A Business Case for ‘Yo’: Cutting Through the Noise (by Titus Kimbowa)

With the risk of adding to the ‘Yo’ noise bubble, I will attempt to look at the business application of Yo. There are plenty of consumer applications.

Human communication has many forms with a unique purpose across every signal. We've used technology to cut the time in which we communicate; no matter the distance. Tools like email, phone calls, and SMS text have drastically changed how we communicate. One thing these tools share is a notification system that alerts users when someone wants to communicate with them. That’s a communication tool in itself.

In the case for Yo, the notification is the message. It’s like technology learned the subtle communication that goes on outside the realms of a conversation. It’s like a wink, a secret code, a secret handshake. And yes, it’s stupid.

Stupid simple.

Communication on a battlefield requires fast and timely communication. Words are replaced with hand signals and sometimes they are replaced with words that have little meaning to anyone outside the loop. A famous example of this is depicted in Henry W. Longfellow’s poem in which he mentions a secret signal by Paul Revere saying: “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.” Had Revere used Yo, one Yo would signal the land route, while two Yo’s would signal the dispatch by the water. Information is powerful and can be devastating to a business if it ends up in the wrong hands. Once at fruition, I believe Yo will have the capacity to give business sales teams and executives a way to quickly communicate and act on a given strategy/play without hesitation or worry of information leaks.

It’s a long-shot but certainly doable.

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

What is Big Data? (by Titus Kimbowa)

Photo from Start Work Now

When at meet ups, there are plenty founders and entrepreneurs alike that talk a big game when it comes to big data. They tell you how they plan on using big data to get customers and design the best app ever. But how are you getting this big data and how are you using it to accomplish these goals?

*Awkward silence*

What’s big data to me? Here’s my short version:

Social graph of any given user:

Likes: 

• How many likes? 
• What do these likes mean? 
• What can you say about that person’s interests? 
• What’s their state of mind?
• Track and group likes in same vertical 
• Find influencers, etc.

Photos: 

• What’s the occasion?
• Who’s in it?
• Location?
• Date and time 
• Find influencers, etc.

Status updates, tweets, etc etc.

This can be done across all social and business graphs to find ways to target groups and communities at the deepest level.

Think: Zuck’s experiment

Analyzing and understanding what all these mean is the big challenge for many marketers. Luckily, there are plenty of tools to help you understand and use big data.

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

Apple’s Strategy with Dr. Dre (by Titus Kimbowa)

Apple’s on the quest to continue the longstanding stronghold on popular culture. With the acquisition of Beats by Dre, they are well positioned to dominate the next wave of consumer products.

The first time I ever touched a computer was when I was 12 years old. I played games on my uncle’s HP desktop during the summer before I started school and thought it was the best thing ever. After that summer, I enrolled in the local middle school. Computers there were weird; they were colorful and were shaped different. The software design was also different; it was a lot easier to draw stuff on this computer. I also understood how it worked faster than I did the HP machine.

They were just different.

iMacs made it easy for students to express their individuality. These colorful machines were tools for expression. This approach to design is continuous in all of Apple products. We are all witnesses to the dent the iPod put on the music industry. It is in Apple’s DNA to do things differently; to influence and drive culture.

Dr. Dre’s Influence

Hip-hop has grown from being a genre that was ridiculed to one of the most influential genres on pop culture. This statement in itself could be a blog post so I won’t go too deep into that.

During the late 80s / early 90s, hip-hop took a turn from easy-going party music with some drug references to hardcore gangsta rap. This transition came as the opportunity for Dre to express himself.

At a time when rappers were by rapping with limited explicit lyrics; NWA came on the scene with brash, unforgiving lyrics that spoke of of the harsh life in Compton. Even after media uproar, they held no punches when expressing themselves. This was their life unfiltered and they saw no other way to tell it. This became the meat and potatoes of hip hop’s culture:

Expression has been a big part of the success of Beats by Dre. With a slick design and a multitude of colors to pick from, Beats allow music lovers to show their style through the color of their headphones. This is true at every level; from the NFL and NBA athletes, to the kids playing on school yards.

Outside of the slick design of the headphones and having color choice, Dr Dre’s influence on pop culture is what makes Beats’ stronghold on the premium headphone market unstoppable. Dre sits atop the influencers of today’s culture: Music. The Beats By Dre YouTube channel has multiple interviews with music artists and celebs alike. Additionally, the big screen shows athletes using beats as a way to tune out noise and redirecting their focus on the game.

Acquiring the mind and influence of Dr Dre will allow Apple to continue mission of influencing culture.

The crazy thing is that we have a (ex)gangsta rapper part of a team making decisions on products that will be used across the globe. Hip hop’s influence has hit it’s highest stage yet. My guess is Apple is switching gears from think different to express yourself.

