Ingenious Softworks: Design that leads to ACTION!

Looking to influence stakeholders on a psychological level? One way to do so is by positively affecting an individual’s behaviors/actions through behavioral science. Gabriel Camargo, CEO of Ingenious Softworks and his team are doing just that; by applying behavioral science through technology, they are able to solve business problems for clients. “We specialize in helping companies design and create digital and physical products that lead people to take action.”

For example, one product Ingenious Softworks created is an app that influences a smokers’ behavior, helping them quit through behavioral science. The app records how long a user goes without smoking. Each time the user feels an urge to smoke, they press a button on the app, signaling former smokers from across the world. The former smokers speak with the smoker, offering advice and motivation to stay clean. By the time the conversation is over, the behavior has been diverted and they’ve forgotten their urge to smoke. “Behaviors can not be removed, but they can be changed,” declares Gabriel. “We just figure out a way to trick the brain.”

“If we can help people make their life a little bit better, and multiply this by millions of people, that’s a huge change!” explains Gabriel. “These small, but important improvements on people’s lives are what drives our organization.”

Applying behavioral science through technology also helps companies sell more products, by affecting customer's behavior through triggering short and long-term rewards. For example, Ingenious Softworks recently created a coffee maker for a Dutch appliance manufacturer that is designed to take advantage of these influential decision factors. Ingenious Softworks studied the psychological profiles of a typical office person and their coffee consumption habits. From this information, Ingenious Softworks came up with the “half pot syndrome.” They noticed that during the workday, people who used the office coffee maker would dump out any remaining coffee in the pot, because they didn’t know whether or not it was fresh.

Ingenious Softworks implemented sensors to measure how much coffee remained in the pot and when it had last been brewed. Then using an algorithm, they calculate the health of the coffee and display the information on a “freshness meter” for users to see.

“This way people never waste good coffee again, allowing the customer to save up to 50% on water usage and 35% of energy in a year.” The savings and sustainability features on the coffee maker are long-term rewards for the buyer. But, the coffee maker was still missing a short-term reward; something that would make the customer decide to pick this coffee maker off the shelf over competitors. That’s why Ingenious Softworks implemented text and tweeting features on the coffee maker. Yes, that is right; this coffee maker has it’s own personal Twitter account and can tweet messages to office staff with updates regarding the freshness of the coffee. This gives a short-term reward to buy the coffee maker, because it is now “cool and following the online trend,” says Gabriel. “This factor ended up being the reason that people were buying this coffee machine left and right over others in the market.”

“Most people, subconsciously value short-term rewards over long-term rewards,” explains Gabriel. Each product designed by Ingenious Softworks contains both long-term and short-term benefits to trigger both sides of the brain. His unique team of engineers, software designers, psychologists, and others continue to push the boundaries on product design, while bringing new technologies to the market to positively impact lives.

Is your company delivering products and solutions that have both short term and long term rewards for your customers? If not, consider how you can add these triggers to reel in new customers. Check out the short video below to learn more about the power of behavioral design (may not show up for email subscribers).

Thales Lab: Entrepreneur Meets Intrepreneur

“The Macintosh team was what is commonly known as intrepreneurship… a group of people going, in essence back to the garage, but in a large company,” states Steve Jobs, Former CEO of Apple in a 1985 Newsweek article. An intrepreneur is an employee that innovates within the confines of a company. The term intrepreneur isn’t new, but the power intrepreneurs can have in a corporation is something few recognize.

“Our niche is the intrepreneur,” says Sylvia Chebi, Director of Thales Lab – a Montevideo based company builder that supports technical startups by entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs. “We believe that by promoting intrepreneurs and their ideas within companies, it benefits both the organization and the intrepreneur. The organization has the ability to capitalize on an amazing new piece of innovation while keeping a talented engineer, and the intrepreneur gains access to resources and finances by the organization. It’s a win-win.”

One of Thale’s amazing intrepreneurial start-ups that is gaining recognition is Futbol X – a football (that’s soccer for us Americans) app with over 750,000+ downloads. By using Futbol X, soccer fanatics can watch live games and receive real time stats and updates on their favorite teams. “It’s the official soccer association app in Uruguay and Mexico.” Explains Sylvia. “They launched in February. The app is so awesome that Apple even called and requested that one be made available for the Apple Watch.”

Thales Lab offers $10,000 USD in exchange for 10% equity from intrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that join their program. But, “Even if we didn’t provide money, I believe our start ups would join regardless. The amazing thing about being part of Thales Lab is the connections and support we offer."

