Will Edwards

Will Edwards is the founder of MetKnow, a flashcard and quizzing software that helps users learn the name, face, and biographical information of everyone in their organization.

Education

In 2003, Will Edwards attended Cascia Hall Preparatory School. Edwards was part of the tennis team, National Junior Honour Society, and Latin club. Edwards graduated from Cascia Hall Preparatory School in 2011 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas in 2015.  During his college days, Edwards joined Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Arvest Bank Fund, and was a Pomfret Dorm Senator.

Early Career and Volunteer Experience

In summer 2013, Will Edwards attended committee hearings, briefings, and assisted with research to aid the Senator’s energy/environmental team at the United States Senate in Washington D.C.  In September of that year, Edwards worked as a Sales Associate at Campus Crest in Fayetteville, Arkansas Area. As a Sales Associate at Campus Crest, Edwards was responsible for promoting and leasing student apartments.  During his time there, Edwards leased over 30 apartments and brought in more than $198,000 in revenue.

In summer 2014, Edwards worked as a Legal Intern at Unit Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Later after that, Edwards became the Arvest Bank Fund University of Arkansas’ Standards and Compliance Officer.  

In 2016, Will Edwards did some volunteer jobs at St. Francis Medical Center, Cascia Hall Preparatory School, and 1 Million Cups Organizer.  At St. Francis Medical Center, Edwards was a children’s hospital volunteer and would volunteer every Tuesday and Thursday in the playroom of the medical center.  Edwards was also a volunteer coach for the boy’s tennis team at Cascia Hall Preparatory School for three months. Edwards helped run practices and traveled with the team to different tournaments around the state during the 2016 season.  Will Edwards is an organizer at 1 Million Cups Organizer from September 2016 until now and deals with the economic empowerment.

MetKnow

The idea of MetKnow began when Edwards was still in college.  Edwards often struggled to recognize the names of his 200 fraternity brothers, particularly the sorority houses that were usually larger than the fraternity houses and could have up to 120 girls per pledge class, summing up to approximately 500 girls per house.  Will Edwards founded Remember the Member in 2012. Remember the Member allowed its users to recognize faces, names, and biographical information about their social acquaintances. Remember the Member raised $50,000 in a seed round funding on July 1, 2012. Bryan J Hawkins was the advisor and in marketing was Matthew Sealy.  Remember the Member was closed on July 1, 2013.

Edwards said he was approached with the concept of patenting his flashcard system.  Edwards filed for a provisional patent in 2012. When Edwards’ mother became ill, he put Remember the Member on the back burner and took a semester off from college to spend time with his family.  Edwards didn’t think much more about his patent until 2016 when he was in law school and got an email about it. The issuance of the license led Edwards to leave law school and pursue a startup for the flashcards.  Edwards completely rebranded and rebuilt the application, making it more user-friendly.

Edwards decided to change the name from Remember the Member to MetKnow and created a new product.  The first step was redesigning MetKnow and making it professional. Edwards met with programmers and freelance designers to build the app.  Edwards also met salesman Evan Tipton in the process, who ended up becoming a business partner. At Tipton’s recommendation, MetKnow expanded from colleges into businesses.

With Edwards and Tipton at the helm, MetKnow formally relaunched in January 2017 and hit the ground running.  MetKnow works by a user form a group and decide what questions to ask group members. After a member’s sign up on the app, quizzes and flashcards are generated for the group members to study and learn the information and names of everyone else.

Edwards and his associates came to St. Louis for the first time in early 2017 to partake in the Midwestern Digital Marketing Conference.  Edwards and his team won the MDMC Pitch Competition in April, bringing home a cash prize of $5,000 and the opportunity to network with representatives from some prominent companies like Pinterest and GoDaddy.  It was then that they discovered about Arch Grants and visited Venture Café. Right then and there, they went home, applied for the Arch Grant, and waited for the great news. MetKnow was the 2017 Arch Grants winner as a flashcard and quizzing mobile application.  

Edwards and his team also obtained the Score Foundation American Small Business Champion from Oklahoma.  They also won a dedicated mentor from the Score Foundation to help their business, in addition to another cash prize.

On August 20, 2017, MetKnow raised $125,000 from an angel round funding, and an additional of $50,000 from grant round on October 3, 2017.  MetKnow has raised a total of $175,000 in its two rounds of funding.