When investors want to do social good or help traditionally marginalized communities, they often go with what they know. That’s not where real innovation lies. “I’m glad to hear about these kinds of initiatives, but the money often doesn’t go where it’s needed,” says Arabian Prince, who was a founding member of legendary rap group NWA and wears many hats as a veteran tech entrepreneur, business mentor, and co-founder of Incub8next. “Investors need to talk to those already at work in these communities and see who really needs help. They often don’t seem ready to go deep into the community. It’s easier to reach out to who they know or go with an idea that they think makes sense, not what matters to underserved communities.”

To change this, Arabian Prince has teamed up with independent software developers Art+Logic, pharmacist and health-tech expert Matthew Walk, and DJ, inventor, and sales/marketing maverick Aj Kang to found Incub8next (incub8next.com/), a social impact incubator. Incub8next is looking for entrepreneurs from marginalized communities whose ideas are ready to roll once they get capital and resources. These entrepreneurs could include the intrepid single mom with a parenting product ready for market, a preventative health app developer in need of FDA approval, or a digital content creator looking to monetize their work more effectively.

Incub8next will provide advisory services, fundraising assistance, and marketing support for select startups working to change lives by developing social impact technology in their communities or the world. Projects will be reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis. “It’s not just about business or technology. It’s about making a difference,” notes Paul Hershenson of Art+Logic. “Helping entrepreneurs change and improve the world is oxygen for us. It keeps us invigorated and engaged in what we do.”

Art+Logic has a history helping new tech entrepreneurs with an idea for a cool new product. “We pride ourselves both on tackling challenging projects and at working closely with innovators to help them articulate and realize their vision, even if they’re completely new to software development,” says Hershenson.

“We are looking at a new wave of entrepreneurship in the world,” Walk notes. “While the ‘unicorns’ are out there getting press and IPOs, there is a massive opportunity for ‘small’ businesses to reach revenue of $5-100 million and be wildly successful without ever becoming a household name. These are the businesses I want to discover and be a part of.”

“There are people who have never gotten the opportunity but have everything else they need to succeed in business. With my background, I’ve conjured things out of thin air to make money, so I know the struggle,” Arabian Prince explains. “We want to cultivate and nurture that spirit by giving these inventors resources to implement their great ideas.”

When people talk about innovation in construction, they often enthuse over new materials, methods, or design approaches that boost efficiency or lower costs. But one aspect of construction has remained stubbornly resistant to change and has mired many a project in confusion, waste, and extra expense: information.

“The built environment industry is one of humankind’s oldest industries, yet it’s a productivity laggard. In fact, tons of data says we’re going backward in productivity!” remarks Brett Grendahl, experienced contractor and founder of Built Data. “Contractors think in physical terms. The information side is a byproduct, and they hate it. But as they get better tools to cope with the information, they get better at the physical work.”
 
Built Data, in collaboration with software development firm Art+Logic, has developed the tools to change how the construction industry communicates. Together, they built the first app designed by seasoned construction professionals that makes gathering and assessing construction project data in the field easy. Skilled tradespeople can snap photos of their work on their phones and get helpful feedback to their questions or identify critical actions that need to happen. Supervisors can see exactly what materials have arrived when. Troubleshooting can happen right away, remotely and collectively. Even inspections can happen in real time, remotely, catching a code issue quickly and efficiently. Given the challenges of in-person collaboration during the pandemic, Built Data’s app is a huge step forward in a time of need.

Grendahl, a tech enthusiast who returned to his home state of Minnesota to help run the family construction business, struggled with the information void as he coordinated teams of skilled laborers, inspectors, suppliers, and customers. He found that what he didn’t know could hurt him, as projects stalled or lagged. He rigged up a sharing system for photos and information, a single place to store photos, reports from on site, invoices, and other key data. This system helped, but he thought it could be better. He decided to create something dedicated to the task of organizing and sharing construction information that captures the organic nature of the field and transforms it into the organized systems of the back-office.

Grendahl’s plan was to help the construction business catch up to the rest of the work world. “The industry has not adapted to the digitization of the world. The way of doing business isn’t built for community and collaboration, even though the goal is collaboration,” he reflects. “Our industry didn’t have a shared communication tool that could unite not just the people in the field, but also the entire ecosystem of vendors, suppliers, municipalities, government regulators, and so on. There’s a surplus of information, but we lacked a great way of sharing it and using it.”

