 |
|
|
|||||
When Twitter cofounder and Medium founder Evan “Ev” Williams was planning his 50th birthday party, he didnt know who to invite. Having spent more of his life building and scaling tech companies, he found himself feeling disconnected from friends. Thats why he started Mozi last year with Molly DeWolf Swenson, a marketer and producer. Swenson, who serves as CEO of the company, says that the appwhich lets users check in to certain locations where other contacts can join them and vice-versais intended to facilitate spontaneous, in-person interactions. Launched in December 2024, Mozi raised $6 million in seed funding from Williams Obvious Ventureswhich he cofounded with Vishal Vasishth and James Joaquinand is live in 135 countries. During South by Southwest, Swenson and Williams joined Most Innovative Companies host Yasmin Gagne to discuss what inspired the app, how it works, and how they plan to make money off of it. This interview has been edited and condensed. How does Mozi work? MDS: You set up a basic profile. The only information we require is what city is your home base, a photo, your phone number, and your name. Then you sync your contacts so that we know which of them are on Mozi. Then you can decide whether you want them to be able to see your plans or not. Then as you go, you input your travel plans or your local plans. The idea is that you open up Mozi and you see where your friends are and the things that they’re doing that you could join them for, whether that’s coworking at a coffee shop, or going to a show that night. Those are the kinds of things we’re trying to drop people into. It’s not something where you’re spending a bunch of time on your phone. You’re actually getting together in person. Molly, what attracted you to the business? MDS: I had a spreadsheet of 450 people that I started at my first company, Riot, which was a media company. We’d be traveling back and forth to New York a lot and I’d be like, Ive got to remember to reach out to these people when I’m in New York. So it just started with Who are the important people I need to remember to reach out to that live in New York?. And then that expanded to Who’s in San Francisco? and Who’s in these other cities? Then that list ended up expanding to potential clients, people with audiences, people who are single so I could set them up. It wasn’t very accurate for very long because it takes a lot of effort to keep something like that up to date. So when Evan and I came together to talk about Mozi for the first time, I described the spreadsheet to him. Do you worry about the app promoting behavior like stalking? MDS: Its encrypted as fuck in terms of personal information. We’ve been really, I’d say conservative on making sure that privacy is protected for you and your contacts. EW: We don’t just broadcast your location to everyone. We only tell people the plans you share with a subset of your contacts. Nothing in Mozi is public. Cant you just text your friends to make plans? EW: But through Mozi you could share plans with people who you want to know better as well. How are you going to make money through the app? MDW: Premium features. There’s dating apps now that people will pay for, there’s health tracker apps that people pay for. There’s tons and tons of utilities on our phones that people are willing to pay some amount for. you We have a thesis that people would be willing to pay for an app that is purpose-built for maintaining and strengthening their friendships and relationships. People write to us saying, I’d be willing to pay for a product like this, just don’t bring ads into it. A lot of our users initiallyMozers, as we call themare in an older demographic. They’re in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. They’re less price-sensitive than some of the [users of] social platforms that are targeting younger users. EW: Mozi is really in the category of utilities. The types of apps Molly was mentioning are utilities; they can charge a subscription because people don’t spend all day on them. You kind of need people to spend all day on the app if you’re going to make an ad model work. We’re not focusing on monetization right now. We need to grow the network. But it seems very likely to us that this can provide such value in life as a utility. What would a premium feature look like? MDS: We prototyped a map view with a slider into the future. You could, at the city level, see where your friends are, then you slide into the future with your finger and all those little bubbles move to different cities where they will be. That could be one. Ive also talked about this feature of being able to sort my contacts by who is single so I can set them up. EW: Another cool feature idea is an intro feature where if you see two people who don’t know each other who are going to be in the same place, you can introduce them. Normally that would take a good six text messages, but in the app you could do it like boom, boom, if they both opt in. MDS: We actually had a cool Mozi moment yesterday. Two people connected at the Mozi event and they realized they had the same birthday they just happened to see each other’s profiles. We should have just popped that information up when they connected on the app. Theres things like that where you connect and it’s likehere’s your common ground. How do you figure out you have the same birthday that fast? Evan, you cofounded X (formerly Twitter). What is your relationship like to social media now? EW: I don’t spend much time on it at all. I just think for mental health and for ROI on time invested, I like to do other things. Twitter is still an amazing source of tech information if you want to know what’s happening. If you want to recruit people, LinkedIn is social media. But now I’m just enjoying my time reading books and hanging out with friends. Have you made any friends through Mozi? MDS: We found out a friend was in Kyoto and went out to drinks with her and her brother because of Mozi. I heard from someone yesterday who was like, I ran into someone because of Mozi in Dubai. We hadn’t seen each other in four years. It feels like we’re delivering on something important. We want to increase the surface area of that social serendipity.
