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Slasher
By Joleen Small
What the Community Needed
Damon Della Greca is a big fan of the horror genre. Like other horror enthusiasts, he participates in conventions where he’s able to meet others who love that form of entertainment. Events like that can be a fun place to meet like-minded people, but believe it or not, connecting with others can be somewhat difficult. There isn’t always a consistent way to find out about the next event or to hear the latest news in the horror community.
Damon, like a few other devotees, noticed the dichotomy and chose to do something about it. “I started putting pen to paper and wrote out the issues I was facing and what kind of options there might be to sort of improving upon that,” he says. Damon saw a need in the industry and decided to fill it. His idea became what is known to horror buffs as Slasher.
How Slasher Helped
Slasher is a mobile app that serves as a resource and digital community for horror fans. What better way to create community and fix the disconnect some face than through social media? Most would assume that Facebook and Instagram would be the go-to place to meet other horror lovers, but that actually isn’t the case. “It’s hard to reach everybody and then sort of spread the word effectively on platforms like that,” Damon says. To top that off, Facebook and Instagram’s terms of use don’t allow the gore associated with the horror genre on its platform.
Instead, Damon created one where more of the content horror fans would love to see would be posted and not taken down. It also promises that all your posts will be seen on your followers’ timelines with no algorithm blocking them. According to its website, you can get access to its movie database, find out about independent artists, and learn about upcoming events. Indie filmmakers can promote their new projects, authors can find their readers, and podcasters can connect with their audience all on this platform. Of course, the everyday horror fan can join to have access to all of those perks as well.
How SCORE Helped
Damon already knew about SCORE and decided to call them to help bring his idea to fruition. He was paired with Jan Albanese, whose specialty is business development and marketing, to be his mentor. He already had a good idea of what he wanted to do with his app but needed help carrying it out. “A lot of it was based around hiring people and building a team. So, it really was sort of like here are the things I need to do. So, how do I assemble a team to do these things, where do I start, and what do I need? That’s one of the things they helped me with, and it’s been great,” Damon shares.
Planning a business from scratch can be a long and tedious process, and Damon credits his mentor for helping him keep the momentum going. He managed to build a community of horror lovers that now have a consistent place to meet. He plans to continue to use SCORE for help with the finance portion of the business and will bring in partners and marketing professionals to help it grow. Damon even hopes to eventually join SCORE as a mentor. “I’m hoping that I’m successful enough where one day I can happily give my time to see other people do the same.”
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