scottybowl

When I look out the window I see sheep, hills and a river. It's a charming view and makes for a relaxing and productive work environment. From here I've spent the last 15 months building a SaaS product, team, customer base and a brand for a product that integrates with the big names in Silicon Valley: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google.

As you can probably imagine, I'm more likely to bump into a tractor than someone who works at one of these tech giants and its reached a point where this is a major problem for our business.

The problem we face is simple: we need to become an Instagram Partner so we can use their locked-off API to enable our customers to manage their content, but in order to become a Partner you need to be invited by someone on the team at Instagram or recommended by an existing Partner. Both of which are scarce in the UK, let alone in the Shropshire countryside.

So my question is: how can I connect and build relationships with key people at these giant companies from afar?

I run a UK based startup (a SaaS whitelabel social media scheduling solution). We've seen enormous interest from across the globe and have a very passionate group of initial customers.

However... We lose around 90% of our leads because we can't allow posting to Instagram. This isn't a technical issue - we can Integrate with the API very easily.

Instead it's a contact issue. In order to get access to the Instagram API we have to be a Partner. In order to apply be a Partner you have to know someone on the Partner team who will vouch for you. A catch 22.

I've been trying for 6 months to find someone we can talk to but everything has lead to a dead end. Cold emails, LinkedIn connections, asking my contacts for help, even running an advertising campaign trying to reach people who work at Instagram - nothing I try even results in a response from Instagram or Facebook.

Can you help? Even if you know a friend of a friend who works at Instagram who might be able to connect us with someone it could be the lead we need to get our foot in the door, and could give us the opportunity we need to take our startup growth to the next level.