Category:
E-Commerce
Volvo Group plans to lay off as many as 800 workers at three U.S. facilities over the next three months due to market uncertainty and demand concerns in the face of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, a spokesperson said on Friday. Volvo Group North America said in a statement it has told employees it plans to lay off 550-800 people at its Mack Trucks site in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and two Volvo Group facilities in Dublin, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland. The company, part of Sweden’s AB Volvo, employs nearly 20,000 people in North America, according to its website. Trump has upended the global trading system that has been in place for over 75 years with a plan for tariffs on products from across the world. His vacillating trade policy has undermined consumer and business confidence, and caused economists to raise their forecasts for a U.S. recession. Volvo Group’s lay-offs are the latest response from a car and truck industry that is reeling from the Republican president’s tariffs on certain parts, which is expected to increase the cost of manufacturing vehicles. “Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs,” a spokesperson for Volvo Group North America said in an emailed statement. “We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles.” Chris Prentice, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
As the cost of a college education has ballooned to nearly $100,000 a year, a new generation of workers may be opting out of a four-year degreeand seeking out trade jobs instead. Among Gen Z, blue-collar jobs in industries like plumbing and construction have grown more appealing, promising job security and decent pay. A survey conducted by the Harris Poll last year found that Gen Z expressed a marked interest in moving into the trades, and that they were more likely to view those jobs positively when compared to corporate roles. The trades are also desperately in need of younger workers, as they struggle to meet demand and find skilled workers. That’s especially true in the manufacturing industry: A new Deloitte report estimates that within the next decade, manufacturers may need to fill 3.8 million open roles, as people age out of the workforce and more jobs are created. President Trump’s far-reaching tariffs could also drive up the labor shortage in the manufacturing industry. A recent Goldman Sachs analysis concluded that the tariffs are likely to create 100,000 new manufacturing jobs, according to Axios. In fact, the manufacturing industry has seen significant growth since the pandemicin part, driven by initiatives to create more semiconductor and clean-energy jobs. But unlike other trades, the manufacturing sector may not be able to rely on renewed interest from a new crop of young workers. It seems, manufacturing jobs don’t hold the same allure for Gen Z workers; in surveys, they have shown little desire to engage with industrial work due to concerns over wages and safety. A study by the workplace safety software company Soter Analytics found that one in five Gen Z respondents believed industrial work paid poorly, and a quarter of them also did not view industrial work as safe. Another sticking point for Gen Z is flexibility, something young workers repeatedly cite as a major priority. As the Deloitte survey notes, manufacturing executives are aware this presents a challenge in an industry that typically relies on in-person work with fixed schedulesbut many of them also reported that offering flexible arrangements like splitting or swapping shifts had helped increase retention. (By contrast, other jobs in the trades can offer more flexibility or allow workers to set their own hours.) But perhaps the greatest hurdle to luring young workers to manufacturing jobs may be that Gen Z often wants to feel a sense of purpose at work. Job satisfaction tends to be especially low among blue-collar workers: According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, only 43% of those workers said they were very satisfied with their jobs, as compared to 53% of employees in other industries. Younger workers were even less likely to be satisfied than their older counterpartsand also less likely to view their job as a career. If manufacturing employers can’t find a way to address issues like job satisfaction and flexibility, they may continue struggling to appeal to Gen Z workers.
