We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott Wilson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The driving force behind Joticle initially was the futile process of using Google as a research tool to study and learn a topic. The frustration of ad driven content and results really cheapened the process and made the experience far from concise and filled with trial and error. The best way to describe it at the time was to “google” the fruit blackberry. The results at the time were all phones and no fruit, which is just one example of how consumer driven Google versus being a research tool. Compounding the Google experience was the fact that they make Wikipedia such a predominant result set for everything. Well, if the education community doesn’t take Wikipedia serious as a research tool, why should I be basing any learning on the main result set being pushed out by Google.

That got the ball rolling a few years back and once I brought the prototype concept to Jeff, the other co-founder, we saw the impact this could have on a new way to present a topic with vetted and curated content, Joticle began gain its focused vision and in 2021 we really put some legs under the platform and also drew the focus to the educator and how we feel they are really the ones we need to be giving the attention to and lift up.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I always had a creative spirit inside me and from a young age that found its roots in music. As with my mentors in business I have been fortunate to have had some great musical mentors growing up. I bring music up because the challenges and lessons learned in the process of recording albums in the music industry is so oddly similar to leading a startup. Using that analogy, getting to become a recoding academy member in my 30s and walking down the red carpet a few times at the Grammys took so much sacrifice and so much persistence. It alienated people from me, it lifted others up. You learn to see when people are using you and when people are being real and honest. Now in business, it is the same types of people playing different roles, they just wear different masks and have new angles. Learning to work through to finding genuine people is the most difficult part of the process for me. Being a trusting person can really be a character flaw sometimes, but I have learned to dial that in.

That said, what I would want people to know about our brand and story is that Jeff and I established right away that Joticle is about creating a win-win situation for everyone involved and really bring positivity and support to education in a new and fun way, and we want the learning journey to be accessible to EVERYONE!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am always pumping up Paradise Valley Burger, unreal burgers that show a true love for the craft of making food that makes you think or sit there in a daze. Then the Scottsdale Quarter for all of my Southern California friends, because it is basically Newport Beach, CA in the desert with food choices that are surreal. I guess it seems obvious I am going to give anybody that visits a food tour. Some other great spots would be the desert botanical garden, even though I think the Chihuly exhibit is gone. There is a lot of beauty in the desert when you go looking for it. But the food, Phoenix has some very special spots!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have had the opportunity to be surrounded by some great mentors over the course of my career both in music and business. Narrowing that list down to who really gets credit and recognition, in the Joticle story, beyond our team would really be the people who taught me how to drive forward with ideas. Joseph Cox, Don Sodaro, Jim Collins were mentors that always pushed my at each stage in my journey and so a big shout out to them. Last year I was honored to actually bring on my biggest mentor in life, my father, as the CFO of Joticle. Working with Bob has been such a blessing, inspiration and humbling phase of my career story, so a big shout out to him.

Website: https://www.joticle.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joticle/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joticle/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joticle

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joticle

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC06vJc3BMPo38SXDZQN7WzA

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutArizona is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.