Maps are a part of our everyday smartphone lives. But what if our maps could be a little more fun?
“We essentially see ourselves as Google Maps for communities,” PamPam co-founder Helena Jaramillo told Business Insider.
Currently only available as a website, PamPam allows users to create custom interactive maps. Early examples include a map of startups in New York City or a map with a small business directory for Philadelphia. The platform also includes AI tools to help users find and discover places to put on their maps, as well as templates they can use. The platform gets its data from Mapbox and Google Places.
PamPam quietly launched in December 2023, and Jaramillo left her full-time position at Figma earlier this year. Her co-founder Carlo Jörges splits his time between a full-time job and building PamPam.
Before PamPam, the two worked at design and productivity startups as well as at big tech companies like Google and Facebook. Jörges worked in particular on the Google Maps product.
Jaramillo and Jörges, who also happen to be married and met at Google, are inspired by maps as designers and came up with the idea for PamPam after moving to Philadelphia.
“We’ve lived in so many different places and we’ve always had to find our way in a new place,” Jaramillo said. “Of course we used all kinds of apps to do that, Google Maps or lists or recommendations from friends, but it never felt right.”
But map apps like Google Maps and Apple Maps, which are driven by mass ratings, advertising and algorithms, are limited in what they can offer.
“We can look up any location and get directions to any place in the world, which is great,” Jörges said. “What doesn’t work from our perspective is helping me decide where to go.”
PamPam is trying to get into this area of recommendations and discoveries.
“This area of helping people decide where to go and find places that are relevant to them still feels unresolved,” Jörges added. And if there’s one thing he’s learned from working on Facebook events and community features, it’s that people want to find places where there are other like-minded people.
Are maps social media?
From Snapchat to dating apps, cards are not uncommon on social media.
The team behind Zenly, which acquired Snapchat and turned it into its Snap Map feature, is developing another new social mapping app called “Bump.” Exclusive dating app Raya has launched a sister app called Places, which includes reviews of restaurants, hotels and bars. Even Instagram is back in the mapping business, testing a new mapping feature that lets close friends share their last active location or add notes to a specific place.
PamPam was used to map startups in New York City. Courtesy of PamPam
“We see a trend of people communicating more in smaller circles, and we see an opportunity for people to come together around these viewpoints, around these maps,” said Jörges.
At PamPam, cards are the content. And behind the content are creators.
PamPam sees its developers as “community creators,” Jaramillo explained. Even when they promote events or places, they’re usually also trying to create communities or bring digital communities into real life.
Jaramillo also sees use cases for travel and lifestyle writers using PamPam. For example, a travel blogger could create a map of attractions in a city; a lifestyle influencer could list the best restaurants and events.
While PamPam’s founders are initially working on YouTube advertising, they are also thinking about monetizing creators. In theory, creators could charge their followers for access to a map or work with brands on sponsored maps, Jaramillo said.
But in the meantime, PamPam is focused on developing its use case for regular people, not just developers and curators.
“Everyone has places in their life that are important to them and that they would like to share,” she said.
Ultimately, PamPam wants to help people “get out there and do something,” Jaramillo said. “Cards are super actionable.”
Bootstrapping a social startup
PamPam has not yet raised any venture capital, but received $10,000 from a local grant program in Philadelphia and is self-funded by its founders.
The two-person team knows full well that scaling a platform takes time and experimentation – two things that venture capitalists don’t have much leeway with.
Nevertheless, monetization is already on the agenda.
PamPam is ad-free and experiments with a freemium model. In addition to a free version, it offers premium subscriptions with “Pro” tiers for $12 per month and “Business” tiers for $29 per month, which unlock benefits like the ability to add more destinations to maps and optimize maps for greater reach.
“We want to make this a sustainable business,” said Jaramillo.