Category:
E-Commerce
Cambodia and China have signed a $1.2 billion deal to finance an ambitious canal project that aims to boost trade efficiency by linking a branch of the Mekong River near Phnom Penh to a port on the Gulf of Thailand, the Cambodian government agency heading the project announced Friday. The deal to fund the Funan Techo Canal was signed Thursday during the state visit to Cambodia of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the agency said in a news release. Xi returned home Friday after a three-nation Southeast Asian tour that also included Vietnam and Malaysia. Construction of the 151.6-kilometer (94-mile) canal began last year but was halted shortly after the Aug. 5 groundbreaking ceremony for reasons that were not made clear. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said at the time that the canal will be built no matter what the cost, emphasizing that the project promotes national prestige, the territorial integrity and the development of Cambodia. Described as a public-private partnership contract, the deal was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol on behalf of Cambodias government, and by Ieng Sunly of the Funan Techo Coastal-Inland Waterways Company Ltd., the private sector partner. The project is being developed on a build-operate-transfer basis, with Cambodian investors holding a 51% stake, and Chinese investors holding 49%. The canal will create a new inland waterway-maritime corridor capable of handling vessels up to 3,000 deadweight tons, according to Fridays announcement. It will encompass canal excavation and the construction of ship locks, navigation and logistics infrastructure. As an inland waterway and important transport infrastructure in Cambodia, the FTC Project will become a new engine driving national economic growth,” said Wang Tongzhou, chairman of China Communications Construction Company, in the announcement. He added that “after completion, it will significantly reduce the comprehensive logistics costs in Cambodia, and promote Cambodias industry to the middle-to-high end of the value chain. China Communications Construction Company is the parent company of China Road and Bridge Corporation, the contractor for the project’s construction from the Bassac River to the coastal province of Kep. The massive state-owned firm has faced scrutiny for its alleged involvement in financial scandals. It is also blacklisted by the United States for its role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize artificial islands in the South China Sea. According to Friday’s announcement, the canal is expected to create “up to 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in Cambodia. Critics have raised concerns that the canal could severely disrupt the Mekong Rivers natural flood patterns. These disruptions could lead to worsening droughts and a reduction in the nutrient-rich silt essential for Vietnams vital rice production in the Mekong Delta, a region that sustains millions and is a major global rice exporter. The signing announcement, however, stated that, A rigorous Environmental Impact Assessment, conducted by 48 specialists, confirmed minimal environmental impact. It added that the Cambodian government has led efforts to minimize resettlement with a route designed to avoid dense communities and cultural sites” and that “a responsible compensation and consultation process is underway. Sopheng Cheang, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
If youve been thinking about skipping that Target run this weekend, you’re not alone. A grassroots group called The Peoples Union USA is asking shoppers to sit out spending money at major retailers, restaurants, and banks from midnight on Good Friday through Easter Sunday. No shopping, no spending, no fueling the corporate machine that has been bleeding us dry, organizer John Schwarz said in a video posted to Instagram. The goal? Hit big brands where it hurtstheir bottom line. The boycott follows weeks of frustration over corporate DEI rollbacks and rising political tension, especially with companies such as Target, which has been the focus of a separate 40-day boycott led by faith leaders during Lent. As a result of its DEI policy changes, Target has been the target of a boycott organized by faith leaders for the last 40 days, coinciding with Lent. On January 24, Target announced that it was getting rid of policies concerning hiring goals for minority employees, an executive committee focused on racial justice, and other changes to its diversity initiative. According to a report from Numerator, more than one in 10 customers surveyed on April 16 plan to participate in the boycott, though this move is less well-known than the widespread “economic blackout” that took place on February 28. Furthermore, not all participants are planning to fully stop their spending for the weekend, though many plan on avoiding large corporations, including the brands Target, Walmart, Amazon, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Half of all participants are shifting their dollars to local, small businesses instead. Users on X and Bluesky sounded off, reposting The Peoples Unions post and reminding users to take stock of what matters. Money anxiety is on everyones mind this week between taxes and tariffs, the CataLIST posted. Take back control by consciously choosing how and where you spend your money. This Blackout is the second widespread boycott organized by The Peoples Union. The first occurred on February 28, and the same report from Numerator said that although sales and trips were down across retailers, Amazon, Target, and Walmart saw declines beyond standard weekly variation. Black and LGBTQ+ consumers showed the most significant participation in the February 28 blackout. Many of these boycotts cite brands DEI pullbacks and policy changes at the behest of the new administration. Though blackouts and boycotts already have scheduled dates in the future, Target is attempting to fix its relationship with its consumer base as the 40-day “Lent” spending fast comes to a close. On April 17, Target CEO Brian Cornell met with Rev. Al Sharpton, head of the civil rights organization National Action Network, to discuss DEI and racial justice. Sharpton called the meeting constructive and candid, and plans to meet with some members of the National Action Network board of directors to determine next steps with Target. Whether or not the boycott makes a measurable dent in sales this weekend, organizers say its about more than just the moneyits about sending a message.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sites : [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] next »