thingface deck - angellist version

App Authoring for Mere Mortals

© 2014 ThingFace, Inc.

What problem does ThingFace solve?

• Everything is becoming connected.• Businesses and individuals want to wire up their own apps to connect activities, things,

people and content.• ThingFace allows authors to create custom apps for connecting their customer’s or

their own on-line lives to the real-world without knowing how to write programs.• ThingFace integrates with existing apps and platforms.• ThingFace authoring tools are designed primarily for non-programmers, but can build

sophisticated, contextually aware apps for specific tasks and environments.


ThingFace produces custom Apps• Authored by non-programmers• Outputs compelling Apps – which the Author can adjust and customize

to their own client’s needs• Works with:

• Wearables, Devices, Sensors, IoT platforms• IFTTT, existing Apps, BigData• Mobile, Tablets, Web


ThingFace App ExamplesA powerful and flexible tool that works WITH IFTTT and lets non-programmers create apps that assist people in their real-world activities.

Use case #1:

Trainers or Fitness professional can capture the essence of what they offer their clients by recording their voice doing a motivational speech and providing a custom publishing system. The Trainer’s ThingFace App then acts as their “proxy” and sustains their presence when they are NOT with their clients. The ThingFace App integrates with data from wearables like FitBit and FuelBand and can then automatically trigger this motivational audio “at just the right time.”

Use case #2:

Local culture curators, travel guides and event producers can create customized Apps which encapsulate history, recommendations and cultural insights into a mobile ThingFace App that can be distributed through the Apple App store. Event lineups, local merchant promotions, upcoming milestones and festival information can all be propagated into a contextually aware ThingFace App - that provides relevant information where and when it is accessed.

Use cases #3:

Home Assistants will be authored as private Apps for family and friends that are managed by tech savvy home owners, parents or individuals. These assistants can coordinate and orchestrate the many web services, Apps, IoT platforms, hubs or devices that are part of each person's mobile life and on-line world. ThingFace will enable Authors to synchronize their own content with ‘Smarthome’ devices, triggered by social interaction of friends, family and groups.


New company from Marc Canter and team• Helped create multimedia tools industry – Macromedia

• starting in ‘84 – IPO ’93 – merge with Adobe ’05 (with a $3.4B valuation)• Solving same problems as MacroMind – “it’s too hard to create apps” right now

• Empowering a new generation of non-programmers and domain expert authors• Providing state-of-the-art tools – which work WITH everything else• Built and run by experienced entrepreneurs who have been there, done this – once before

• Understand importance of building partnerships:• Be friends to all – complement not compete• Kickstart entirely new generation of developers with approachable authoring tools – creative

community, freelancers, SMEs, local tech services, educators, on-line marketers, activists• Branded apps – white labeled SaaS deals

• Entrepreneurial growth path• Start with Fitness – 2.3m units Q1 ‘14 - $330M ’13• Aggressively go to “prosumer” market — target people with expertise in a domain and some

technology savvy – re-create the MacroMind phenomena• Opportunistic bootstraping with industrial one-off’s – shopping assistants• Roadmap to add Natural Language Processing, Community, Marketplace, Developer Program


With help from…

Team

Marc Canter- MacroMind- 30+ IDEA guy

Winston Tsang- Ruby guru- 20+ VP of Tech

Alex Seiden- MacroMind, Lucas Film, Pixar- 30+ Sr. Coder

Jim Collins- UX/UI/Artist- 25+ Designer

Jamie Fenton- MacroMind, Apple, Amazon- 35+ Sr. Coder

John Henry Thompson- MacroMind,

NYU, MIT- SiteClone- 30+ Sr. Coder

Robert Scoble- Microsoft, Rackspace- Social Media guru- 15+ blogger

Dan Farber- MacToday, CNet, CBS Interactive- 30+ Journalist

UI/UX team- David - Nic - Daniel Schmeltekopf Fontaine Kairoff


Looking for• $1m – up and running – MVP: initial set of Agents and Tools

• Prove model (tool) and compelling experiences (end-user App)

• $5m – flesh out Agents, iterate/perfect design, expand toolset, build-out infrastructure – build business

• One-off production work helps build platform, establish brand• With each new viewpoint – 10 more IQ points

• $10m – scale up – revenues, natural language processing, establish marketplace more tools and agents, International presence

• Prosumer, Industrial and Consumer• Friends to all – ride the wave – empower new kinds of “developers”

Appendix AMarketing

“Thanks ThingFace – I can now record my own voice for

my clients and leave my “presence” behind for them. ThingFace acts as a proxy of

ME that my client’s can access 24/7/365.