Trillonario: This idea hit the jackpot!

For Ariel Pfeffer, his latest entrepreneurial adventure began in the Miami International Airport. “I was wondering around, waiting for my connecting flight when I stumbled across a long line of people waiting to buy tickets for the Florida Jackpot.” He purchased a ticket and while he didn’t win the 40 million dollar cash prize, he may as well have. “That experience spurred my latest company: Trillonario,” say Ariel. Trillonario is a global service that allows people to purchase lottery tickets from around the world. Trillonario (Win Trillions is the US brand) is completely online, and functions by tacking on a small service fee onto each sale. 

Today, this ten year old company offers lottery tickets in 180 countries and has 20 offices located across the world. “Our biggest challenge is to have a marketing budget large enough to achieve our goals and tackle opportunities,” admits Ariel. “We see opportunities in many different countries, but we don’t have enough structure to go everywhere. At the moment, we are concentrating on Europe and Latin America.”

“Entrepreneurship has always been in my DNA,” says Ariel, two-time entrepreneur. “When I work on a new project, I’m constantly on the move, brainstorming ideas.”  The thing Ariel loves best about business is marketing strategy. “It’s my passion,” says Ariel who writes for Puromarketing - a Uruguayan paper.

Ariel Pfeffer poses at Piso 40 in Montevideo, Uruguay

Today, Ariel hasn’t stopped his entrepreneurial endeavor with Trillonario. Two weeks prior to this interview, Ariel opened Piso 40 – An Angel Investor Club located on the 40th floor of Uruguay’s World Trade Center. “One of the big things lacking in Uruguay’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is funding between 200,000 and 1 Million USD. I’m trying to close that gap by teaching investors the best practices at Piso 40.” At Piso 40, “we aren’t looking for projects that are copy and paste projects from The States. That’s about 90% of the projects we see. Instead, we are looking for NEW, FRESH ideas with innovation behind them.”

“Entrepreneurial spirit is on the rise in Uruguay. Many different things are coming to the market like investor clubs, government programs and accelerators,” explains Ariel. The government is also getting involved through the National Agency of Investigation and Innovation (ANII), providing technology startups with funding between 50,000 – 500,000 USD.

“It’s important that we continue to expand the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of Uruguay,” says Ariel.

---

Ariel’s family ritual:

“I’m even getting my family involved in entrepreneurship,” says Ariel. His family will sit down once a week for an hour and discuss entrepreneurship or watch something on the subject. For example, he recently shared with his family the TED Talk featuring Simon Sinek entitled: “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” 

---

INICIA: “For Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs”

Once a year, Inicia, an Argentine entrepreneurial community, awards a prize to the entrepreneur with the business that has the greatest potential impact on society. The prize? An all expense paid trip to Europe, The States or any country of the winner’s choosing, to meet potential clients/alliances, build ideas and speak with advisors on the business. Last year’s winner was Totebag - a manufacturer of totebags with an environmental sustainability vision. Totebag entrepreneurs and sisters, Lorena and Natalia Nunez traveled to Paris where they had the opportunity to meet with and learn from top executives in the Paris fashion industry.

Inicia started twelve years ago during an Argentine Economic Crisis. “When the economy crashed,” says Patricio Sworn a board member of Inicia, “Argentines were laid off and turned to entrepreneurship as a way to create livelihoods. Inicia became a gathering of executives to help these forced entrepreneurs navigate the business environment.”

One of the things that separates Inicia from other organizations is that they push entrepreneurs to think in terms of social and environmental responsibility. “We love sustainable enterprises that contribute to economic, social, civic and environmental value for the community.” To further promote that value, they offer their entrepreneurs courses on sustainability and other important values and entrepreneurial skillsets. “Each course, little by little modifies the mentality of the entrepreneurs in Argentina,” says Patrico.

Inicia’s plan for the future? To be 100% run by entrepreneurs. “For entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs,” exclaimed Patricio. It will be exciting to see the impact inicia has on Argentina’s entrepreneurial community.

