Rock Ventures' New 'Cup of Zup' Adds to Downtown Detroit's Tech Hub
DETROIT -- From its "Awesomeness of the Day" feature to the collection and curation of some of the Web's funniest and most startling content, Cup of Zup LLC, a uniquely amusing pop-culture enewsletter and Web site, is the latest start-up to join the fast-growing corridor of companies located in downtown Detroit's entrepreneurial tech hub.
Cup of Zup was founded by Rock Ventures employee Cyndi Lareau. What began as a daily email about interesting news tidbits to a small group of people at work, has quickly grown to more than 6,000 subscribers who look forward to their daily Cup of Zup: Images from around the Web, featured creatures, great finds from popular social networks, and a daily dose of sarcastic commentary. Cup of Zup is free to all of its subscribers.
Cup of Zup founder Cyndi Lareau's brand of humor was such a hit that within a few months, the enewsletter was promoted at an all-company meeting of Quicken Loans and its sister companies as an example of "how things are created in this 2.0 economy and world."
Lareau said that was all the encouragement she needed to take "Zup" from a daily email to a new start-up.
"It's refreshing to be a part of an entrepreneurial family that supports and inspires creativity," she said.
Now that Cup of Zup is official, Lareau has teamed up with digital marketing strategist and colleague Ann-Marie Murphy to grow the subscriber base, drive traffic to the Web site and generate revenue through advertising.
Current 'Zupscribers' come from as far as Australia, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Germany, Israel, and Malaysia. In the U.S., zupscribers from California, Texas and New York round out the top five after Michigan and Ohio.
Cup of Zup recently launched a Web site, Twitter account, Facebook page and Pinterest profile for people who need their funny fix more than once a day. Why the name?
"A lot of the people in our office use the slang term 'Zup?' instead of the phrase 'What's up?'" said Lareau. "So 'Cup of Zup' is like saying, 'Here's a shot of what's up in the world of awesomeness today.'"
To learn more about Cup of Zup, visit: www.CupofZup.com; to subscribe, enter your email address and click "subscribe."
Cup of Zup currently has more than 6,000 subscribers from around the world, a number that continues to grow.
