Leaving Europe for the US Market

“Within a month we had a 100 testers using the application. And within 3 months of releasing the app in the US we helped users cross over 200,000 streets.”

This is the phenomenal story of a few engineers who came together to help a friend.

A friend who is blind.

You see, one day their friend was complaining that he wished he had a way to be able to navigate intersections. (Pedestrian signals work for those who can see, not for those who are visually impaired.) 

That’s when Willem Van de Mierop and his friends decided to dive into this and see if they could develop an app that could use AI and a smartphone’s back camera to recognize pedestrian signals. 

Pretty cool huh?

Well if the technology itself doesn’t interest you, other things in this conversation will surprise you. For example, did you know:

• NY City lost a $1 billion dollar lawsuit to increase accessibility of the city or the visually impaired?

• It cost $64k to equip intersections with audible speakers for the blind?

• Sometimes it makes sense to leave the European market in favor of the US market?

Hear this fascinating story of the creation of the OKO app.

🎙️📺 Catch the interview on Spotify, Apple, other platform, or on YouTube.

One of the problems with podcast advertising

It seems like almost everyone has a podcast including famous actors and comedians, but not many podcasters can sound like they convincingly own a Casper mattress.

That’s one of the problems with podcast advertising.

Advertisers are trying to control the message they send out.

Sure, they mean well, but “talking points” shouldn’t be the ad itself.

Instead, podcast hosts should write out the audio message they want to share themselves.

I mean, does anybody think about "natural geometry" or "the right amounts of both sink and bounce" when buying a mattress?

No.

People buying mattresses want a good night's sleep. They want to wake up feeling refreshed. They want to be able to stay awake throughout the day.

So if you are an advertiser, it's okay to provide talking points, but let the podcast host communicate his/her belief about the product through stories and personal experiences, not company-provided talking points.

If you’d like to hear an example of a host read ad I created for one of my sponsors, let me know and I will share one with you.

Not bad fellas

Overheard on LinkedIn

🇷🇴 Funny Romanian phrases by Valentin Radu

🪜 A step-by-step guide on how to approach influencers by Casey Hill

✅ A ‘Fundraising 10 Essential Checklist” by Ivan Hoo

📩 Cold emailing took me 10 years to learn, but you can learn it in 5 minutes for free by Aazar Shad

😃 5 creative things you can do to get a high open rate by me.

If Napoleon were alive today

The End

(me with Adriana Mircica from Girl Gone International at the How to Web conference)

What a week and it’s not even over yet!

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and host the Tech Transfer side event for How to Web. I’m happy to report I didn’t trip on stage or screw up 😂

With How To Web going on, some friends are in town like JJ who was one of the very first people I interviewed on the Innovators Can Laugh podcast! So lots of social engagements this week which I’m happy about.

Okay, off to play Pokemon with my son (he just discovered Pokemon cards). Sounds like more money out of my wallet if you ask me : )

To a great week!

Eric M.