Meminto at the PreLab from CyberForum in Karlsruhe
Four weeks ago, my phone rang: After hearing about Meminto via startup BW, Christian Kurrle from IT-Accelerator Cyberlab invited me to participate in PreLab in Karlsruhe. This is an EU-funded initiative designed to build and strengthen startups, having successfully produced well-known businesses such as PACE and chrono24. Clearly, I wanted Meminto to participate in the PreLab and gratefully accepted the invite.
At first, I had a difficult time imagining the benefits of PreLab. However, after the first day, the helpful benefits of this program became clear. Based on the programs from strategyzer, we began by asking ourselves about the meaning and purpose of our ideas. This lead to some good ideas, such as having a business language assistant who could take on and simplify tasks for the company.
The fight for the right direction and target group
Throughout this process, I found the final step to be the most difficult. This was identifying a specific audience; however, this was not a new problem. This is because Meminto’s goal is to help better manage the digital estate. Yet, for whom? Not the user, because the user passes away. Instead, the digital management provided by Meminto in for the user’s relatives.
Through discussions with mentors, it became increasingly clear that many individuals were unprepared to pay money on a yearly basis (or a large sum at the beginning of the year) because they have failed to identify the necessity of digital estate management. However, a possible target group could be individuals over sixty, whose visits to a cemetery have increased due to the death of family and friends. These individuals think more explicitly over digital estate management yet they still attempt to avoid it.
When considering some concerns, I was repeatedly confronted with the fact that data protection would be a heavy burden. Manly because the stored data would be an attractive target for hackers. Fortunately, I was previously aware of this and therefore I implemented the Blockchain approach to make the platform secure.
However, in the back of my mind, I still remember the failed ICO of legacy. network, a company with similar approaches for making monetary gains and (among other reasons) has been unsuccessful.
A new direction of Meminto: Meminto Stories
It has become clear: Digital estate management is a good idea; however, it might be a bit premature or not specific enough. A target group who acknowledges the importance of digital estate management must be identified. (For example, we could target a widow whose husband has passed away and has left open questions and accounts without access to corresponding passwords).
At the moment, Meminto is simply attempting to solve too many issues at once, such as the financial estate, emotional estate, automated life checks, processes, termination of contracts, customer security, and marketing over the B2B and B2C channels. Added together and this is a mammoth task.
So I asked myself: Where do I want to start? If I could choose, I would not focus on the legally relevant issues instead I would begin by focusing on emotional ones. Specifically focusing on the life stories of our users, and the memories they want to leave behind. For this purpose, we have created Meminto “Stories”.
If Meminto was a 100-piece puzzle …
…then Meminto Stories would be a corner piece. Meminto Stores belongs to a bigger picture, but you have to start somewhere.
I can’t tell you what is hiding behind Meminto Stories or what our plans are, however, we have managed to create immediate value for our clients. Furthermore, we have solved the issue of locating a target audience who values our services. Our mentors and the Cyberlab team have praised and approved this new idea which we attribute to innovations in technology. Finally, a similar product already exists. This product functions properly and people love it (receiving top reviews on Amazon). However, this current product has plenty of drawbacks which Meminto can improve upon.
Conclusion
This Prelab has been extremely beneficial. I have worked on Meminto for several years, always searching for new marketing strategies. Finally, I have found an effective marketing strategy and will continue making the next prototype.
The adventure continues!