By Jasmine Browley ·Updated February 6, 2023
When one door closes, another definitely open. Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell can definitely attest to this.
After getting laid off from his global head of Social & Editoria role at Twitter during Elon Musk’s took over, he didn’t wallow. He worked.
“Coming straight out of it, I was just like, ‘Oh, it’s time,” he told Tech Crunch in an interview. “It’s time to build, whether we get support or not.’”
He created a social media app, Spill, and it has already raised a $2.75 million pre-seed round, the company recently announced. Additionally, it has already banked 60,000 handle reservations since its announcement in mid-December.
According to Tech Crunch, Spill’s team includes includes former Twitter design chief Dantley Davis, #OscarsSoWhite creator and DEI advocate April Reign and civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson.
The premise of the app is similar to Twitter, in that users are able to share their thoughts about any and everything, essentially “spilling” their commentary to fellow users.
“We’re really leaning into meme culture, making it easier to put text on images or gifs — little touches and tweaks like that have been really exciting,” Terrell said.
He continued: “We’re going to be more intentional and be more accurate around things that will be deemed offensive, because, again, this is our lived experience or learned experience,” Brown told TechCrunch in December. “It’ll be much more accurate to catch those kinds of things that will detract from the platform that would not lend to creating a safe space for our users and our creators.”
The $2.75 million pre-seed funding will reportedly go toward expanding its team, building out backend components and better ensuring a smooth launch.
According to Tech Crunch MaC Venture Capital and Kapor Center led the funding round, with participation from Sunset Ventures.
“We are excited that Spill aims to address major challenges created by existing social media platforms and utilize technology to build more diverse, equitable, and inclusive online communities,” said Allison Scott, CEO of the Kapor Center, in an emailed statement.
The post This Founder Launched His Startup After Getting Laid Off From Twitter During Musk’s Takeover—Now He’s Raised More $2M For It appeared first on Essence.
