5 Questions with Gyft’s COO CJ MacDonald -- My Exclusive Q&A

      Gyft is a digital media/e-commerce company I have been watching for some time.  The company takes a unique approach to gift cards, which are a staple of the holiday season.  Gyft offers virtual gift cards -- and enables the transfer of value from physical gift cards already purchased -- to your mobile phone so that you never lose that value.  Gone are the days that your cards are discarded into some drawer and never seen again.  Now, that gift card value is never lost.  And, merchants don’t mind because -- and this is something I previously didn’t know -- they were not able to book gift card revenue anyhow until those gift cards were actually used.  

      My company, Manatt Digital Media, is an investor in Gyft.  So, I believe.  We believe.  So does Google Ventures -- also an investor.  The company -- which is based in the Bay Area -- is less than one year old.  Yet, it already has generated "millions of dollars of revenue,” in the words of co-founder & COO CJ MacDonald.  Even more impressively, CJ expects several millions more in revenues being generated in the Thanksgiving to Xmas period.  And, get this -- in a perfect ode to Thanksgiving (with an emphasis on “giving”) -- CJ and Gyft are donating 100% (yes, 100%!) of all of its profits to a worthy cause for the entire month of December -- to the Immunity Project.  So, Gyft is not your typical e-commerce play.  It is innovative, disruptive (in the most positive of ways where everyone wins), and has a social conscious.  

      With that intro, here is my exclusive Q&A with co-founder & COO CJ MacDonald:

      (1) What is the reason your company exists (and what problem(s) are you looking to solve)?

Over $100B is spent every year on gift cards in the US alone.  90% of these cards are plastic and often end up lost, stolen or forgotten.   At Gyft, our mission is to digitize the Worlds gift cards and make it easier for consumers to transact.  The reality is most people have their phones on them at all times so why not store your gift cards on your phone.  Gift cards are becoming more and more popular and our vision is to streamline the market.

     (2) How are you different from your competitors?

Biggest difference is we are focused 100% on gift cards.  There has been a lot of buzz recently around social gifting and mobile wallets.  Gyft is often thrown into one of these buckets.  We spent a lot of time thinking about the consumer experience and wanted to make sure we built something simple and elegant.  We often get requests to add loyalty cards and coupons but need to tackle and provide the best experience around gift cards before we tackle anything else.

     (3) Why will you succeed (and what is your single most important ingredient for success)?

We have a team full of Rockstars!  We have a great product! We are tackling a massive problem for both retailers and consumers. They key is focus, execution and passion but we are in an excellent position to disrupt a massive market.

     (4) What makes you unique (and what do you enjoy most outside of building your business)?

I never take “no" for an answer or leave any rocks unturned.  There are a lot of ways to make money but I believe you have to be passionate about what you are doing in order to be extremely successful.   Family is #1 and I love sports and the outdoors.  I try to surround myself with people smarter and better looking and I believe you get out of life what you put into it.

(5) What digital media trend is most interesting to you (and what is the least)?

The most fascinating digital media trend is hands down the evolution of Bitcoin.  Watching the Bitcoin price skyrocket over the past 45 days and all the media love/hate relationship is very entertaining.  You have to admit there is something there.  Least favorite:  Lack of mobile adoption from large companies.  So many massive companies and players trying to play catch up these days.