The Future Is Now: Henry Jan of Vezbi On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
Execution is more important than a degree — I have been criticized so many times as an entrepreneur for not graduating from an Ivy league school or holding an MBA degree. I have learned that degrees do not dictate your success. Stay confident that you are the one that can execute. The person that can execute, wins.
As a part of our series about cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Henry Jan, creator of the Vezbi super app.
Henry Jan, the consummate entrepreneur, has cultivated a life embodying these very words. He is the architect of structuring and facilitating over 100 corporate mergers and acquisitions in dozens of industries, including healthcare, cannabis, real estate, logistics, entertainment, and biotech — many of which he ushered into public entities. Jan developed the Vezbi Super App on a foundation of ‘altruistic egoism,’ or the idea that the individual’s ‘selfish’ drive can work to improve the lives of all. This tenet shaped not only the philosophy behind the Vezbi Super App but also Vezbi the (Super) business and the establishment of Project Seva, which aims to help fund 100 eligible non-profit organizations, fully encapsulating the idea: “I win when we win.”
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Prior to starting Vezbi, my career consisted mainly of structuring and architecting corporate mergers and acquisitions. Having been involved in dozens of industries, it had become apparent that many business owners had become overly dependent on “big tech” for their survival.
Many of the businesses I worked with were more of the ‘mom & pop’ type, who lacked the technical sophistication to understand, let alone deal with, the technology that had become a necessity for them to operate. A simple change to the algorithm of a selling platform or a ‘fake review’ could potentially wipe out a person’s livelihood.
Business owners simply cannot keep up with constantly changing algorithms or understand how to navigate the growing bureaucracy of Big Tech. Businesses saw these ‘indispensable’ tech platforms as becoming increasingly hostile to them or ‘strong arming’ them into paying to ‘fix’ these ‘problems’ their technology created.
I won’t name names, but to help illustrate my point, a rating & review platform would have a system that anyone (real or bot, biased for or against a business) could rate the business, even if the business was not “present” on the platform. When the business contacted the platform, they said there was nothing that could be done. However, if they signed up for a monthly marketing plan they could do something to make their ‘problem’ better.
This had to change. This is why Vezbi was created.
Our world deserves a better platform. When accountability becomes the core value of a platform, then fake news, fake reviews, and online bullying will automatically decrease. This will improve everyone’s digital experience.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Perhaps, not a single story per se, but a commonality of events if you will. While technology has always been a passion of mine, I don’t have the traditional tech background. So while I was creating Vezbi, and trying to instill my ideals and values (transparency, anti algorithm, no data selling, etc.) into the core of it, I found that many of these ideas were so contrary to what was ‘best practices’ in the tech world.
I had a concern that I was perhaps ‘naive’ or ‘missing’ something that everyone else ‘knew’. However, over the last several years more and more legislation, policies and push back has been right in line with my ideology that I stopped second guessing myself. I realized that my intuition was spot on and that I was right to think and believe that these ideals and values were not ‘incompatible’ with modern technology. It is a constant reminder that we are really on to something with Vezbi and we don’t let the outside ‘noise’ tell us we have to conform or we will never make it.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
We spent the past several years developing a community-driven Super App. A Super App is designed to organize and consolidate all facets of life in one centralized application. They use micro-apps to streamline and ease integration from both the user and business side of things.
Micro-apps are single-purpose, fast-loading apps hosted within a Super App. With micro-apps, businesses are able to launch their own app at a fraction of the cost and time to develop a traditional app, all while tapping into the user base and ecosystem of a Super App.
Micro-apps are the future and every business owner really should have one. They can even have several micro-apps, each serving its own unique purpose for the business.
Users will love micro-apps because they are easy to use and navigate, while giving them direct access to their favorite businesses. The flexibility and customizable nature of Vezbi will allow both users and businesses to create their own experience that fits their needs and preferences.
How do you think this might change the world?
The power of the Super App is that it makes it easier for everyone to access and participate in the online world.
Every business with its own micro-app will allow business owners to focus on their core business. Instead of spending thousands of dollars developing an app for their business, they can launch their own app at a fraction of the cost (and in many instances, for nothing). Businesses with micro-apps will allow business owners to stay connected with their customers while becoming discoverable to new customers on a Super App.
Users will be able to have a central place with which to start navigating the online world. The web is expanding at an incredible rate and Vezbi offers a way for them to take control and organize their experience how they want, not how some platform or worse, some algorithm tells them to.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks of this technology that people should think more deeply about?
It’s funny you should ask about keeping “Black Mirror” in mind because I think the approach and philosophy I’ve tried to instill in Vezbi would be a direct counter to what we see in Black Mirror.
