Montreal-based startup Brandicted is going Hollywood. Well, maybe more “Silicon Valleyish”.
The startup will appear in the season finale of a new comedy tv series about Silicon Valley written, directed and produced by Mike Judge, who is most known for creating Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill. The series is aptly titled, “Silicon Valley”.
Brandicted helps people get shopping recommendations from others who are already using the products. The name comes from a mix between “brand” and “addicted”. Users can see products on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and others, and actually find that product on Amazon and buy it right away, using Brandicted. The founder calls it “online shopping meets instagram.”
CEO Jonathan Stoikovitch was in Silicon Valley in September, pitching his startup at the Techcrunch Disrupt event. A producer of Silicon Valley asked if he could take Stoikovitch’s picture while he was manning his booth. No problem, he said, without thinking twice.
“Next thing I know, two weeks later I get an email from the assistant of the producer telling me they’re doing this new comedy about Silicon Valley and they’d like us to be part of it. I said Ok, and I didn’t ask any more questions,” said Stoikovitch.
The CEO flew back to Los Angeles last week to take part in two full days of shooting, alongside about ten other startups who were asked to be a part of the show as well, mostly from Silicon Valley. It was mostly extra and background work, where the startups were to act as if they were conversing with each other. Shooting days went from 6 am to 8 pm, not exactly a walk in the park.
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Deadline.com described the new show quite humorously. “The untitled single-camera project is set in the high-tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.”
Stoikovitch said its more of a mockumentary, where the plots are fiction but companies like Google, Facebook and Techcrunch are all recognized. The show is set to air in March and he figures Canadians will see the Brandicted logo in an episode around June. “We were background cast, so we had to pretend we were talking with each other. From 6 am to 8 pm we were repeatedly faking talking to other people,” he said.
On a less positive note, one of the main characters of the show actually died earlier this month. Evan Welch, who appeared in several Woody Allen movies, was 48.