Meet the b
Meet the B-Lab 2021 Venture: Flowbits
Flowbits streamlines digital coordination and reimagines the flow of information; this allows us to be the seamless bridge between organizations and their audience, and the remover of friction between intent and action. The thoughtful integration and intuitive automation of our new structure dramatically minimizes time spent planning and aggregating information, allowing us all to do more of what we love.
What inspired you to start Flowbits?
Years ago, Matt was thinking a lot about how he was always looking for new things to discover and incorporate into his life, but found himself jumping through too many hoops to consistently locate the right information. A year ago, he spoke with Yenteen. She could relate to his experiences, and, as someone who extensively plans her life, also lamented about how too much time is wasted trying to simply keep track of what we have to do on the day-to-day.
They began working together since then, and became official business partners in November 2020.
Why is this problem important?
Astounding amounts of time, energy, and mental space is currently spent sifting through the bombardments of information we receive daily; today, time optimization is a mess.
For a singular event, companies and organizations will spend loads of time and resources creating and executing awareness campaigns, website updates, social media posts, email newsletters, fliers and posters, targeted advertising, and so much more. The way we send information is repetitive and cluttered, and receiving this slew of information is noisy and incredibly inefficient; when was the last time you forgot to do something or go to something because you forgot to write it down?
In speaking with various do-ers and planners, people collectively regarded two main pain points: 1) schedule management is difficult and wastes time, and it’s still too easy to miss out on or forget things, and 2) getting the right information to the right people/target audiences in an actionable way is arduous.
People are feeling, on a daily basis, the effects of a less-than-optimally efficient and accurate information structure. In a survey we conducted of over 120 university students across 50 different universities, it was almost universally reported (95%) that collaboration and coordination of shared responsibilities should be easier; additionally, over 75% of students spend well over 10 minutes per class per semester managing their class schedules and updates, one of many operations that Flowbits fully automates and accomplishes intuitively, almost instantaneously.
Who is your target market?
Our solution can target a wide range of use cases spanning many different markets such as education, travel, healthcare, leisure, health and fitness, enterprise business, and more. The technology we provide is a pretty generalized solution that underwrites these many markets, as it reshapes the way we send, receive, and share digital information. Our biggest challenge related to this is really honing in on the most impactful, compelling, and high-spread sector(s) to optimize our launch strategy and maximize our chances of rapid and sustainable growth.
How is B-Lab helping your venture develop?
B-Lab has offered us an incredible opportunity to focus on our venture this summer. We feel very lucky to be able to access the mentorship, resources, and community provided, as well as to be able to interact with really kind, caring, and knowledgeable staff members. From encouraging new methods and angles of thinking to being a consistently engaged and genuinely interested sounding board, the support we’ve received has been invaluable in our venture’s recent progress.
What is something surprising that has happened thus far?
About halfway through the accelerator, Google released Google Workspace, an integrative technology that spans across its existing applications. In the announcement and press articles, we were surprised to find that the value proposition/mission statement for the “Workspace Individual” portion of this technology was essentially the same as ours at the time.
We were not necessarily surprised that such a big player was stepping in to target the same user base we were aspiring to, as we had investigated and validated that there was a pressing market demand for greater efficiency in the digital organization space.
We were mostly surprised how astoundingly similar their primary value proposition was to ours. This was a greatly validating yet disruptive event; we knew that outcompeting was essentially not an option, and the best move for us would be to pivot. We spent a week ideating and debating, scribbling on white boards, and deepening our understanding of our points of differentiation. Soon, we realized that our real point of superiority lies in our innovative information structure: the way we package and deliver crucial information allows users to share, update, and retrieve the right information in an unprecedentedly automatic and intuitive way. This insight ultimately helped define the remainder of our experience and work in B-Lab and set the course for our venture’s current direction.
Matt Reed is a rising senior at Drexel University studying a custom-designed major in Creative Entrepreneurship. He has expertise in digital marketing and design, and loves painting, climbing, and music.
Roman Hall is a rising junior at Brown studying Computer Science – Economics and Classics. He is experienced as a full-stack developer and has professional interests in software engineering and entrepreneurship.
Yenteen is a rising junior at Brown studying Biology and Economics, with professional inerests in business development, marketing, and growth strategy. She is passionate about fine arts, physical and psychological health, and continuous learning.
Meet Ronaldo B. | Autism Speaks
Ronaldo B., 32
Painting is his life – it’s where he is the most comfortable – where he is perfect.
Valerie stands quietly in the doorway of her son’s bedroom on the top floor of their family home in a small suburb of Philadelphia.
Her hands gently clasped at her waist, she watches proudly as he works diligently at his desk, surrounded by hand painted cartoon characters and comic book heroes covering his purple walls. Barely able to catch a peek over his shoulder, she props herself on to her tippy toes to get a better look at the spectrum of colors appearing as his right arm moves from the canvas to the cup of water that he uses to clean his tools of the trade.
“Painting is his life – it’s where he is the most comfortable – where he is perfect,” she whispers not to disrupt his flow.
As his paintbrush swiftly drifts back and forth across the white canvas, the smile on Ronaldo’s face grows wider with every purposeful stroke. The 32-year-old’s colorful, cartoon-like world, which he brings to life with a wistful ease, quickly begins to take shape in mere minutes. In the blink of an eye, the canvas is methodically filled with vibrant portrayals of people, places and life-like scenes that could best be described as “Simpsonesque.
”
“It brings me joy,” Ronaldo said as he signed his name at the bottom of his newest creation. A man of few words, he uses his talents as an artist to express how he’s feeling on any particular day. “I feel very proud when I paint. It’s my outlet.”
Ronaldo wasn’t diagnosed with autism until his teens, but his mom always knew her son was different than other kids his age, which she never saw as a disadvantage. The single mom of four always encouraged her eldest to embrace his differences and create his own path in life. It was that ability to fully embrace the cards he was dealt which created the creative, soft-spoken and selfless man Ronaldo has become today.
“I owe it all to my mom. The first word that comes to mind when I think about her is inspiration.”
Today, Ronaldo and his three siblings, Delano, 28, Senio, 25, and Varonica, 21, live under the same roof with their mom, their primary caretaker. Although each has unique strengths and challenges, their tight-knit familial bond provides a sense of security and gives them the confidence to know they can all rely on each other no matter what life has in store.
“All of my children are unique in their own way. Senio’s IEP says he’s autistic, but he was never officially diagnosed. Ronaldo was diagnosed, of course, and my other two were in special education classes. Whatever special needs they have, we come together as a family to ensure they get the support they need. We are all we have, and we all want the best for each other.”
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The story shared above represents the experience, views and perspectives of the individual(s) highlighted.
We aim to share stories across the spectrum and throughout the life span, but the information provided on our website is not a recommendation, referral or endorsement of any resource, therapeutic method, or service provider and does not replace the advice of medical, legal or educational professionals.
V. Putin sent B. Gromov to celebrate the New Year in a village without electricity - RBC
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Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin invited the governor of the Moscow region Boris Gromov to celebrate the New Year in de-energized settlements. The same proposal was received by Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and the head of OAO IDGC Holding Nikolai Shvets.
During the meeting in Novo-Ogaryovo, the Prime Minister, in particular, criticized B. Gromov for his earlier promise to fully restore power supply by 18:00 Moscow time today.
"If you weren't sure, you shouldn't have said," Vladimir Putin said, emphasizing that perhaps 4,000 people in 35 still blacked-out settlements will celebrate the New Year without electricity.
