Meet Kareem Grimes of FacePop Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kareem Grimes.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kareem. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My Godbrother at the time was creating an app, so the energy was hey we have to create app that will make an impact on the culture. So for a few weeks, we were throwing ideas back & forth. My friend and Business partner Bervick J Deculus. I remember we were in his bedroom just chopping it up. I looked up.

He had the poster from A Tribe Called Quest Mid Night Marauders the poster had all the rappers and it was just there heads. It Hit me! BOOM! what if all those heads of the rappers could actually talk and be sent in a text message with them saying either one of there lines or just a simple “hey what’s up”. At that time emojis were super basic just the yellow round emojis that come standard on your phone. This was in 2016, way before Animoji. Bervick was like yo I think that would be dope. So we started to research to see if anything existed. It didn’t. Just a picture of a head from a celebrity with a facial expression that would be used to give a facial expression. Bervicks Mom is a collector of African Memorabilia, it’s all throughout his mom’s house. So Bervick comes back with a poster of James Brown from like the 50’s or 60’s. Its a poster with just James Browns Head promoting a concert. I knew from that moment that we were on the same page.

So Bervick & I knew that we were on to something. Bervick did some deep researching to find out how can we achieve this feat. This technology did not exist. Mind you we are not Technical founders. We had the idea and concept but we needed someone who could code and transfer our idea and concept to a coder. So while Bervick is researching I’m looking for money to fund this Idea we came up with. This is when Jerome Henry enters the fold. That’s our third Partner for Facepop LLC. I met Jerome through his wife Jenny Henry who is a writer for Black Ish & Grown Ish I had done one of her projects that she was trying to get picked up. Oh, by the way, I’m an actor. Been in the business and acting since 1988. So while shooting her project me & Jerome became cool, he would check on me to see how I was doing in the business and in general. I told him that I was working on something in the tech space and that its super dope and it’s going to be worth a billion dollars LOL back to a serious face. He was Like Bro What is It? I told him about Facepop and he was like Yo I want in.

From there Jerome came in put some bread up and we were off to the races, Jerome worked for Yahoo and some other Companies in the Tech Space so he brought a ton of knowledge and information that Bervick & I didn’t know. So after a few months, Jerome Secures More funding for FacePop. We are making small steps. We got with a guy who was going to be our CTO he ends up taking our money from us. Set us back, but we were not going to let that (FB) deter us. We regrouped and found another CTO who was able to help with getting an engineer and getting us to the finish line which was a dirty version of our idea (facepop) remind you that this type of technology did not exist. We were entering uncharted waters with this app/ Idea. But we were confident that when it was done we would be First Best and Most Unique in the Market! Which we still our.

Once we had a beta version we needed to get in front of some folks with Big Money. We bet on ourselves and raised money on our own and secured funds. But we use that money to get us the beta version. I was racking my brain on how can we get in front of some major players. After a few months of R&D and a few tweaks, we had our app. We were super excited. I reached out to my friend Tracy Mills, Dude is a major player in the culture, fashion and he just knows a lot of Big time people. I reached out to him told him what I was doing also sent him a facepop he got it right away. We worked out a deal if he was able to procure us some funds with people he set us up with he would get compensated. Within a week we met Folks from Roc Nation, Diddy and Jack Dorsey. We thought out of those meetings that we would get the funds and be on top. Not that case at all. Jack Dorsey like it but he was focused on the new direction of twitter. Bervick and Jerome met with Diddy at his house. I was at Coachella Working. Diddy said that he liked it, but he was treating us like it was Making the Band. We made it to the next round LOL. He said that he was going to put us with his tech guys but nothing came of it, So we have been grinding and promoting the app and coming up with more ideas to expand what facepop can do and contribute to Consumers and Big Brands.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. I mentioned earlier that we got swindled out of money and that we met with some heavy hitters and nothing came out of it. The struggles we have are securing more money. As of right now, we are only on IOS Apple Phones. We want to service the Android users. Also in today’s world of Social Media and Influencers, everybody is looking for a check first. We have reached out to several influencers to give them the opportunity to get some equity and really be apart of an app that will help them grown their brand and put some money in their pockets. Every day I put forth the energy and positive thinking to make it happen.

FacePop Company LLC – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a Co-Founder of Facepop & Director of Business and Creative Development. I have a relationship due to my being in the Entertainment industry for 10+ Years. I am Proud that Three African American men from South Central came together with an Idea and Plan and created an app that is First, Best & Most Unique in the Market. There is no other App doing what Facepop does. Self Made Emojis featuring your actual face, Not an avatar or cartoon or an animal but your face your unique way to communicate.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define it by how many lives you’ve impacted. What mark did you leave on this earth.

Pricing:

• Our App Is Free in the Apple App Store

Contact Info:

• Website: www.facepopme.com
• Phone: 3237177638
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @facepopapp
• Facebook: Facepop
• Twitter: @facepopapp

Image Credit:
Kareem Grimes

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