Reading the Cards

Mobile is said to be the future of digital publishing. So, what’s the best way consumers can get the news while on their mobile devices? That’s the question Jordan Cooper spent a year asking. The answer he found: Wildcard.

Wildcard works as a mobile platform for the news of the day. The app features a card-based design with articles from different publishers, videos and social media.

“Wildcard is a discovery experience for our users. Many of our users are feeling the diversity of publications and angles around a given story for the first time on their phone,” said Cooper, founder and CEO of Wildcard.

The app originally launched in November 2014 and version 2.0 came out August. The updated version has more news and entertainment and increased card technology.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the amazing response. We have way more people than I had hoped for or expected at this stage, and they genuinely love Wildcard,” Cooper said.

After Circa, another card-based company, folded this summer, some might question how Wildcard is different, but Cooper considers Twitter and Facebook to be Wildcard’s peers, not Circa.

“Wildcard doesn’t write articles, we’re not a publisher,” he said. “We are the absolute best reading, viewing and discovery experience on the iPhone, but our goal is to surface and organize all of the incredible content on the Web and to deliver it to our users in a perfect package for the phone, but not to write or rewrite it ourselves.”

Cooper said Wildcard’s platform for publishers is similar to Apple News or Facebook’s Instant Articles, but much easier to implement.

“We’re working with a small group of publishers to flex the platform and ensure that we’ve got the right business case for publishers before opening it beyond pilot partners,” he said.

For the 20-person startup, challenges are a part of their everyday, Cooper said, but they’ve already seen great success.

The week of its launch, Wildcard was featured as number one on Apple’s Best New apps on the iPhone, and the app has generated 10 times the users they anticipated.

“We have a ton of hard work ahead, and we are going to keep working to create the best experience possible, but so far so good,” Cooper said.

Wildcard is currently working on building their brand and developing a relationship with audiences. An Android version is also in the works, but Cooper said they’re going to remain focused on the mobile experience.

For more information, visit trywildcard.com.