EKMH Innovators Interview Series
An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
More than a decade since consumers unwittingly opened their lives to Big Tech, consumers are finally beginning to realize that a phone in every pocket and a screen in every face comes with consequences. According to ImagineBC, the grand bargain of the digital age, in which consumers have willingly traded their data for free services, is coming apart … but it may be too late to regain control of the personal data that's already been bought, sold and leaked into the web. Washington, DC-based ImagineBC aims to create platform which allows consumers to take back control and skillfully monetize their personal data.
I connected with ImagineBC CEO Erik Rind via email to learn more about his AI and Blockchain tech experience and why he decided to establish the groundwork for a new personal data business paradigm. Rind also shared his engaging insight on other topics including his career, the value of taking risks, unforgettable career advice, lessons learned on the squash court and book recommendations. Our interview follows.
EKMH: Why did you decide to shift your career path to MID? What experiences ignited your idea to found ImagineBC?
Erik Rind: Actually, I did not know I was shifting my career path into the MID space until I had a chance to watch Jaron Lanier’s recent video series published online by the New York Times. I started down this path about 2.5 years ago after being introduced to blockchain technology without knowing I was embarking on building a MID. After spending some time researching blockchain technology, I better understood its promise and I became a strong advocate of its use. I started this adventure by first working on a prototype mobile application to implement blockchain technology into my company’s HCM system. But I soon realized that what we were really working on was an application that would make it easy and efficient for individuals to take back control of their personal information and more importantly create an opportunity to share in the profits that information was producing. This shift from HCM to MID was the catalyst that gave birth to ImagineBC.
EKMH: How have you seen your own personal data and intellectual data used/sold?
Erik Rind: Not personally. I’m one of those people who work hard at keeping a tight rein on what is and is not shared about me. However, that doesn’t mean that my data is not out there. My finger prints were actually hacked out of the Office of Personnel Management a number of years ago. I leave my location tracking on for Waze. So, Google knows where I am and like everyone else, I am subjected to the popup ads that appear inside this app. I just choose to ignore them. Now if Dunkin’ Donuts would pay me directly to view their ad inside this the app, then maybe I would pay more attention. But since I know Google is the only one profiting from my information, I choose to exercise my free will and ignore the ad entirely. In fact, should I ever have a craving for a donut, I would find an alternative place to purchase one.
EKMH: How have other fintech innovations such as crowdfunding and blockchain influenced your own innovations?
Erik Rind: Blockchain is the single most important influence on the ImagineBC ecosystem. ImagineBC is all about individuals having control over their personal information and being the sole decision makers related to when and how their information can be used. Blockchain technology provides a simple straightforward protocol that can be used to ensure that an individual’s private information remains private. And even more important, that it is only the individual, through use of a private key, who decides when and to whom his or her information may be released. Without blockchain technology, ImagineBC would be just another centralized database and high valued target for hackers. I also want to say that AI/ML plays a large role in our delivery. Through our partner WeR.ai, ImagineBC is able to deliver deploy the same AI/ML solutions that Google and Facebook use. The only difference is that ImagineBC is about democratizing the use of this technology. We deploy our solutions on behalf of our users to help them make money.
EKMH: Tell us about the steps you took toward founding ImagineBC and your fundraising experience. How did your prior career experience make a positive difference in the process?
Erik Rind: Fundraising for a pre-revenue start up like ImagineBC is not a pleasant experience. You pitch and you pitch and then you pitch some more and every time you hear the same thing: “Sounds like a great story, good luck with launch, let us know when you have reached 20%-30% growth.” If you don’t have a thick skin, it can definitely wear you out. Luckily, ImagineBC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a parent company I also founded. We have been funding ImagineBC using the profits generated by the parent company. The funding from the parent will take us through launch and allow us to get some track record of growth in terms of community size and revenue. Hopefully when and if we go back out to the capital markets, we will have better luck getting someone to by in. Of course, if you happen to know someone on the inside, then that really helps.
EKMH: Who do you count as clients? What’s your member base? How are you sourcing new clients and members?
Erik Rind: ImagineBC is currently in between our initial beta launch to friends and family and our scheduled general launch targeted for mid-December. From our friends and family, we received some outstanding feedback about our app, and we are in the process of reworking the user experience based on this feedback. We have a number of channels available to us (staffing agencies, labor organizations, SMBs with services to sell) to source members from but for our general launch, we are going to be focusing on social media influencers with 30K-150K followers. This is a rich target area for us because individuals in this sector typically have been unable to create fair monetization for the time they put into their content. It is ImagineBC’s job to help these individuals start to gain fair compensation for their effort. ImagineBC likes to say that “we are better than free.” Since ImagineBC will be compensating members through our bonus back program, we will encourage and hope that these members will share part of the earnings we are creating for them, to purchase one-time or subscription access to the content uploaded into ImagineBC by the social media personalities they have followed into the community.
EKMH: How does ImagineBC’s partner reference program work?
