UbiUbi

Interview with Mario Giacalone, President of UBI UBI

Why did you create Ubi Ubi?
While at Deutsche Telecom and Lucent Technologies, I traveled to several cities outside the U.S., and I wanted to experience what each of those cities had to offer. Several of the people whom I traveled with or who had similar long-term assignments almost never ventured beyond the hotels they were staying in or the surrounding areas.

Also, a lot of it was based on the frustration I had with using the mobile Internet and not being able to find anything relevant to me, even though I accessed it often. I’m not a big ring-tone guy, not a big mobile-game guy. I’m always moving from place to place, and I wanted useful data. A lot of people are in that position. However, few have sufficient spare time to actively seek out that information. App stores have helped some. However, even app stores have limitations, so the dilemma remains.

When traveling, I actually wanted a device that allowed me to find out information about each restaurant as I was passing it on the street.

Additionally, when out-of-towners visit New York, from Germany, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and countless other places, I enjoy showing them around. During those tours, I also recommend particular restaurants as well.

So I started thinking, there has got to be a way to automate this.

Ubi Ubi evolved out of understanding trends in workforce mobility, transnationality, and transculturalism. Greater numbers of people are now shuttling back and forth between different cities, countries, and regions of the world. Personal experience and market studies confirmed those trends. Out of those studies, trends, experiences, and ideas, I conceived Ubi Ubi.

Why was Ubi Ubi born on the mobile Web?
I’ve been in the telecommunications industry since I was 16. It is a solid, global industry that I love. The industry has traditionally been very hardware-focused. At one point, telecom companies became software-focused, and when that happened, they increasingly became systems integrators. In recent years, they have acknowledged that they need to go into multimedia. Some have evolved in that direction. But several do not yet possess the complete set of talents or the full spectrum of experiences within their organizations to exploit the value chain of multimedia. Multimedia is the future of telecom. And the future of multimedia is the mobile Web—not downloadable applications.

The mobile Web is an international frontier.

When did you found the company, UBI UBI?
Officially on February 2008, but unofficially in September 2007. Back in September 2007, there was much planning and research involved. February was when the idea actually started to take shape, and when it was legally established.

Where did the name Ubi Ubi come from?
We tested more than 500 names. We started with “Qinova,” because Q is an interesting letter. We also tried names that started with Z or X. We then tested names, looking for names that rang a bell, that meant something to people.

It had to be something international, meaning it could be pronounced easily and differently in countries all around the world. We wanted to be international from day 1, to fit in with this transnational trend. “Ubi” means “where” in Latin. Then I found out that in addition to its Latin translation, “ubi” is also the name of a dialect in Chad, spoken around the village of Oubi. Additionally, Ubi also meant, to me, an “ubi” rating—as in: Overall, how good is this restaurant or venue that I am considering?

Anyway, Ubi was taken, and we couldn’t have the URL. So I made it two Ubis—loosely translated from Latin, it means “from where to where.” “Ubi Ubi” sounded easy to remember and related to the mobile software product we planned to develop. Some people loved the name, some people hated the name, but in both cases, they still remembered it. I liked it because as a location-based mobile software company, we connect you from where you are to where you want to be. Additionally, the name “Ubi Ubi” evokes “ubiquity,” which is what the mobile phone offers—it’s available everywhere, from the richest to the poorest countries in the world.

Why dining?
We are one of the first companies to cater to and assist this new lifestyle: the transnational and transcultural lifestyle. This includes people who are regularly commuting from L.A. to Paris, from Boston to San Francisco, from New York to Frankfurt or Singapore. They have relatives living, working, and studying in different parts of the country and the world. It’s the aftereffect of globalization.

Dining is the easiest way to enable people because it’s one of the most social everyday activities. But there are several other categories we’d like to focus on. Nightlife, for example, because people want to have fun wherever they travel. News, to connect them to where they currently are and to where they have just come from. Because when you board the plane, you still have family or friends there. You want to maintain a connection to each of your many “homes.”

Ubi Ubi is for people who want to maintain roots in multiple places and remain fresh and up-to-date in each area. We believe our mission goes far beyond technology. A lot of tech companies are focused just on finding the right algorithms or the latest software tool. But we’re obsessed with tools only insofar that they allow people to continue on in their lifestyles, regardless of the their location.

Why now, in this economy?
We all still want luxury. And yes, I acknowledge that the word “luxury” has become taboo. There are many things in our everyday lives that remain a cross between luxury and necessity—flat-screen TVs, MP3 players, taxis, nail polish, jewelry, watches, flowers. However, we all still want some form of luxury in our lives. We still yearn for a good time, even if it’s less frequent. When you want luxury in this economy, you want to make sure the product or service is exactly what you’re seeking. Our product isn’t expensive—it’s the same cost as a magazine subscription, but constantly updated with more and more information, smarter and smarter technology. So if you buy it for yourself or for someone else as a gift, you’re spending your money wisely. Ubi Ubi helps you spend money wisely the second you start using it, while ensuring that you use it for worthwhile, memorable experiences. So what you get is reliability—the ability to make better, smarter decisions.