The ThingFace App works WITH Runkeeper – so I don’t have to COMPETE with those folks.

I can alsoprovide custom Information and

Nutritional data – exactly what my clients need – when they need it!

“With ThingFace I can keep track of my husband, make sure my kids are doing their homework and create some

educational family fun – connecting us all into our

SmartHome!”

“I can even create my own Agents – and sell

them as a way of running my own

business!”

“My ThingFace assistant helps me

best utilize my commute, pack and prep for a trip, do my expense reports and

it even helps me manage our AirBnb

business!”

“I started my own local Tour Company – and produced a smart Assistant App for my

customers. ThingFace delivers my unique local

knowledge to my customers – at JUST the right time,

place and context!”


More Examples….• Home owners could “bomb drops” that were triggered by social interaction

• Music (or sound EFX) or video playback starts – on-demand• Contextually relevant web sites and media channels appear on mobile devices

• Make sure the right Delivery people can get into my home• and that they leave with it securely locked

• Marc Canter is at the door • start playing Bob Marley’s “Trenchtown Rock”

• Augment your kid’s softball game • reward points - most swings, best defensive moves, minutes played, sportsmanship• establish Leaderboard for team

• Spice up a Senior Citizen center • augment Bingo or “Name that Tune” with points, badges and leaderboard

• Help your BFF keep track of you• send “hottie alerts” to encourage friends to join you wherever you are…


Initial set of Agents are the authoring frameworks

• Life Assistants – helps manage your daily commute, helps you Pack, keep track of your home’s security, produce expense report, counsel, create family activities. PRIVATE

• Home Assistants – manage delivery people, keep track of your kid’s homework, create educational family activities integrated with smart home and media playback. Coordinate drop/off – pick/up errands. PRIVATE

• Personal Trainer – work with client’s “Fitbit” App (Runkeeper) and existing exercise equipment – adjusting exercise routines and schedules. Create motivational audio customized to their client’s real-world results. PRIVATE

• Game Masters – augment sports or board games, judge Group activities, awards points and badges. Also acts as Referee and Oracle. PUBLIC

• Tour Guides - “author” customized guides and sell them publicly. Regional knowledge, local merchants and timely insider suggestions. PUBLIC


One could certainly imagine Agents from…• Educators - create edTech games, lessons or environments – for THEIR students• Foodies, Sommelier advise on favorite wines, restaurants, dishes, bars, movies,

books, places and things. Provide a unique “panache” - on-demand.• Creative Artists, DJs, Culture Curators, BFFs – express themselves• Media Critics – voice their opinion in creative, relevant ways• Community Leaders – provide resources, training and leadership via Agents• Marketing agencies – help market and sell products and services via Agents• Computer Repair/Media Support services companies – branded Agents• Training companies – provide customized training programs via Agents• Shopping Assistants, Lifestyle Coaches, Family/Senior Assistance – all can

create customized Agents for their particular constituency


“Putting a face on the Internet of Things”• Go to market strategy

• Leverage Marc Canter’s ability to get “into the news” – speeches, panels, opinion pieces on the evolution of the IoT, open web politics and playing nicely – with everyone

• Connect to geeky, early adopters – help from Robert Scoble and Dan Farber

• Identify the right influencers, get onto the IoT circuit, partner with key IoT players, IoT brand sponsorship deals

• Iterate with customer’s participation and tight feedback loop• Obtain opportunistic high profile one-off Industrial gigs• Go to original MacroMind developers, who owe their careers to Marc• Sign up schools to teach it and communities of interest – to utilize it


