to ‘pairr’ brands with users based on their target market. Not solely to provide users with an opportunity to buy products, but instead experience them.
The first Pairr experience with Red Bull was launched on SMU’s campus. With the first launch the platform gained 1000 users within the first month.
For the co-founders, their biggest challenge is running a start up with only four employees in the office. Time management is critical in ensuring that tasks are completed, and everything is aligned with current branding.
“Anyone can copy or recreate an idea,” Merrill believes. “What sets you apart is creating a concept that becomes a lifestyle brand and no one can copy that.”
So, what’s next for Pairr? Expansion. They are growing crazy fast with new developments in Austin and Houston. Their goal is to continue creating unique experiences, reach new markets, and improve their strategies.
“Our generation needs experience and needs purpose,” she says. “No better purpose than sharing your story with other people. Let’s take over Texas!”