---

The graph below was created by Patricio's consulting company. The graph depicts the frequency which the term "business plan" was searched on Google in five South American countries. 

da Vinci Labs: "Dreamers of the day are dangerous men"

“Our challenge is to turn local dreams into worldwide dreams and worldwide impacts. That is our main challenge. We empower Uruguayan companies to think globally,” Sergio Delgado exclaims when speaking about da Vinci Labs. Sergio is the co-founder and managing director for da Vinci Foundation and Director of da Vinci Labs, one of the up and coming incubators in Uruguay. “The world is our market” says Sergio, who pushes entrepreneurs to think and bet globally.

da Vinci Foundation began in 2008 to create a networking space of equality and to empower startups. It has since become a startup incubator with a focus on helping young companies develop their differential value and think globally. “People come to us with tons of ideas; we help turn those ideas into actions and to ultimately create value,” says Sergio. “Our mentors and advisors know when and how to look for money for our entrepreneurs.”

da Vinci editors division recently edited and published a book called Founders.UY, which contains stories featuring twelve young entrepreneurs in the internet space. From this book, da Vinci hopes to tell their audience of the innovations these entrepreneurs have created and the positive ecosystem they have established for Uruguay. A free preview is available from www.Founders.UY

In the prologue of the book, CEO of Collokia and previous board member of Endeavor Uruguay, Pablo Brenner, discusses the vast improvements Uruguay has seen in its entrepreneurial movement. He points out the effect one entrepreneur can have on another in the community, which leads to exponential growth. “Knowing that this new generation of entrepreneurs has adopted this pay it forward philosophy is the best indicator of a bright future,” says Pablo.

da Vinci uses a quote by Thomas Edward Lawrence, the renowned British archaeologist, diplomat and military officer, to describe the passion of these twelve entrepreneurs and the many others found in Uruguay:

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream at night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”

GPS GAY: "Giving back to our community!"

“10% of the world’s population is part of the LGBT community,” explains Magdalena Rodriguez, CEO of GPS Gay, a tech startup located in Montevideo, Uruguay.  “Not to mention the fact that the LGBT market tends to spend 40% more than heterosexuals on themselves.” The LGBT market is big opportunity around the world and few have learned to tap into it as well as this two-year-old tech company, GPS Gay.

Magdalena Rodriguez (Left) and Rosario Monteverde (Right) of GPS Gay

GPS gay is a platform designed specifically for the LGBT community. It’s an interactive social network where the LGBT community can find LGBT friendly hotels, clubs, events and activities. It also contains LGBT content including movies, novels and other forms of media. “But,” cautions Rosario Monteverde, Co-Founder and CTO, “GPS Gay isn’t a dating app. Instead it’s like a real GPS. It can tell you all the cool places to go and where everyone is hanging out.”

In addition to the website platform, GPS Gay recently launched an app that is already winning plenty of awards and comes in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. They recently were named Uruguay’s best app and won the Monile Premier Award’s best app in the world.

GPS Gay has accumulated a large following in Latin America, totaling 350,000 users and 310,000 fans on Facebook. “Our average age is about 30 years,” explains Rosario. “That’s key because they are not too young that they don’t have discretionary income and are still in the age range where they are native internet users.”

So where did the idea come from? “We were in visiting Brazil and wanted to go to a gay bar but couldn’t find much information,” explains Magdalena. “We thought it would be cool to know where to go. It also allows us to use our talents in design and IT to create something positive for our LGBT community.”

“Our biggest assets is user data,” says Rosario. “But we also make money through sponsorships and commission on sales of LGBT content. Later this year, we are going to launch our first LGBT party. Generating revenue through parties will also be a big opportunity to gain revenue and grow our database.” In the short term, however, sponsorships generated through unique partners that fit GPS Gay core values are their bread and butter. Magdalena sites one important sponsor as Dove. “Dove has great values that are aligned with ours. It’s important to us that we choose sponsors that fit our culture and values. We would never have a condom sponsor for example; we want to distance ourselves from dating sites.”

Looking forward, Magdalena and Rosario are forecasting 1,000,000 users by end of 2015 and 50,00,000 users by end of 2019. A lot of that growth will come from expanding their market to the USA and Europe. “GPS Gay combines aspects of the biggest social media networks in the world, but are fine tuned to suit the LGBT market. Not only is it turning out to be an opportunity of a lifetime, but we’ve found a way to give back to our community,” explains Magdalena. “That’s the thing that is driving us – making a positive impact.”