Why Fitness?• Aren’t there a LOT of Fitness Apps already?• Yes – but we’ll work with all of them and we offer something unique• Provide complementary services – tailored for a live Human Trainer

• Annotated audio – triggered by backend ‘Smarts’• Expertise knowledge base – videos, photos, instructions, notes• Group Activities – get clients together

• Designed to connect the Trainer to the Fitness App and their clients• Helps Trainers retain clients by leaving their “presence” behind• Enables Trainer to package their expertise – and present in unique fashion


Create balance between man and machine• Encapsulate domain experts and prosumers knowledge into Agents• Create a bridge between human authors and technology• Empower human end-users to get in and “change” things

• “Modify Google Now” to your liking• Yet another channel in IFTTT

• React to changes and execute activities – as per instructions from the Human Author (parents, prosumers, domain experts)


Sort of like….• Instagram of Authoring

• Does 3 or 4 things, very well• Easy to use – creates sophisticated results

• Minecraft for the IoT• Explore new kinds of social interaction utilizing a Smarthome, wearables and mobile devices• Community authors fun and engaging experiences and shares or sells them between each other

• IFTTT on steroids• Similar kind of sentence editor – MadLib paradigm – drop-down set of pre-defined choices• “Full length sentences” – enables Authors to express semantically richer structures• Integrated inside of Agent Activities, with combines human actions with authored software • ThingFace will plug into IFTTT – as a “channel”

• Customized Google Now• eg. I like the suggestions and stuff coming up from Google Now• BUT I want it to suggest the kind of things that I care about

• Monitoring of my personal devices, productivity software, home sensors and current location and status• Interaction between me and my friends• Group activities I’m participating in• Work and School issues – where I need help synchronizing and staying updated


ThingFace becomes….• What our Authors figure out to do with it• Powerful authoring tools enable dreams and visions – to come true• (Which is EXACTLY what happened with Director!)

Appendix BThingFace the business


ThingFace’s I.P.• Authoring UI/UX paradigm will:

• See ALL of the factors, services, data and presence that effects one’s life – and be informed if anything is changing – this enables Authors to “put everything into Context”

• Tool environment is simple enough for non-programmers to “author” compelling domain specific end-users experiences – that complement their “real-world” activities and experiences

• Provide Agent frameworks and templates:• Enable Authors to select from menus that have all the relevant venues, events, songs,

people, sentences, logic and experiences – that the Author wishes to utilize• Mix and Match many different kinds of Agents - in one customized App

• Create IoT front-ends that are designed to work in conjunction with live humans• Leverage and complement existing Apps, Platforms, Hubs, Infrastructure, Gateways,

BigData and Intelligence vendors – don’t compete with them! IFTTT compatible• Brand:

• Focused on building ‘front-ends’ for the IoT – “Apps for Mere Mortals”• Freemium model – Authors play for free, pay when they get value for their own businesses• Produce one-off industrial front-ends – highlight our I.P. and Agent authoring approach


Revenue Models• Subscription service – freemium model for Prosumer/Domain Expert

developers• PaaS – to enable public Agents to scale up• Marketplace – Authors buy and sell Agents – operation fees, sponsorships• Industrial one-offs

• build branded Agents and Assistants for established companies• repurpose technology into vertical markets• white labeled versions• easy-to-customize tools for operators and managers to configure locally


ThingFace as a company• Experienced management team led by visionary founder• Seasoned development team – with experience in Agents, multimedia

tools, game development and mobile Apps• Recognized marketing experts; help from some of the brightest and

respected veterans and influencers in the industry• Great market opportunity – re-create story from 30 years prior• 7 Patent ideas


Industrial One-off ideas• Manufacturing Agent

• Keep track of staff, work schedule and goals• Act as a front end to all the facilities equipment, back-office IT and shipping• Incentivize productivity, booster morale

• Branded Shopping Assistant• Agents knows you and will offer discounts on just the stuff you want• Retail managers can customize promotions to local culture, norms and heroes – via custom Agents• Sponsorship deal steers end-users towards specials, events and customized SWAG• Co-partnerships with local malls, media or carriers or special events

• Gym, Fitness center or Wellness plan Agent• Steer end-users towards the customer’s programs, facilities and services• Custom designed wellness regime and routines – by local staff

• Coca-Cola vending machine Agent• Remember history – flavors – mixes – share with others• Gives you context: the time, the place, the people with you, what’s going on• Local promotions staff can integrate customers into the: “Coca-Cola Universe”

Appendix CThingFace specifications


ThingFace Agents – public and private• ThingFace is designed to work in conjunction with live humans

• These ‘activities’ integrate IoT hardware, software services and the Internet into “real-life” experiences.