What company is UBI UBI’s role model?
From a business perspective, I like GE. It has a great reputation all around; people are proud to be a part of that company. It’s a conglomerate, so it’s not exactly the right model for a startup, but from an organizational and cultural perspective it’s where we want to be. Ogilvy is another. It’s very culture-focused. McKinsey is innovative in the sense that they’re thinking about hard questions such as managing knowledge and how to handle talent that’s spread all over the world. From a tech perspective, hands down it’s Google. They’re the one company that’s changing the world and being bold about it. Google is making industries question themselves. I admire how they’ve automated their internal workflow and streamlined their data centers. The telecom companies have yet to do the same thing in an equally efficient manner. Google’s automated internal field force systems do not yet exist in most telecom environments. From a tech perspective, there’s no way you can ignore them.

Our company, UBI UBI, is and will continue to be mobile, global, intellectually focused, talent-focused, and value-focused. But most importantly, we will be driven by our entrepreneurial spirit and solid business practices.

Why did you pick Michelin as UBI UBI’s first content partner?
It’s funny, I was talking to a friend about this. I was trying to evaluate a field force outsourcing solution for various European cities for an assignment at my previous employer, Deutsche Telekom, and someone suggested using ViaMichelin to calculate distances between different network nodes. As I became more acquainted with the brand, I became increasingly interested in the MICHELIN Guides.

When I started this company, I was thinking that our charter content partner would have to be a trusted name, that it must have a sense of history, mystery, and adventure. That was Michelin. I contacted them, and eventually, it all clicked. They were thinking what we were thinking. They have a great culture: They care about consumers, and they care about quality. They were confident in our startup’s ability to deliver. And I look forward to making them and each of our content partners proud of having taken that leap with us.

Where will you get your additional content?
Hg2, publishers of the Hedonist’s Guide series, was our second content partner. Known for their witty insights, they add stylish flair to our content repertoire. We’re in the process of negotiating licensing deals with a number of quality print and online publishers. Users will be finding more and more content each time they access the site.

We’re open to nightlife, finance, design, art, architecture content—whatever the best-quality content out there is. We’ll talk to any content partner worldwide who has quality content and reviews: in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, anywhere.

We’re more than an aggregation company. We do not solely focus on tech methods for consolidating content. We weave common threads by finding unity in the data that is presented to users. We also want to be known for our content’s quality.

What makes your product different from competitors’?
In the mobile industry, there’s a pronounced focus on the tween, teen, and 18-to-25 markets. What about all those boomers, generation y-ers, generation x-ers who are tech-savvy? What about all those people who have earning power and who buy things other than mobile games? Our typical consumer is adventurous, is internationally connected, has good taste. This consumer has been far too long ignored.

It all comes back to our essence. We believe we have a very select, very distinguishable customer base—people who are both international and design-conscious. Travel for this demographic is not just for leisure; it is their lifestyle. They’re communing with individuals all around the world at any time—living on the run. And it’s a normal way of life for them. This product acknowledges that the phenomenon of globalization exists and that it has created a new way of life.

That’s the space that Ubi Ubi inhabits.

Do you have previous startup experience?
I have launched multiple operations in countries outside the U.S.—both planning and implementing those operations. At every stage in my career, I’ve been involved in startup components within strong multinational organizations.

In college, entrepreneurship was in the air I breathed. When I returned to New York right after college, I began working for About.com—this was prior to its first launch, when it was still called The Mining Company. I loved the excitement of a startup. And back then, two of my friends and I wanted to start a company—this was in 1997. Now all three of us have each started our own company.

One thing you learn once you take the plunge into entrepreneurship is that it all happens very quickly. But nothing beats going through the actual experience—the highs and the lows.

Why start this company in New York?
A lot of people don’t believe a startup can succeed here, especially tech—they say there’s more talent and venture capital on the West Coast. But New York has something special about it. It is an international capital. New York is transnational by its very nature. It’s the center of multiple industries—publishing, media, finance, design, advertising. There’s absolutely no reason there shouldn’t be tech in New York. We’re actually located in a “startup hotel” now. There are at least 150-plus startup companies—tech and nontech—located in our building alone. It’s inspiring.

We were determined to start a mentoring program in entrepreneurship, technology, and design at Ubi Ubi. That program has been running since June 2008, which I believe is quite admirable, considering that we’re a startup. However, our focus has always been to create vehicles to attract and seed entrepreneurs in New York City. We plan continue to promote entrepreneurship in this city.

What’s your educational background?
I studied electrical engineering and economics in college. I’ve always enjoyed academic settings and thrived on ideas. At the university I attended, MIT, people do thrive on conceiving and realizing ideas.

