Mobile United offers a new approach to cell phone service.
Start-Ups.Co editorial team interviewed Mrs. ‘Julia Ko’; Founder of the United States (California)-based start-up “Mobile United”.
“Mobile United” offers Unlimited Talk On The Biggest Nationwide Networks for extremely competitive rates.
Below is the full interview that we have conducted with Mrs. ‘Ko’ regarding her start-up company ”Mobile United”;
1. What is it exactly that you do and what “Mobile United” is all about?
Mobile United offers a new approach to cell phone service. Mobile United has created an opportunity to offer extremely low cost cell phone service that can save users as much as $800 per year, without changing networks. Our extensive infrastructure on the back-end and self-service platform keeps costs low and we pass those savings on to the consumer.
2. When has “Mobile United” been founded? And what stage is “Mobile United” currently at?
SurePod was founded in 2011. The technology and infrastructure built over the last two years is being used by Mobile United. Mobile United was created in October 2012 and is launching to the public on October 29th with a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The campaign is available at www.indiegogo.com/projects/mobile-united-the-world-s-first-crowd-powered-cell-phone-service.
3. What is “Mobile United”‘s business model and how does it work?
By paying a nominal membership fee that supports Mobile United, members can access the wholesale rates that Mobile United has negotiated. The payments that members make for their cell phone service cover Mobile United’s costs.
We take a community-oriented approach to business, making our members the core of how we do business.
4. How did your team meet? And who in your team does what?
A mutual friend, who worked at Oracle introduced us at his wife’s birthday party. He and Steve, my co-founder had known each other for over a decade. He mentioned Steve wanted to build a technology business from the ground up. Going through his career over BBQ at the party, I was impressed with his years of leading teams, operational efficiencies, exceptional problem solving skills and ability to bootstrap.
At Mobile United, Steve leads technology development, operations, fine tunes product and finance. Julia creates new products, electronic manufacturing, manages carrier relationships and helps maintain the ecosystem that brings hardware to life.
5. What, exactly, makes you different from existing options, what will make your product and/or service stand out in the marketplace? In other words what’s unique about you and what’s new about what you make?
Major cell phone networks have high overhead, ranging from infrastructure and personnel to massive marketing expenses (including naming the occasional stadium). Mobile United’s approach allows us to keep our users’ costs to a minimum.
We are an exclusively online experience and users can manage their entire account through an online portal.
6. What is your growth like? And what milestones has “Mobile United” achieved so far?
Mobile United evolved out of SurePod, which sells specialized cell phone handsets.
We have designed and built our own device, manufactured it overseas, built the infrastructure to bring it to life, created a dealer network and program, built a custom portal, put 1,500 users online through SurePod, worked with government agencies, legal and carrier contracts.
7. Who are your competitors? And what is “Mobile United”‘s competitive advantage over them?
Mobile United is offering comparable service to the major cell phone carriers and — in fact — is offering service on the same networks that users already rely on. The biggest difference is the price users pay for that same service. With the major cell phone carriers, users have to cover all the costs associated with the company (like user acquisition and the giant marketing campaigns these companies use) as well as provide the carriers with their profits.
8. What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?
Negotiating the contracts for these services presented a challenge. Just going through the many pages of legal language required us to focus on our goals.
We also had to make sure that we were offering the product that our customers really valued: while the SurePod served a specific market, our customers asked for more in the form of access to the cheap mobile rates we had negotiated.
9. What are the key things about your field that outsiders don’t understand?
Compliance with government regulations is complicated and expensive. It’s a heavily regulated industry that requires a lot of paperwork.
Big phone companies aren’t evil. They’re just very inefficient, unabashedly greedy, and know they’re more powerful than their customers.Tribal warfare inside carriers costs you money.
When abusers are removed the network is good for you as a consumer and unlimited is to make the consumer experience more enjoyable and worry-free.
10. Why are you going to succeed?
Moxie and persistence: our experiences in developing hardware showed the value of working towards a long-term goal. Unlike entrepreneurs coming from a software background, we’re prepared to invest the necessary time into building Mobile United. We have the added benefit of already crossing many of the major hurdles: there are high barriers to entry in this industry, so there are very few substantial competitors.
11. If “Mobile United” succeeds, what additional areas might you be able to expand into?
Hotspotting, tethering and possibly international services are areas that we could possibly expand into. We’ve already had some requests in that direction.
Additionally, we’ll further develop (with feedback from customers) the membership reward program. Because we’re putting a major focus on our community, it’s crucial to us to continue to focus on the needs of our community and to expand in such ways as to serve those needs.
12. Why did you choose this idea and concept to build “Mobile United” based on?
The cofounders actually started another company first: SurePod. The company designs and manufactures specialized cell phones for caretakers to stay in close contact with their charges. But in order to offer these specialized handsets, SurePod needed to negotiate for cell phone service to cover the phones they sell. The low rates available for wholesalers sparked the idea for Mobile United.
