It is Vine, Instagram and Yelp combined into one solid app.
University of Central Florida welcomed, creator of UpDog, Bree Goldstein, with
open arms last Friday (September 14th. 2015) to tell students about
the trials and tribulations that comes along with building an app. “I don’t
know why food is such a huge trend on instagram, but it’s huge and I like it,”
said Goldstein when she was describing her app to students. To follow the trend
with apps such as Yelp and Instagram, her goal for creating UpDog was to have
people review businesses in the moment with quick 15-second reaction videos. It
is an easy way for people to submit something without lacking authenticity.
However, creating
the app itself was not such an easy task. Goldstein explained that when
starting such a long and tedious creative process it is crucial to “find the
right people to fit into your plan” she said, “if you don’t have the right
people, then how do you expect the right outcome?”
With a
group of 50 students sitting into her lecture, some there to just hang out and
some, like UCF sophomore, Telly Howard, want to create their own app in the
future. “You mentioned you started this with no money, what advice can you give
to students who are wanting to start their own app like you did?” asked Howard.
“Well, to be quite honest with you, always prepare for a pivot. Things are not
going to go right from the get-go, but if you are determined, nothing should
stop you… not even funding,” said Goldstein.
The idea of
UpDog came to Goldstein after many months of thinking about a good name. At
first, she called her app ‘OhDamn’ but when bringing it up to her mother, she
realized having a curse word in her app was not the smartest choice. “It is
almost embarrassing to think about,” explained Goldstein, “like, if someone
came up to you and asked how ‘OhDamn’ was working out, you’d kind of hesitate
because hearing it from someone else sounded gross,” she said smiling.
Goldstein
headed over to her computer and proceeded to play a compilation of clips from
the show where Steve Carell’s character, Michael, proceeds to go around to his
coworkers and asks the simple question “Do you smell that updog?” and snickers
as their responses trigger them to say “What’s updog?”
The whole
room thunders in launder because evidently, everyone has a little bit of
immaturity in them. Goldstein explains, “It’s something that is catchy and will
even make you giggle like a ten year-old sometimes, but hey! That’s okay. Why?
Because it sticks.”
A hand in
raised in the back, followed by a question from UCF senior Andrew Scalone. “So
when looking for a catchy name for an app, besides a funny joke, what are your
tips?” Scalone asked. “The number one rule I tell people to follow is, if you
can yell it out across from a friend in the middle of a restaurant and they
know what you are talking about, go for it,” said Goldstein confidently.
Next time
you are with a friend, definitely ask them: “Do you smell that UpDog?”