MIT is a very fluid institution—people from business, engineering, and the arts mix and share their different experiences; no lines are drawn. There, you learn how to handle complexity, ambiguities, information asymmetries—but, most important, how to recognize talent when you see it. And once you’re immersed in that environment, it’s hard not to learn that there’s a lot of social responsibility and developmental aspects inherent in entrepreneurship. Cities and countries grow through new businesses and industries.

One thing I researched as part of my studies in economics was the “learning by doing” theory of Kenneth Arrow from Stanford. Why do some countries develop faster than others despite having similar resources? It all relates to knowledge transfer—putting outside experts together with local people, sharing similar work experiences, so that industry-specific ideas and implicit knowledge can be shared. This implicit (or “quiet”) knowledge is the basis for new knowledge, new processes, innovation, and ultimately new business.

Why was that research so important to you?
At Lucent, I helped Italian firms expand into Spain, and helped British firms expand into Italy and the Netherlands. However, one of the most interesting projects I was involved in took place in San Salvador. Most people think of El Salvador as a country that is in constant civil war; that it’s an undeveloped country. Yet when you land there, you find an airport that’s beautiful and high-tech; well-administered.

When I set foot there for the first time, I did not see any public phones or cell phones. In a period of three months, Lucent Technologies and Telefonica transformed the area. In three months, everyone had cell phones and San Salvador had Telefonica telephone booths throughout the city. It seemed almost magical.

In that project, we recruited recent college graduates from the top universities in San Salvador and paired them with telecom technology gurus from around the world. This was knowledge transfer! They would jointly troubleshoot complex telecom problems. Those college graduates were learning by doing work alongside someone from another country. Learning by doing was economic development! That’s the transformative power of technology. The project was eye-opening because the theory I had studied became real to me—it wasn’t just something from a book.

Who are your role models?
Some of the best role models are people who are not celebrities—people I’ve worked alongside or reported to—people like Dave Jones, Kevin Conlon, Mike Young, Daniel Brower, or Tom Maguire. But as far as well-known role models, Warren Buffet, of course. He is solid all around, in good times and in bad. Another one is Charlie Rose, who consistently asks insightful questions of different people—scientists, artists, writers, politicians. That’s why I like interviews when I’m hiring… those are Charlie Rose moments.

What motivates you?
I like to see and feel energy. Sometimes you have a picture in your mind of how things should be. A bit of inspiration, or something you read, heard, or discussed. Those bits of inspiration, cumulatively, become energy. I like to be surrounded by people who light me up. It motivates you to take certain risks. The biggest thing I look for when hiring members of the team is burning passion, which is the same as energy. I don’t like the status quo, I don’t like complacency. There are always opportunities for improving things, for making things better. When you have that kind of restlessness, you can motivate yourself.

What do you do when you’re not working?
If I could have my way, I would travel every single day. I like seeing new things, going to new spots, meeting new faces, hearing music, reading interesting ideas. I love horseback riding. I like wine and anything that relates to wine. And food, of course. I like meeting people from fields that are very different from mine. It’s like a discovery; from that moment in time, I’m able to see from a different perspective.

What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid?
My earliest recollection was about wanting to become a dentist. However, a slide show of rotten teeth during a seventh grade Career Day workshop ended any further pursuit.

Later on, foreign relations appealed to me. I’d been reading about travel, trade relations, and international politics since I was very young. Growing up, we subscribed to newspapers in multiple different languages. So when I was in junior high and I had to select a new language to learn in school, I thought about French or German. I chose French because it was the language of diplomacy and somehow would better position me for international work. Had I known that I would be working for a German firm many years later, I would have taken German instead.

What’s your dream for this product?
I want people to be regular users of Ubi Ubi. When they’re looking for city-based information, I want them to go to one site. To develop an emotional connection to other users, whether they’re longtime friends or people they just met through Ubi Ubi.

I want to develop a mobile community. Everyone is traveling, and there are plenty of travel guides out there. But our goal is to give them a forum for connecting offline. Mobile technology is a transitory product. You use it to go out and meet someone! We believe people should connect to one another rather than to the technology itself.

What are your dreams?
I don’t believe in dreams—they’re elusive, intangible, unreal. If you have a crazy idea, I guess some people would call that a dream. And it remains that unless you act on it.

What do you want for this company?
I want UBI UBI to be respected by its customers, employees, partners, and end-users. To uphold its core values and espouse them in everything it does and every product we release. To be self-sustaining and grow organically. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I still believe in companies that grow and thrive on their own. That matters. It grows industries, it grows economies.

At UBI UBI, we seek people with a transnational mindset—that’s why Ubi Ubi is an international name. Every place is home. It should feel like home to anyone from anywhere in the world. Internationalism is in our DNA. A lot of firms say they’re international, but they’re just a loosely connected set of international branches.

It is important that we be a company that grows talent, and where talent is further enhanced. At some point, our alumni will go on to form other companies on their own. That’s why we have a mentor program: so that we may help spawn new generations of entrepreneurs around the country and around the world.



Contact: Timothy Cooper, press@ubiubi.mobi

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