13. What have you learned so far from launching your idea?
The telecom industry is an industry that can definitely operate more efficiently, especially in light of the opportunities that innovation present. There is a big need for reasonably-priced cell phone service: cell phones have become a utility that everyone needs, rather than a luxury good.
However, while there are many opportunities in this stagnant industry, there are tremendous barriers to entry.
14. Six months from now, what’s going to be your biggest problem?
We see scaling as our biggest problem six months from now. Growth is always the best problem to have, of course, but since we’re building a community around providing cell phone service (rather than just offering plans without feedback), we need to be careful that we scale in a way that best benefits our community. With that in mind, we’re taking a careful approach to scaling Mobile United.
15. What’s the benefit for the customer/user?
The price difference is dramatic — saving $800 a year can be a major difference in a family’s budget, and that’s just the potential savings on a single cell phone plan. For a family moving multiple plans over to Mobile United, the cost difference can change how they live.
In addition, being able to be a part of a community that will enable them to take an active role in how their cell phone services are offered lets users have a little more control over their telecom choices.
16. How did customers / users find out about you?
We rely on word of mouth. As we built SurePod, we focused on targeted niches and met their needs as closely as possible to guarantee that they’d recommend the product. For our initial launch of Mobile United, we’re making use of a crowdfunding campaign that directly rewards our members for recommending the new plans to their own social circles.
17. Who are your current customers / users? Who are your target customers / users?
The first core group of Mobile United users came directly from SurePod. The second batch is coming from our launch press and crowdfunding campaign. We’ve focused heavily on college students and other younger demographics — the people who will value the large savings we can provide, as well as those who rely heavily on their cell phones. For these demographics, offers like unlimited talk and text are crucial.
18. Where do new customers / users come from and what makes new customers/users try you?
The first core group of Mobile United users came directly from SurePod. The second batch is coming from our launch press and crowdfunding campaign. We’ve focused heavily on college students and other younger demographics — the people who will value the large savings we can provide, as well as those who rely heavily on their cell phones. For these demographics, offers like unlimited talk and text are crucial.
19. What do your customers / users say about your product and/or service?
Here’s a testimonial from one of our SurePod customers:
To whom it may concern,
I am thankful to have SurePod. SurePod gives me the choice to still have my independence. I can always get the help that I need with a touch of a button when I am out alone. I am grateful to SurePod for their service and giving me a peace of mind.
Thank you so much,
Rudy A.
20. How are you going to scale?
Because Mobile United buys data, texts, and talk time wholesale from service providers, scaling service is a relatively simple matter. Additionally, we have a scalable infrastructure that enables automation acting as our backend: our customers can handle managing their account details themselves in most situations, letting us scale without needing to dramatically increase manpower.
21. What’s the biggest missing feature? The one thing customers/users keep asking for?
While the big keys to mobile service are present — talk, text and data — there are some smaller features that we’re considering, based on community requests. Data, in particular, represents many of the requests. Some users have asked for the ability to tether their phones or to create mobile hotspots. It’s a potential feature we’re considering for the future.
22. Are you going to internationalize? And if yes how are you planning to expand your start-up’s operations accordingly?
Currently, there are no immediate plans to internationalize. While internationalization is, of course, interesting, the complexities of how different countries handle telecommunications means that we need to invest time in learning about local arrangements before we can make a commitment. However, with the SurePod we actually had the experience of working overseas as we manufactured the necessary hardware, which makes internationalization more of an option.
23. How big do you think you can get? Why? And how you are planning to achieve your goals?
Our pricing model speaks for itself. Our only limit is the number of people who know about us. We focus on creating a grassroots community that grows because we provide the same cell phone service they get today for hundreds less.
Our plan is simple: efficiency. Our competitors have a $315 cost of customer acquisition. We’d rather reward our grassroots community with continuing low prices, instead of a $2.5B marketing spend. We automate infrastructure done by hand at our competitors. And we don’t have capex for towers because we buy bulk minutes.
24. Are you looking to hire a new workforce? And if yes, what job vacancies do you currently offer and where can potential applicants contact you at?
Mobile United is always on the lookout for talented, energetic professionals to join our growing teams in Mountain View. We provide a fun environment and an opportunity to work with an innovative, emerging technology company.
Our people are vital to our success, and we look to them to help develop and shape our culture and values. We are actively seeking new team members at a variety of levels. If you think you’ve got what it takes to join the Mobile United, please send a cover letter and resume to steve@mobileunited.net.
25. Are you looking for partnership opportunities or funding from Venture Capitals (VC) or other funding sources? Or your business is self-sustainable? And if the first option applies where can potential partners / investors contact you at?
We have private investors in the cell phone. We’re running a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo (which you can see at www.indiegogo.com/projects/mobile-united-the-world-s-first-crowd-powered-cell-phone-service) to give new users a chance to open accounts.
For interested partners or potential funders, please email julia@mobileunited.net.
26. What advice do you have for fresh entrepreneurs?
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