Conservationist turned entrepreneur looks to grow company

Blake Rupe has an odd affinity for trash.

The phrase "I love garbage" is the opening line Rupe, 27, utters during one version of a pitch she uses to promote her startup, Re-App.

Re-App is a mobile application that allows users to track what and how much they recycle, offering awards if they hit certain goals. Users can also compete against their friends to see who's better at (incrementally) saving the world.

In the last year, Rupe merged her passion for conservation with a new role as an entrepreneur, essentially learning how to run a startup on the go.

While the launch of her app drew attention in Iowa's tech world, 2015 will be crunch time for attracting more users and investors to keep Re-App going. Rupe's team is also working on expanding Re-App's scope beyond mobile devices.

Rupe had a banner, and busy, 2014.

In January, she officially formed Re-App, signing paperwork to make it an LLC. Rupe then started working with developers to design and build the app.

She graduated with her master's degree from the University of Iowa in May. A month later, Re-App launched its first version.

From August through early November, Rupe took part in the Iowa Start­up Accelerator in Cedar Rapids, a 90-day program that put 10 startups through a rigorous business development regimen. In that time, she also pitched Re-App before AOL co-founder Steve Case and was named a finalist for the Iowa Women of Innovation awards.

There's no let-up in sight. The startup will launch a second version of the app early in 2015. Rupe has set up meetings with investors throughout the Midwest and U.S. for January and February.

Re-App's Cedar Rapids-based team of four is looking at ways to monetize the data the app collects on users' recycling habits. Rupe said she wants to partner with cities and private companies so they can learn how and what people recycle.

A mix of passion, willingness to learn

Re-App's progress seems like a quick acceleration, but it fits Rupe's style.

Before going after her master's, Rupe worked as a paralegal because she thought about going into law. She found the pace too slow, however.

"I was working in a system in which it would take three weeks to get a piece of paper from Des Moines to Iowa City. It's ridiculous," she said. "It didn't suit my nature of getting things done quickly. That was not going to work for me for the rest of my life."

Rupe went to the University of Iowa to study marine conservation for her master's degree, putting her on the path toward Re-App.

The idea for the app came to her while she was working on her master's thesis in Mexico and she found herself walking on a beach covered in trash. She started researching the recycling industry and the psychology behind why people recycle.

"It was really striking to me how much stuff that ended up on the beaches was recyclable," she said. "It was just eye-opening."

That experience got her hooked on finding a way to fix the problem. She looked for a company to join, but came up empty.

"I kept looking around and couldn't find anything, so that's when I decided to start something," Rupe said.

Still, Rupe had no experience as an entrepreneur or in app development.

So she sought out help, using resources and mentors at the University of Iowa's Bedell Entrepreneurship Learning Laboratory to get Re-App off the ground floor in early 2014.

It was Rupe's willingness to learn from others and passion for Re-App that drew her mentors' attention, they said.

"She's got the right mix, as a founder, of both the passion for her start­up and her industry, but also that willingness and hunger to learn from others," said John Meyer, CEO and co-founder of the infographic design firm Lemon.ly in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Meyer served as one of Rupe's mentors during the Iowa Startup Accelerator. He's now an adviser to Re-App.

Meyer said Rupe's lack of an entrepreneurial background also drew him to Re-App.

"I didn't want somebody who just built an app and said, "I'm going to solve the recycling problem,'" Meyer said. "It meant much more to me that she had knowledge of that industry."

As Program Manager David Tominsky recruited teams for the Iowa Startup Accelerator, he was looking for entrepreneurs like Rupe, he said: people committed to solving a problem but understanding that they need help.

"She fit that. She's definitely somebody that convinced me that it was a worthwhile shot to take," Tominsky said.

Tominsky said Rupe's commitment to make Re-App successful came to light during the time-crunched accelerator.

"She was very responsive to the mentor network that we had in place, very responsive to the tools that we put in front of her," Tominsky said. "I think that's what you're seeing; she's really taking advantage of the opportunity that she has."

She plans to grow her startup in Iowa

The road ahead won't be a cakewalk.

One challenge facing Re-App, Meyer said, is attracting more users.

"Any type of app, it's tough to get adoption in the beginning, and then it's: Can you make it sticky enough?" he said.

The app has more than 700 users currently. Those users are how Re-App makes money now: Companies that offer rewards to Re-App's users for recycling pay Re-App referral rates.

Rupe recognizes the obstacles ahead. Even if the Re-App 10 years from now isn't what it is today, Rupe said she plans to stick with it.

"My goal with all of this is to get people to recycle more and throw away less. If Re-App is the tool for that, and that's all that people need ... then that's awesome and that's what I'll be doing," she said. "But, if it's something else in the realm of recycling ... like smarter recycle bins that end up being the trigger that make people recycle more, then that's (where) we will take Re-App."

Rupe, who was born in Ottumwa, said she also thinks she can grow her startup in Iowa, largely because the community provides the support entrepreneurs need to succeed.

"It may not be easy, but it definitely won't be like Sisyphus rolling that rock up that mountain and having it fall back down," she said.

Blake Rupe

AGE: 27.

LIVES: Iowa City.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's in international studies, University of Iowa, 2010. Master's in international marine conservation and policy, University of Iowa, 2014.

CAREER: Founder, Re-App, January 2014 to present. A paralegal for three law firms before earning her master's degree.

FAMILY: Dad, Charles; mom, Kerri; brothers, Blaine and Blaise; sister, Blaire.

15 PEOPLE TO WATCH IN 2015

These are central Iowans in business, arts, nonprofits, civic activism and nonelected government positions who are expected to make a difference in their fields of endeavor in 2015. Readers were invited to submit nominations. Selections were made by Des Moines Register editors and reporters. Look for profiles daily through Jan. 4.

Earlier profiles: With this story atDesMoinesRegister.com/PeopletoWatch, see profiles of Greg Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Convention & Visitors Bureau; Gilbert Vicario, senior curator at the Des Moines Art Center; Des Moines Police Officer Kelly Drane; developer Richard Hurd; Marvin DeJear Jr., director of the Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families; Jennie Smith, owner of Butcher Crick Farms and a sales manager at Kemin Industries; Stephanie Jenks, one of the world's top young triathletes; Nate Noble, a pediatrician who specializes in treating children with developmental disorders; Harrison Inefuku, digital repository coordinator at Iowa State University; and Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa.

Coming Thursday: Scott Sanders, Des Moines city manager.