Learning while building
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – Alan Kay
In this edition:
Build a business that solves your own pain points
Leverage top social media trends the smart way
Stretch your way into daily movement
STORY
Turning inspiration into innovation
The team
When Zach Yadegari was 12 years old, he developed and published his first game on the app store. At 13 years old he was interning as a student mentor teaching professional gaming classes.
During the pandemic he noticed schools were distributing Chromebooks to students so he created an unblocked site for popular games. It attracted 5 million users and he monetised the platform using Google Adsense — his site was later acquired by gaming giant FreezeNova.
During the sale he was already working on his next venture with a peer he met at coding camp, Henry Langmack. Grind Clock, a motivational alarm clock app, didn’t grow as he’d hoped but it challenged him to learn how to scale while building a co-founder relationship.
He approached another innovator, Blake Anderson, who’d scaled two successful consumer apps and the three started building their next venture.
The opportunity
Cal AI emerged from Yadegari's personal frustration with existing apps. "I was tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal. After three days I quit. I was finding so much trouble using their app, typing in everything—it was very tedious."
Through numerous conversations, Blake and Zach realised they shared the same pain point. Most fitness apps weren’t innovating and calorie measurement could only be done through manual entry. Cal AI uses AI-powered image recognition to estimate nutritional content.
One of their immediate future goals is to expand their user demographic beyond the current 15-25 age range and increase retention. He believes users often don’t stick with health & fitness apps because of the product design and they require real discipline.
Zach’s journey challenges the notion that innovation needs decades of experience. It starts with building solutions to problems we’re facing and learning from every failure. In the next edition we’ll share key take-aways from Cal AI’s journey so far.
SPOTLIGHT
More collaboration, better health innovations
New HealthTech Hub in Rwanda to ensure sustainable diverse health solutions across Africa [Read]
Future of healthcare marketing: less information overload, more personalised communication [Read]
Africa HealthTech Marketplace: where healthcare innovators and service providers build together [Read]
Not just therapy: Psych Hub encourages multiple treatment options for mental health [Read]
EXPLAINER
Staying ahead with social media
Social media has been a powerful catalyst for developing the Internet and how we communicate.
What started as a P2P tool quickly created a new way for businesses to attract and convert customers. But social media platforms are still evolving so businesses need to keep studying to stay top of mind for their customers.
Consider these emerging trends if you’re trying to strengthen customer relationships, not just build a following:
Dominance of video content: Video continues to gain popularity with the rising use of short form video on platforms like TikTok & Instagram. Small businesses can keep it simple by using videos with text overlay for starters.
Broad vs niche audience targeting: The big influencer model goes broad & is costly. However, more niche voices and creators who have smaller but more loyal and engaged communities are becoming more relevant for targeted messaging. This is levelling the playing field for smaller businesses.
More AI tools: New tools are making it easier to develop high volumes of high quality content and curate personalised online experiences. However, these tools are best used as assistants and not total replacements.
Rising social commerce: Social media platforms are making it easier to sell directly on-platform while directing high-intent leads to businesses. (Customer success also happens in DM’s instead of calls.)
Edutainment: Nurturing customers through educational content will continue to gain popularity with the shift away from traditional media. In fact many who don’t start out as entrepreneurs are now selling digital products after earning their audience’s trust.
Overall, businesses are looking to increase customer engagement, interaction with their brands and deeper insights online.
Social media holds a lot of potential for innovation as the battle for consumers' attention continues. Businesses shouldn’t simply use the tools available as they are, but think of what advantage they can gain by doing things a little differently.
Are you staying ahead of the curve?
DIY
Keep it simple with daily stretching
In our last edition we encouraged you to design a sustainable training plan that includes daily movement.
Here are six easy stretches you can try to keep your muscles loose and limber through the day:
Neck stretch: While seated or standing upright, tilt your head to the right, bringing your right ear toward your shoulder to release tension in the neck and shoulders.
Shoulder rolls: Roll shoulders forward in slow, circular motions, then reverse to loosen the upper body, especially if sitting a lot.
Chest opener: Clasp your hands behind your back, straighten your arms, and gently lift your hands while opening your chest.
Side stretch: Stand with feet hip-width apart, reach your right arm overhead, and lean gently to the left aiming to feel the stretch along your side.
Standing forward fold: Bend forward at the hips, letting your upper body hang toward the ground to stretch the hamstrings and relax your lower back.
Quad stretch: Stand on one foot and pull your right heel toward your glutes to improve balance.
Try these stretches everyday for 30 seconds at a time. Watch a video for each movement to start with the right form and get better with practice.
In business, you can either keep doing what you know, or challenge the status quo and try something different.
Innovative entrepreneurs exist to disrupt models that can be improved and thereby improve the lives of customers. Innovation in business today is a necessity, not a luxury.
Stay active, keep innovating.