Beats by Dre YouTube channel 

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

#Seattle: Meet Winegarden, Happiness Delivered

Today I'd like to welcome back one of my contributors, Titus Kimbowa. A junior at the University of Washington at the time, Titus first approached me after a talk and asked me how to grow a network on Twitter, balancing the line between professionalism while building your personal brand. His drive and curiosity have taken him far in the last two years I've known him, and I'm honored that Fresh Jess is the first to bring you his new venture. Read on to discover Winegarden!

winegarden

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As a student at UW, one of the best experiences I was lucky enough to get involved with was building startups. Being immersed in startups gave me an opportunity to meet interesting people. As a kid from a little town in Uganda, the only place I could think to meet such wonderful people was in my dreams. During these meetings, a consistent social connector was wine. Aside from wine being an acquired taste that was lost on me, I knew nothing of its intricacies. After multiple attempts, I was finally able to grasp the basics of wine. There’s clearly a big learning curve.

Soon after I finished school, I was burned out! Working three jobs to pay for school while being a full time student took a toll on me. I decided to break from the stresses of work and school, and absorb more of the unique culture Seattle had to offer that I couldn’t properly appreciate in the past. To my surprise, I find that wine is again at the center of my cultural experience. I realized in order to fully appreciate what Seattle had to offer, I would have to uncork this wonder and learn firsthand what makes it so intriguing.

As I discovered and learned about the diverse selection of great wines, I noticed that wine is not well-cultivated here. Specifically, locally-sourced wines have yet to take a crack at Seattle’s eclectic culture. Wines made in Washington have won numerous awards on the global scale, yet Seattleites know more about California wines than Washington wines. Either we just don’t like Washington wines or the marketing sucks.

I’m with the latter.

The Seattleite in me wouldn’t allow me to give the city a pass on enjoying an inferior wine that’s not from Washington. I got in touch with a friend, Thomas Winegarden who had talked about a wine delivery service that he wanted to build. We discussed different ways in which the technology could be built and settled on a platform, to which local wine shops and wineries would market and sell their wine then have it delivered to consumers on-demand or at a set time that day. The challenge lies between the seamless communication between the customer, driver, and winery/shop. The delivery charge starts at $10 and $6, respectively.

We set forth on the journey to create a service that puts the customer at the center of every transaction. At Winegarden, it's now our mission:

We believe that shopping for wine should be an unforgettable, fun, and delightful experience.

Winegarden not only puts Washington wines at your disposal, but leaves little to no time between you and the perfect glass. Additionally, we put the guesswork out of wine by making it easy to search and discover wines that best fit your taste preference and budget. Washington wines are world-class and are slowly making waves across the globe. We want to accelerate this trend by providing the best service to every Winegarden customer.

With this goal in mind, we set out to land our first set of customers. Knocking on doors, and using referrals has been the only way we’ve delivered wine. During this period, we’ve learned a lot about the nuances of delivering wine. We are now ready to announce it to Seattle and take on more orders!

Join the revolution at www.JoinWinegarden.com.

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Titus Kimbowa is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.

The Renaissance Man (Contributor Post!)

*Once a week, you'll hear from one of my amazing team of contributors. This week, I'm delighted to introduce you to Titus Kimbowa! Peep Titus' bio at the end of this post. Looking forward to Titus' perspective on entrepreneurism, business, music and life in general. Enjoy!

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Last week, I read somewhere on Twitter that Jay-Z was selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets to become a sports agent. I was surprised, to say the least. Where does opportunity lay within the sports agency arena? For the next few days I pondered on why he’d make such an unconventional move.

Looking at all of Jay-Z’s past moves, from starting Roc-A-Fella to selling Roc-A-Wear, there’s something they all have in common: he actually never “leaves.” He’s still reaping benefits on every deal he’s made since leaving the drug game. He only uses each milestone to build onto another.

Diversifying the hustle per se.

Image via Book of Hov

Let’s look at the current move and see how much opportunity lies ahead. Jay-Z has created a brand in which everything he touches turns gold. He has a reach that is respected at every level. He was able to create a lot of buzz and support for the Brooklyn Nets - this is how he was able to get an ownership stake in the Nets at a discount rate. Being part-owner made it easier for the Nets to not only move to Brooklyn, but also gain New York’s support of the team. This is Jay-Z’s main role. He’s the face of an organization in midst of transition.

Selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets and becoming a sports agent gives Jay-Z a new opportunity to use his brand in the sports arena. Using his ownership of the Brooklyn Nets as a stepping stone, Jay-Z’s out to challenge the likes of David Falk and Bill Duffy. Jay’s popularity and brand puts pressure on David and Bill’s business strategy. I’m interested to see how they’ll react to the new competition.

Growing up, many sports figures listened to Jay-Z’s music and many can connect to his story. Having him as their agent will give them access to him at a clock’s tick. I can already see a lot of young, up-and-coming athletes signing on to Jay-Z’s agency. You could look at Jay-Z’s relationship with Lebron James (among other professional athletes) as a catalyst for this move as well. Lebron is one of the top paid athletes in the NBA. If he is able to have Jay-Z represent him, this will keep the money within the clique (cue Jay-Z’s verse on“Clique”)

There’s a lot that Jay can do with the new venture and I’m particularly interested to see how this pans out. You never know, he’s known to move in silence.

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Titus Kimbowa is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter.

30Fresh. 30 days of posts celebrating 30 years - and 5 of Fresh Jess!