Black Mirror is a commentary on how we (as individuals or society) have given over some or all of the control to technology. We are very conscious of that idea and think that as we all mature along with technology maturing, we can and should have a different interaction, and that involves us taking back that control.
I guess to answer your question is that I think the entire concept of what we are doing with Vezbi should make people think more deeply about technology and how they interact with it and that there are different ways from what we have seen and been told.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
Many people probably do not know this, but there is a lot of money being made by companies posing as ‘ordinary people’ or ‘bots’ with the intent to spread false news. In fact, this practice happens daily in the capital markets.
When anyone can hide behind a “username” to create false narratives with zero accountability, reputations and livelihoods are destroyed. I myself have been a victim of these practices and was left with little capacity to defend myself.
Although it may take a business or brand years (or even decades) to develop, a simple ‘smear campaign’ can destroy it instantly. The sad thing is, in today’s world, livelihoods are being destroyed for monetary gain. The only way to prevent this is to hold individuals and companies accountable.
Vezbi will become the platform where individuals can no longer hide behind “fake” usernames. This will not only prevent capital market manipulators but also help prevent fake reviews and online bullying.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
I think that the biggest hurdle for us is that Super Apps are not well known let alone understood in the US. So there is a learning or acceptance curve to getting everyone on board.
However, once users download Vezbi and discover all of its various capabilities, I know they will be hooked. You can manage absolutely everything about your daily life in one streamlined, convenient platform. We just need to spread the word! It is available on both Android and iOS, check it out!
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
Our marketing is pretty straightforward. As more businesses hop on the app to host their micro-app on Vezbi, their customers will automatically become our users. As more users come on to the app, businesses have a greater marketing pool. It’s a win-win all around. Right now we are seeing a lot of restaurants in Los Angeles, California using Vezbi and increasing business with it!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The rock stars of Vezbi are our team. Without our coders, management, shareholders, and employees, there would be no Vezbi.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
As our core foundation of Vezbi was built on the concept of altruistic egoism, with that philosophy guiding us, we have launched Project Seva. Project Seva is a donation and partnership program for qualifying nonprofits that focus on (but are not limited to) medical research, education, children & family services, immigration assistance, animal rights, disaster relief, community support, and homelessness support.
Seva is based on the concept of selfless service that is performed without any expectation of result or award for performing it, an act of compassion and care for others above oneself. Vezbi will reward and work with these organizations to help carry out their mission and goals by utilizing our Super App platform or resources to assist them.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Execution is more important than a degree — I have been criticized so many times as an entrepreneur for not graduating from an Ivy league school or holding an MBA degree. I have learned that degrees do not dictate your success. Stay confident that you are the one that can execute. The person that can execute, wins.
You can’t make everyone happy — Although many people do have the best intentions, their opinions are just that — opinions. Time is one of your most valuable assets when starting a company. Don’t waste time making unnecessary changes just to appease another.
You don’t have to know everything — You don’t have to be an expert in everything to make a start-up successful. In many instances, your idea or business is a new concept. Don’t look for validation when there isn’t any.
Do not cater to features — In most cases, you shouldn’t waste resources and time to develop a one-off feature for a single client. Your goal is to get to market and adopted as soon as possible, which is best achieved by casting a wide net.
Do things that don’t scale — Doing things that don’t scale allows you to see your customers use your products in real-time. This enables you the opportunity to see a lot of things that you didn’t know were issues before.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Vezbi was created with the concept of altruistic egoism at its core — the idea that true fulfillment and happiness come from helping others. By assisting those around us, we not only improve the lives of others but also enrich our own lives in the process… I don’t mean enriching by ‘I helped someone now I feel better’, I literally mean that helping others will make my/your life better.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Only dead fish swim with the current,” ~Malcolm Muggeridge
We, as a civilization, have the capacity to establish a better, more evolved world, filled with empathy and compassion. We need to do more than observe how the digital world affects us — we need to ask “why not” and shape it to be better than we ever imagined.
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
I think it is fair to say that just about everyone sees the value of a Super App in the US, however, there is a lot of skepticism that it can work in the US, for a myriad of reasons. I think these nay-sayers are shaped by, if not having come from, the existing tech hegemony. If you take history into account, these solutions often come from the outside.
Super Apps can be more than viable in the US, and our unique perspective is what I believe makes Vezbi work as a US Super App. In addition to our other core ideals, we feel that a platform that integrates the best will lead to a superior product (regardless if the ‘best’ comes from us or not). Above all else, we demand a balance between the consumer side and the business side so that all can succeed.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henryjan/
Vezbi Website: Vezbi Super App
Founder Website: henry-jan.com
Instagram: @henryjan.io
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