Erik Rind: ImagineBC’s reference program is an important aspect of our ecosystem. It amazes me how often people simply give away access to their contact list. An app says, “We would like to access your contact list” and people just click OK. Simply amazing. I have worked the better part of three decades to build up the contact list on my phone. That list represents quite a bit of hard work. There is no way I am just giving that away to some app for nothing so they can use it to create more wealth for themselves.
ImagineBC is all about properly compensating individuals for their data and intellectual property, so it’s only natural that we create a vibrant mechanism for our referral partners, individuals or organizations, to monetize their connections. ImagineBC’s smart contract ensures that the individuals who referred a buyer or a seller of a transaction are also compensated from that same transaction. As an example, say Jill was referred to ImagineBC by Rachael and Tom who was referred to ImagineBC by Jack. Jill buys a $2/mo. subscription to access all of Tom’s exclusive content inside ImagineBC. Tom as the seller in this transaction will receive $1.40 of the $2 purchase price. Rachael as the referrer of the buyer (Jill) in this transaction will receive $0.20 and Jack, the referrer of the seller (Tom) will receive $0.10. Everyone wins here: Tom receives fair value for his content (he set the value), Rachael and Jack receive value for their connections. If making money from your friends and associates doesn’t sit well with you, we certainly understand, that is why we have made it possible for each individual to contribute up to 100% of their ImagineBC earnings to a social cause of their choice.
EKMH: In what ways do you plan to grow ImagineBC? Where do you see ImagineBC in five years?
Erik Rind: Although initially focused on growing our community in the United States, we hope to expand beyond our borders a quickly as possible. I hope that within 5 years, ImagineBC has grown large enough to have changed the status quo of having to use a myriad of 3rd parties to complete a commercial transaction. ImagineBC would prefer that the majority of money spent on advertising by 3rd parties went back to the very consumers the advertisers are trying to reach, rather than into the pockets of a few elite tech giants. I also hope that within 5 years, ImagineBC has become one of the leading engines of social donations. Giving back to social causes is a key part of the economy of our ecosystem. For every $1 spent by an advertiser, at least 10 cents of that dollar will be contributed to one or more social causes. Finally, we have a fledgling relationship growing with the United Nations General Partnership for Sustainable Development. I hope that within 5 years this will be a robust partnership for ImagineBC.
EKMH: When did you start playing squash? In what ways has playing a sport helped you in your career?
Erik Rind: I started playing in college. The squash coach also taught a political science course that I was required to take for my history major and the word was that you had no chance to get an “A” in the class if you were not a squash player. Being a squash player didn’t guarantee you an “A”, but at least you had a chance. So, I went out for the team as a sophomore, a full year before I knew I was going to take his course. Well, many years later, I can’t even remember the name of the course, but I’m still paying squash.
Squash is a game of athleticism and honor. The later is essential because with two large bodies sharing such a small space, while both wielding large rackets, if the players don’t respect one another, someone is going to get injured. Well, that’s pretty close to how I’ve lived my business career. I don’t think winning means that the other side has to lose. Instead, we should always be looking for win-win opportunities.
EKMH: How has failure played a role in your career success? What have you learned from taking risks?
Erik Rind: I wish I could say I was one of the lucky ones who hit it out of the park first time out, but nope. I’m still here, tilting at windmills. I think there are two types of failure. There is catastrophic failure from which there is no recovery. Everyone goes down with the ship. Thankfully, the few startup miscues I have been associated with did not fall into this category. With the second type, you have understood the risks you were taking on and accounted for the scenarios where things don’t quite go to plan. In this scenario, maybe you lose some money, but you don’t ruin any lives, yours or the people who work for you. This is the key. You can’t succeed without taking risks, but definitely don’t blind yourself into believing that everything is going to go as planned. It never does. Be prepared and be sure that you and those involved with you can recover when things don’t go quite right.
EKMH: What career advice have you received that has proved most helpful? Please share some advice from your own experience as CEO, Board Member and Founder.
Erik Rind: Without a doubt one of the most helpful things I’ve encountered was while working as a young consultant for Price Waterhouse. I was tagging along on a project pitch to a prospective client and had the opportunity to hear some of the best advice I ever received in my professional career. The partner I was with said to the prospect, “Look, we can deliver the best software product in the world, but if you and your team aren’t involved in the design and construction, I know you’re going to hate what we deliver.” I think the advice here is clear: to deliver a quality product you must listen to your user! I’ve never forgotten this advice and now, almost 30 years later, still swear by every word.
EKMH: Which books are on your must-read list? At which vacation spot do you want to read them?
Erik Rind: I read quite extensively, and I alternate my reading among three broad categories. I read classic fiction, non-fiction and non-fiction that I believe is directly related to my business. The following are currently at the top of my list for each category:
Fiction: Hard Times by Charles Dickens. I made it a mission of mine a while back to read through all of Dickens’ work and this is the last one on my list! Saving this one for a warm tropical island.
Non-Fiction: How Change and Stupidity Have Changed History by Erik Durschmied. I’m spending New Year’s in NYC, so I will probably devour this one during that trip.
Non-Fiction Business Related: The Four, The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google by Scott Galloway. I’ll try to fit this one in whenever I can, during lunch or maybe on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.