Mankind has a history of passing down stories from generation to generation, but it’s a tradition that’s gotten a bit lost in the past few hundred years, if not longer.
Yourbot is changing all of that by literally immortalizing your digital persona in a box, complete with a 3D rendering that looks and talks just like you, so that you can share your stories and experiences with future generations.
The company, who are based out of Cowork.rs, also just announced that they’ve launched a kickstarter campaign, which includes a kickstarter exclusive: save the stories of a lifetime to your very own limited edition Yourbot.
Yourbot is the culmination of many sleepless nights and years of research on the part of the Yourbot team, who were fascinated by the idea of longevity and digital immortality. With the help of a team of researchers from Princeton University, Yourbot was born.
And it’s very long-lived: they even have a plan for keeping the software updated so that your future generations can enjoy it, no matter what technology might be the device du jour in hundreds of years to come.
Founder Ekim Nazım Kaya, Co-founder and GM of Botego, which builds virtual intelligent agents for companies like PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson, and Coca Cola and is the company behind Yourbot, tells us more about the Yourbot and the kickstarter campaign.
Tell us about the product.
Yourbot creates your digital persona by asking you a series of questions curated by Princeton University researchers. You can answer them by recording videos with our mobile app, and upload them to our secure servers on the cloud. Thanks to our conversation engine, people can interact with your persona – it looks like you, and talks like you!
How is it different?
Yourbot Foundation is really what makes this project unique. The sole responsibility of this foundation is to save this digital data for at least 200 years, and transform it to the most up-to-date format so that our users can be sure that their digital legacy will be preserved for generations to come. Can you imagine your great-grandchildren asking you questions and learning from your valuable experiences – from you yourself? This is what we offer to our users. I don’t even know the name of my great-grandfather, or what he looked like, let alone learn something from him!
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Actually we’re not sure if there are businesses addressing the problem of preserving people’s digital legacies, but thanks to our foundation, we’re stronger than any cloud service out there. People die, but foundations live on: that’s why they’re founded. Considering that a bigger portion of our memories is stored in the cloud every day, we’re the only solution who can guarantee that they will be available for next generations.
What is the business model?
We’ll be selling this service in 100- and 200-year increments. We’re currently Kickstarting. We’re also offering an Android device only available to our Kickstarter backers, on which the digital personas will run. Pricing will vary depending on the amount we raise on Kickstarter, because it will reduce our initial costs.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We exhibited the device at Techcrunch Disrupt event last week. Following the Kickstarter campaign, we’ll be in touch with several VCs whom we met in San Francisco. And we’re hoping to reach a broader audience through marketing channels, following a possible investment round.
If you could be put in touch with one investor in the New York community who would it be and why?
It would definitely be David Rose who represents ‘smart money’ and as the founder of Gust, he’s much more than an investor – he’s an enabler in a bigger scale.
Why are you based in New York?
Because it’s the largest regional economy in the United States, with a GMP of over $1.55 trillion, ranking behind only 11 nations in the world, and represents variety.
What moved you to take an office at Cowork.rs, and had you been in another coworking space previously?
Yes we were, and we like the boutique approach, with makes it a friendly place to work for startups.
What’s your favorite lunch time restaurant or food cart here in Flatiron?
Pret a Manger is our favorite both for breakfast and lunch.