Inetsat: The importance of saying NO

“When it comes to creating a TV network, there are three core costs: the cost to license the content, internal operational costs and distribution costs,” says Pablo Salomon, CEO and Co-Founder of Inetsat in Montevideo, Uruguay. “The traditional method of distributing content via satellite is a huge cost for a TV network (typically $20,000 USD per channel per month). That’s where Inetsat can make a huge impact.” Instead of using satellites, Inetsat allows TV networks to deliver channels to cable operators over a low bandwidth internet connections, ultimately saving TV networks 5-10 times the cost. “That’s our initial value proposition.” Inetsat can also help smaller channels launch who can’t coudn’t afford to utilize satellite technology, while also providing primary or disaster recovery channel playout and distribution for other networks.

Despite cable operators being what is considered a dyeing industry, Fortune Magazine named Inetsat as one of the top 10 most innovative Latin American firms in 2013. “Yes we are serving a dying industry, but that’s playing to our favor for now,” states Pablo. TV networks are being pressured to cut costs to compete with Netflix and other OTT offerings and Inetsat can be the tool for traditional TV Cable distribution to compete. “You also have to keep in mind that cable subscribers are still increasing, especially in the developing world. It’s going to take a generational change for the clock to turn in the industry and for cable to start disappearing. By then, we’ll be doing something even more fun.”

Pablo isn’t new to building companies. By age ten, he started developing his first software programs and by 13, started selling it. At age 23 in 1999, he started his first official tech company – a social media business that eventually pivoted and became an instant messaging producer for third party portals. In 2009, the company was acquired by a publicly traded company from India.

“The way I approached my second tech startup was completely different than the first,” explains Pablo. “I learned a lot of things from that first startup. Especially, that forming a business is a long-term commitment. I spent a year researching and tweaking the business concept behind Inetsat before jumping into it.” Pablo cautions would-be-entrepreneurs to be aware of the needed research period before launching a startup. “Entrepreneurs need to recognize that there is a needed period of time where they are validating the idea – a period where your idea matures. They should speak with potential customers and investors about the concept and take into account their advice.”

A second piece of advice Pablo offers is, “the importance of being able to say no. Many entrepreneurs say yes to sales they shouldn’t take on. When you deviate from your business, you lose focus and that can be dangerous to the startup.” 

Sinergia Co-Work: “You Are Crazy!”

“You are crazy” that’s what my grandmother loves to say of me for starting a company in Uruguay,” says Macarena Botta, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sinergia Co-Work in Montevideo, Uruguay. “But I’m doing what I love. What else could I ask for?”

At Sinergia, their mission is to democratize entrepreneurship for the Uruguayan entrepreneurial community. “Before co-working spaces arrived to Montevideo (Sinergia was the first!), the entrepreneurial ecosystem was a bit elitist,” explains Macarena. “You had to know certain contacts to get into the community. With Sinergia, we wanted to create a space where we could democratize entrepreneurship. We wanted to create a place where entrepreneurs and freelancers could come together as a community.”  

In order to develop a sense of community, the co-working space has been developed to encourage networking among the members. “From yoga classes to workshops on accounting and sales, we provide activities each day that encourage networking between entrepreneurs.” Sinergia also has spaces where members come together to socialize like a terrace for asados, chill zones, ping pong tables, and an inside café where entrepreneurs can chat.

Macarena and Kaity pose for a photo

“The cool thing about co-working spaces, especially Sinergia, is that they shorten the entrepreneurial learning path because you share stories and experiences with other entrepreneurs,” explains Macarena. “It’s about learning from other’s mistakes and successes. It also makes being an entrepreneur feel a lot less lonely.”

While Sinergia only began a year ago, they have already added an incubator to their list of services and have plans to open a second co-working space geared towards the tech and robotics industry in the next couple months. “We hope to have five additional co-working spaces in Uruguay within the next five years.” Luckily, Marcena just might be crazy enough to make it all happen.

Summoning the demon! Artificial intelligence arrives to Argentina

When it comes to three-time entrepreneur Pablo Orlando, one thing is for certain: he dreams big. Primarily known for GoodPeople.com (the biggest active lifestyle marketplace in Argentina, with a hefty following in The States), he’s since moved onto his latest venture: introducing artificial intelligence to vehicles. Only a few weeks ago, Pablo launched the first autonomous driving car in Argentina to the public.

The little yellow cars, designed for the Buenos Aires government to poll the public’s opinion on autonomous driving, are electric, feature touch screen and move up to 35 miles per hour. At one point during the launch, Pablo walked in front of the vehicle as it drove along its pre-programmed route. The car looked as if it would crash, but instead it swiftly analyzed Pablo’s presence and slowed to a halt (Watch the video above to see Pablo’s car in action).

