Vera Hempel, Co-founder and CEO at KissUX and the Co-founder of Cactus Club Creative
Kuba Kerner, Co-founder and Head of Product at KissUX and the Co-founder of Cactus Club Creative
As co-founders of KissUX, an application prototyping tool and Cactus Club Creative, a digital design agency, Vera Hempel and Kuba Kerner spend most of their time brainstorming about customer discovery and talking through the many aspects of the application design tool they are developing, scheduling meetings with partners, advisors, and product testers to refine the product vision.
The Berks LaunchBox has been instrumental in launching KissUX’s prototype by providing so many resources, such as grants, connections with industry experts and funding opportunities, giving feedback on their pitch deck, and helping them find testers and connecting them with potential clients for their digital design agency.
For anyone thinking about founding a startup Berks County, Hempel and Kerner recommend contacting local university incubator programs, such as the Penn State Berks Launch Box or the O’Pake Institute at Alvernia University. Everyone from these institutions is truly passionate about startups and economic growth in the area, which is inspiring, they said.
Hempel and Kerner said the most rewarding thing about being part of the Greater Reading community is people’s openness and willingness to help both personally and professionally. Everyone is excited for startups to establish themselves in Berks County, and to be part of such a supportive network of professionals has been a great experience.
