"The three current big mega trends in the web/tech sector are mobile, social, and real-time."
I laughed because over the past 5 years (yes, it really has been that long...) I've attempted to articulate my vision for a "Situational Awareness Infrastructure" system for "the masses" to pretty much anyone who would/could listen to me. I have been connected to some VC's, I've also heard from other Sofcoast co-founders and board members, product managers and advisors that when they describe Sofcoast and this vision of a "Situational Awareness Infrastructure Technology" most of them can't comprehend and just get confused.
We also had the opportunity to bring our idea to In-Q-Tel and ironically, they've told us that we're "too far along" and "too well connected" to DoD to be interested.
I've since passed this along to my network and they've all kind of scratched their heads..
The irony is that Fred Wilson with Union Square Ventures is now articulating what I've been working on for the past five years as an individual and for the past three years as a company.Think about it. Unless I was targeting something that could have an even bigger impact and benefit to society than my existing chosen profession why would I leave a 15 year career as a Navy SEAL?
I wouldn't.
So, in 2006, I decided to step "into the void" and prepare to exploit the massive creation activity and opportunities in bringing a broad array of areas together like material science, textiles, manufacturing processes, web, computing and mobile tech. The real opportunity that I set out to target is the gap in the areas of contextually relevant activity stream integration, human computer communications, human computer interfaces as well as the always difficult attributes of end-user relevance and system affordability.
My goal has been and continues to be to build on the 15+ years of experience and expertise I've developed with mobile information systems such as tactical communications, unmanned aerial systems, ground based robotics, communications software systems, sensors in order to build out a new type of "Awareness Dimension" for "high value", "mobile" and "edge users". Such as "high demand, low density" users (I translate this for civilians as "High-Value" users) such as hard to reach in the field experts. Example types of social software systems tools are Situational Awareness tools and common operating picture (COP) tools. As for real-time, (it doesn't get any more "real-time" than targeting and manhunting).
Here's a brief rundown of key milestones with our Three2Link system as well....
- November 2007 developed conceptual spec for mobile software
- January 2008 fielded early alpha prototype of WeieDo
- May 2008 developed conceptual spec for SaaS platform
- July 2008 filed "continuous media flow" patent.
- August 2008 fielded early alpha prototype of SaaS platform - WeieLink
- February 2009 fielded functional system demo called WeieMedia
- September 2009 - Renamed software system to "Three2Link" (mobile, social, real-time)
- Present - Continuing to successfully market and develop early interest and pilot customers.
You can also learn more about my thinking in two of my previous posts. Diffusion vs. Scale and "Context Efficiency - aka the Point".
What's the real issue here?
Perhaps it is that business models require "scale" in order to provide investor returns and historical bias against diffusion is manifest in which business plans and business models are successful. Maybe the problem is that business models haven't "caught up" yet? It definitely seems like many of us are out here in "no man's land" on "the edge" attempting to leverage the converging benefits of scale with the benefits of diffusion and offering an opportunity to enable the Enterprise to catch up.
Think about it. Enterprise level software is software which provides business logic support functionality for an enterprise, typically in commercial organizations, which aims to improve the enterprise's productivity and efficiency. Services provided by enterprise software are typically business-oriented tools such as online shopping and online payment processing, interactive product catalogue, automated billing systems, security, content management, CRM, ERP, Business Intelligence, HR Management, Manufacturing, EAI etc. Characteristics of enterprise software are performance, scalability, and robustness. Enterprise software typically has interfaces to other enterprise software ( for example LDAP to directory services) and is centrally managed ( a single admin page for example).
Additionally,
enterprise solutions don't scale "down and across" very well,
especially for in field applications or for people in highly
constrained environments or "edge" users. Translation: Enterprises
need a minimum of infrastructure to function. How does a diffuse
network of people who have lost a robust infrastructure organize,
manage and cope?
With the Three2Link system, Sofcoast is relentlessly focusing on leveraging the power, opportunities and
efficiencies (contextual and otherwise) of mobility (dispersion, diffusion) create, while empowering these highly mobile user's with relevant (actionable and real-time) activity stream integration (scale) while providing the social overlay (relevance) people have grown accustomed to in their day to day personal lives.
Cheers,
John Surmont, founder & CEO
About
Sofcoast develops affordable, game-changing solutions that empower local, national and global entities in the public and private sectors to connect and enable mobile field workers, defend against danger and loss, and restore stability in the event of disaster.
