the global investor
Rejected in isolation:
24 strangers, 1 COVID-19 APP, and 6 lessons on ‘how to fail successfully’ as a tech entrepreneur Written by Mark Bamford, Founder Viktrs
to build tech and that Apple and Google perhaps have alternative motives.
On March 1st 2020 I reached out and managed to pull together 24 techies and a handful of data scientists, marketers and lawyers, most of whom I have never met and somehow convinced them to work probono on a crazy 4-week sprint to build a COVID-19 Avoid, Trace and Track App in 4 weeks. You see I was in a rush. I assumed time was of the essence to protect the UK from COVID-19 as Taiwan and Korea had done.These countries were way ahead of us in creating great tech tools to protect their people.
However, I did want to reflect on what I have learnt these past 14 weeks about the key success factors for all tech when it comes to COVID-19.
We did it - we completed a successful test of a ‘phone to phone COVID19 infection alert’ for contact tracing on 30th March. That’s 10 weeks ago today and that is where this fairy tale ends.
3. Be ‘fit for purpose’ as an organisation - ok, simply put … the UK government should NOT try and build tech.They don’t even pass muster on my first 2 criteria! So, they were doomed even before they started building! There is too 2. Deliver value - no one wants to much red-tape, existing policy, old be ‘told to use an app’ by anyone, infrastructure, and legacy stakeespecially the Government who holder complexity. We needed to you probably didn’t trust to begin build an App quickly and effecwith, so they were doomed from tively. What is needed is a comthe start. NO APP IN THE HISpany and a team that ONLY HAS TORY OF THE WORLD is used ONE PURPOSE, to build trust, widely because the users are ‘told protect data and deliver value. I to use it’. So, work out how to am sorry - in this case, you cannot create value for the public, which teach old dogs new tricks! for our App was to help them 4. Adoption - all this technology AVOID hotspots, enable them is for nought if no one uses it. So, to order tests, self-report sympget the first 3 right, and you stand toms and would enable people to
It all came to a grinding halt as the ogres of this story appeared on the horizon… then all that talk of Government support to help ‘UK tech’ never appeared and the ‘Guardians of the Tech World’ Apple and Google stopped us from testing.This is where we are at today - sitting on our hands, waiting for someone to help us while the UK Gov stayed notably very very silent. This is not meant to be a rant about how Gov bureaucracy is all-consuming, that they should never try 98
1. Create trust - when it comes to privacy and data, only one thing matters - building trust with the public. Irrespective of all the tech, encryption, tokenisation, Bluetooth v GPS and other ‘new fandangled’ ways techies can protect and anonymise your data. They are all irrelevant if you cannot gain the trust of the public. You do this by being explicit about data - total, complete, proactive honesty, and transparency. Oh, and some world-class GDPR lawyers are also very useful!
safely visit loved ones, get back to their jobs and get the UK back to normal quicker.
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