Pablo isn’t looking to directly compete with Google in the autonomous car manufacturing business. Although he sees the manufacture of cars as a potentially viable avenue to take the fledgling start up, he has his focus set on developing and licensing software that can be programmed into existing vehicles, so that they too can have artificial intelligence features.

“We’re bringing artificial intelligence to existing vehicles,” explains Pablo. “Once our software is programed, trains will be speaking with each other. We are also prototyping the software with buses, ultimately preventing collisions due to blind spots.”

Will these vehicles become completely autonomous using Pablo’s software? Not yet, but they will contain features that incorporate artificial intelligence.

“One of our biggest problems,” says Pablo, “is the need for numerous types of high quality engineers. We may be focused on building software, but if we want to create autonomous cars we need to understand how to build the hardware too. It’s a learning process.” But Pablo’s team is learning! While it took the engineers two years to develop their first autonomous car, it only took three months to develop the second, and one month to develop the third.

“At the end of the day, the future is in the internet of things,” states Pablo. “Soon, everything we own will have some kind of artificial intelligence embedded within.”    

Sounds scary? Not all entrepreneurs look at the power of artificial intelligence as a benefit to mankind. In fact, Elon Musk, CEO and Founder of Tesla, is well known for his cautious if not pessimistic view on AI, stating at one point that, “With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon…. I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence.”

“Regardless of how you feel about artificial intelligence, it’s coming,” predicts Pablo. “Soon your Roomba will talk with your Apple TV, your TV will speak with your Nest and your Nest with your car. For better or worse, technology will become smarter. Why fight it?”

ASEA: "We are an ecosystem of entrepreneurs!"

“We believe that the next economic revolution will come from innovation promoted by the entrepreneurs,” says Ezequiel Calcarami, a mobility/transportation entrepreneur and the Vice President of non-profit, ASEA (The Association of Entrepreneurs of Argentina). “But in Argentina’s government instability, lack of funding, societal attitudes and mountains of red tape are getting in the way.” ASEA saw this as an opportunity to gather all entrepreneurial communities and entrepreneurs – no matter the industry or stage, to act as one-voice and address government issues. “The only way we can change circumstances in Argentina is if we join together,” affirms Ezequiel.

ASEA is a quasi-entrepreneurial lobby started in September of 2014. Already, they’ve gathered 1,200 entrepreneurs and by year-end they expect to reach 10,000. By joining together, ASEA hopes to show the value of entrepreneurs to the Argentine community and economy. In Chile, ASEA’s sister organization ASECH, has already cut down red tape and increased funding for entrepreneurs. For example, in Chile you can now open a business within 24 hours (as opposed to several months). Here in Argentina, ASEA is still young but is looking to make a huge impact fast.

For example, they’ve created the ASEA Bill that addresses barriers to entrepreneurs in Argentina including a simplified model for limited companies, the entrepreneurial corporation that can be created with one partner and the endorsement of limited taxation for the first five years of the company’s existence. “We’ve had meetings in government to get it passed and have been discussing our cause with all presidential candidates (general elections occur in October 2015),” notes Francisco Torres Vidal, COO of ASEA. “We are trying to generate value for entrepreneurs and Argentina as a whole.”

While Ezequiel notes that Argentina is an important country in terms of generating new and creative entrepreneurs, “it’s not pro entrepreneurship.” Bureaucracy is a huge problem. For example, to form a company, the government makes entrepreneurs jump through hoops to receive clearances and some activities are double or triple taxed. “It could take months to form a company,” says Ezequiel. “It’s tough and it’s distracting for an entrepreneur who needs to focus on his business.” Furthermore, lack of available funding from both private investors and the government makes it difficult to accelerate or even start a company. “Just getting a credit card or checking account at a bank as an entrepreneur can be tough. The banks don’t want to take the risk,” states Ezequiel.

And it’s not just the red tape and lack of funds that inhibit entrepreneurial growth; it’s also the society’s attitude towards failure. “In the US, failing in business is part of the entrepreneurial process,” says Ezequiel. “You still cheer for failures because you know that the entrepreneur will be better prepared for success next time. But in Argentina, that’s far from the case. Argentines love to flock to the winners but run away at the sign of failure. To fail is to also fail socially.”

Over the next five years, ASEA hopes to be at 100,000 members. “At 10,000 members the government and the people might listen to us. But at 100,000 members the government and people MUST pay attention,” says Ezequiel. “We are an ecosystem of entrepreneurs. We are trying to change Argentina for the better. It is not going to be easy, but together we can change things.”