Brewster

Brewster, Inc. was a technology startup that developed a relationship-centric address book application designed to supplant native mobile contact apps. Founded in 2011 by Steve Greenwood and headquartered in New York, NY, the company aimed to solve the complexity of modern digital relationships. Greenwood, a Harvard Business School MBA graduate, conceived the idea years prior out of a personal need to organize contacts from multiple email accounts and social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter into a single, unified service.

The Brewster application aggregated contact information from various sources such as Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and a user's phone, merging duplicates to create a comprehensive and updated profile for each contact. Its core function was to provide a visually rich, image-forward interface, displaying contacts as a mosaic of faces. The service would notify users of significant life events like birthdays and new jobs, and even track when they were losing touch with someone, aiming to turn relationship management into an engaging experience. Beyond simple contact storage, the app allowed users to initiate calls, emails, or social media interactions directly from a contact's profile. The business model was centered on providing a free application to individual users, with the goal of becoming a utility-like service integrated into daily communication behaviors.

The company secured $2 million in a seed funding round in January 2011, with backers including notable venture capitalist Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Great Oaks Venture Capital. Despite a buzzy launch in 2012 and being lauded as a potential 'godsend' for contact management, the company faced challenges. In 2013, Brewster experienced significant staff turnover. Some users later criticized the app for its aggressive user acquisition tactics, alleging it sent messages to their contacts without explicit permission. Ultimately, Brewster was acquired by FullContact, a competitor in the contact management space, in March 2016 for an undisclosed amount.

Keywords: contact management, address book app, relationship management, social network aggregation, Steve Greenwood, FullContact, Union Square Ventures, mobile utility, contact synchronization, digital address book, personal CRM, contact aggregator, social contacts, merged contacts, unified contacts, smart address book, contact organizer, relationship intelligence, mobile contacts, contact data