8/13/2019 Silicon Valley - Aviate

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Get smart

Aviate wants to make mobile phones adapt to their users needs, rather than theother way around

Meenakshi Radhakrishnan-Swami

Ever noticed that no matter how smart your phone is, you still have to tell it what todo? ou have to swipe throu!h all those screens to !et to the app you want, themaps dont pop up when youre in need o" directions and you have to dra! and setall the wid!ets you want on every pa!e o" the home screen# Entrepreneur Mark$aiss, his cousin %aul Montoy-&ilson and his "riend &illiam 'hoi, both o" whom

worked at Goo!le, wanted somethin! more "rom their phones# Rather than have tosearch "or what they wanted, they wanted the phone to o""er them that in"ormation,

when they needed it and based on what they were doin! at the time# (he three !otto!ether in )*++ to set up (humbs p abs and, earlier this year, launched their "irstproduct that does .ust that# 'alled Aviate, its an Android-based mobile inter"ace thatintelli!ently or!anises your phone, takin! conte/tual cues "rom the time o" day,

where you are and your app usa!e patterns#

0eres how it works# 1nce you install the app, Aviate automatically cate!orises yourapps into collections such as music, news, productivity, restaurants etc andrecommends new apps based on your download and usa!e patterns# 2&e wanted tosimpli"y the e/perience "or Android users,3 e/plains )4-year-old $aiss# 5ut thats thebaseline e/perience 6 as $aiss puts it, 2the real vision o" Aviate lies in the Spaces3#(his is the home screen that chan!es automatically throu!h the day, dependin! onthe time and location# So, when you reach "or the phone on wakin! up, tap theoran!e house icon at the top o" your screen "or the weather, a calendar and to-doapps# As you head "or work, Aviate can detect youre on the move and show tra""icconditions and !ive directions to the o""ice# Reach your o""ice, and the work Space!ives you email and Goo!le 'alendar and $rive, amon! others# 7" you are shoppin!or out "or a meal with your "riends, you can pull down in"ormation "rom the red Spaceon whats nearby, restaurant reviews and so on# 2Aviate is intelli!ent# 7t detects yourconte/t throu!hout the day and shows you whats appropriate,3 says $aiss#

7t may be the newest kid on the block but Aviate seems to be pretty popular already#(he company launched an alpha pro!ramme in late 8une that proved so popular, itsservers crashed# So, since the app opened to private beta in mid-1ctober, users arebein! let in only by invitation and in limited numbers# Still, $aiss says the app sawover +**,*** installations in the "irst week itsel" and 2several users are si!nin! upevery minute3, which makes him con"ident that by ne/t year, Aviate will have over +million users# (hat should come in handy when the company starts monetisin! itsmodel 6 e/cept that $aiss and his partners havent really thou!ht about theirrevenue model yet# 21ur investors have no e/pectation that we will "i!ure outrevenue any time soon,3 says $aiss, addin! that the 9+#4 million Aviate raised in

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seed capital "rom 0i!hland 'apital %artners, Andreessen 0orowit:, ;reestyle 'apitaland $raper Associates was 2.ust to !row and "ocus on the initial product3#

Still, he does have some ideas 6 people are willin! to pay between