How contest startup Bounty Hunter went from noodle sandwiches to 500 Startups in 3 years

Over the past two years a steady stream of Taiwan-based startups have been picked to join 500 Startups, the accelerator program founded  by Paypal alum and “super angel investor” Dave McClure. In 2011 the Taiwanese team behind photo app PicCollage joined the program’s second batch, followed by messaging app Cubie in October 2012 and then POP in April 2013.

Now, the Taiwan torch gets passed to Bounty Hunter, an online platform that connects brands and organizations with creative talent through competitive contests.

That’s contests as in (loud megaphone voice): “Attention graphic designers! 500 Startups needs to make an AWESOME T-shirt to give out to fans and wants YOUR submissions for the BEST, WILDEST designs! Give us your mock-ups and YOU could win a GRAND PRIZE of $500!”

Normally, the man holding that megaphone would have to cross his fingers and hope that the right people heard his announcement. And aspiring designers, meanwhile, might be out in the wilderness, looking for the right opportunity to showcase their talents.

Co-founders Hana Chang and Roxman Yang hope that Bounty Hunter can help bridge this gap.

The service has two entry points. On the talent end, aspiring creatives can browse through the Bounty Hunter contest wall, looking for projects that will help them cut their teeth and gain professional clout. Some of these contests are simply aggregated manually by the Bounty Hunter team, while others are officially hosted by Bounty Hunter in one of several capacities.

On the other end, organizations looking to boost publicity and perhaps nab some inexpensive labor can work with Bounty Hunter to ensure good exposure and numerous participants. With its large and active user-base, Bounty Hunter can guarantee companies that a set number of users will post submissions, and takes a fee if a contest is completed successfully in accordance with pre-defined terms.

“When I was young I wanted to be a singer, and I would often participate in singing contests to improve my skills and gain experience,” says Chang. “But finding out about singing contests was really hard.” Chang later switched her focus from singing to web development, but the call to help others develop professionally through contests, something so central to her own growth, remained strong.

While Bounty Hunter takes businesses as clients, the greater goal lies with the creatives. Using gamification mechanisms like level-ups and rewards, Chang and Yang hope that the most ambitious, driven creatives can use Bounty Hunter to develop a resume or portfolio. It currently has a “Backyard Garden” in beta for artists to show off their work.

5000 miles to 500 Startups

Bounty Hunter’s Taiwanese predecessors in 500 Startups were all more-or-less snatched from the cradle, joining the incubator right around the time their products hit screens.

This isn’t the case with Bounty Hunter, which was incorporated back in 2010 and has been active domestically since 2011.