What if you could connect with someone in prison as easily as you do with someone on social media? In 2011, founder Marcus Bullock created Flikshop to do exactly that. After going to prison at age 15, he understood the value of human connection, of knowing that someone on the outside — in this case, his mom — loved him unconditionally. So he made it his mission to help other families stay in touch while their loved ones were behind bars. Flikshop is an app that makes it easy to snap a pic and share it with anyone in any cell, anywhere in the world.

“Family connectivity is the number one contributor toward success after prison,” Bullock says. “We want to see people come out of these jails and prison cells and stay out.”

But launching a tech startup is far from simple. Bullock explains how he found funding for his idea and what he learned from hiring a full team to execute his vision. The pandemic uprooted many of his plans, but as CEO, he brilliantly scaled Flikshop to offer additional in-demand services to help fight recidivism and make a huge difference in people’s lives.