• Two ways of utilizing ThingFace Agents:• As a close private relationship between the Author and an End-user

• or• Agents are designed and produced to be publicly distributed (and/or

sold) • These Agents will be hosted by ThingFace and distributed thru the

Apple Store.


ThingFace platform• Empower Prosumers and Domain experts to create customized Agents• Agents are deployed in “Apps” – each working in the background……• Complement existing:

• Fitness, Health and Lifestyle Apps and device support software• Smart Home hub and remote control functionality• Productivity software, messaging, scheduling, project management, email• Tour Guide books, Digital Assistants, Tutors/Educational curriculum, DJ Apps• IoT Platforms, Hubs, Remote controls, standards

• Agents coordinate, monitor, publish, trigger audio or music, execute simple logic, connect to people, domain expertise and content. All of this logic is designed and controlled by AUTHORS – for HUMANS


ThingFace Authoring Platform solution

• Authors create customized Agents – utilizing our tools• These Authors can then provide/sell this Agent – privately – to their clients - via a customized

App• The Author can publicly distribute/sell the Agent – via the Apple App Store• The ThingFace App – can run multiple Agents – providing an:

• Integrated environment for End-users to run one or more Agents• A series of experiences which share the same social and life contexts • Contextually aware experiences – which are designed to work WITH end-user’s:

• Existing Apps (Fitness, Health, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Education, Productivity, etc.)• Favs, Tastes, Preferences, Settings, Behavior, History, current status• Social graph, Groups, Social interaction• SmartHome, wearables, mobile devices, computers, automobiles


Content differentiates Authors• Each Author (trainer, tour guide, researcher, marketer) will upload and

add their own media and content – to their Agents• Video is utilized to demonstrate a specific routine, task or activity• Photos are used to specify exact details, and document history• Audio captures the essence of one human helping another• Text represents the domain expertise and knowledge that the Author

is embedding inside their ThingFace Agents• Interactive experiences enable the Author’s end-users to participate

by providing media uploads, real-time responses and input

Appendix DLong term strategy


Think of ThingFace as…..• A way for non-programmers to build Agents inside of Apps –for private and

public deployments – work in the background, as well as fore-ground• A modern day Content publishing platform - the Instagram of Authoring• As an App Authoring tool – that creates Agents that run in Apps – along with

other Agents (both public and private)• As a way for normal people to “author/play” with the Internet of Things• As a meta-platform that works WITH other vendor’s platforms, services, apps,

devices and sensors – doesn’t compete with anybody! IFTTT compatible• As a Digital Lifestyle Aggregator – that monitors, creates reports and keeps

track of who’s getting access to your data – that YOU control


7 Potential Patent ideas• Agent based system (background tasks) that utilizes real-time data collected from IoT sensors

and mobile devices to monitor contextual changes and trigger media playback events.• Method for moving backwards and forwards through time via real-time manipulation of a

Context Map timeline interface.• Utilization of an animating Contextual Map ingestion and display system to visualize changing

contextual data• Contextually aware environment that adjusts settings, triggers media, updates events, changes

content and configurations based on changing contextual data.• Tool for editing and controlling AI “experience sentences” which resembles a MadLib-like

interface.• Outline-based structure editor that creates and manages on-line Activities that involve

interacting with live humans.• Method of maintaining an up-to-date relevant, contextually aware “Digital Lifestyle

Aggregator” – in conjunction with a human “operator.” This integrated environment would aggregate Agents, People, Services and Content in a highly customizable manner.

thingface deck - angellist version

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