Built Data facilitates this communication with easy sharing, tagging, and search tools customized to fit into a construction professional’s workflows. “The tool was intended to be a photo capture and human context capture submission tool. It’s created so that a person on site can say, ‘Here’s what I’m looking at, here’s what I want to say about it’, and have the photo and those thoughts be accessible later on. The interface had to be simple, clean, dynamic and fast. Folks in the field can generate lots of information quickly. They need to see a return on their time spent.”

Grendahl and the Built Data team knew that proving the app’s return on time investment was crucial to eventual adoption as they worked with Art+Logic to create Built Data’s app. Their beta testers were a tough crowd, older tradesmen who had no interest in messing with tech. However, skeptics turned to regular users thanks to Built Data’s chief benefit, the upside of more efficient communication. Workers and contractors began to use the app on their phones, not just to upload photos and ask questions, but also to show their work and get praise from their peers. “Working in the skilled trades on a site can feel lonely,” Grendahl explains. “It’s nice to hear that what you worked all day on, what most people will never see, looks great.”

Built Data was wary of aligning their tools too closely to a single platform or app store, and they needed the app to work on more or less any device. Art+Logic’s Christopher Keefer, who led development, recommended they use a progressive web app, a key decision in the success of the Built Data app. Progressive web apps allow companies to update their apps across platforms and devices at once, without the hassle of re-submitting an updated version to an app store or chase the moving target of changing operating systems and platforms. “Native apps have their place but they bring a heavier burden on the company to maintain that code base,” Keefer says. “You have to keep up with SDKs that your mobile vendors will mandate over time. With a progressive web app, you can gain most of the advantages of a native application, yet it only takes a day to update.”

The app has brought a new data- and communication-rich approach to construction. “Everyone working on a project can see all the pieces in the puzzle now. There’s no more hunting and pecking and searching for information to figure out what’s going on or what went wrong,” Grendahl notes. “The industry needs some true transparency and real-time feedback, as well as some love and respect for all the hard, sweaty work.”

Art+Logic’s app solution for a highly customized luxury shopping experience finds resonance in the face of a pandemic

Before COVID, personal shoppers would bring clients into the boutiques of high-end fashion and luxury brands. The face-to-face interaction and the white glove service were integral parts of what made a purchase, beyond the desirability of the item itself. Yet all this changed as boutiques closed and travel stopped.

The current pandemic has accelerated a pre-existing trend that upended the slow, in-person sale, a trend powered by apps and an ethos closer to DTC shopping. Consumers worldwide have discovered that when they see what they want on the wrist or feet of a friend or relative, there are ways to buy quickly and easily, without heading to Dubai, Milan, or Paris. Thanks to some new players, they can find just the thing or catch that elusive color or pattern before it’s sold out.

eliteUSA is one of the startups defining this trend. Launched as a one-woman business by a work-from-home mom in the Detroit area, the concierge service for luxury shopping has grown to a globe-spanning network of staff and logistics centers.

“A friend and I were chit chatting and she mentioned that she couldn’t find these Valentino shoes she loved in her country,” recalls founder and CEO Ella Dark. “I told her I’d find a pair. I did, bought them, packaged them up, and sent them to her. She was so overjoyed, she told her friends and family about it. That’s how it started way back in 2013.” Soon, Ella created an Instagram page and was shipping 15 boxes or more a day, all by herself. With roots in the Middle East, Ella grew a substantial customer base in the region.

As business boomed, Ella convinced her engineer husband Muaz Rabah to come work for eliteUSA. To better engage customers and streamline operations, he eventually turned to software developers Art+Logic to create two custom apps, one to help them manage their personal and concierge shoppers around the world, and one to serve clients -  a single hub for requesting, purchasing, and receiving orders from the world’s most exclusive brands.

They needed something that out-of-the-box solutions couldn’t provide, thus necessitating their turn to the customizable software that Art+Logic provides. “We became leaders in the market in the region and we knew we had to be a step ahead of everyone else,” Ella explains. “We wanted a custom mobile app, as everyone just wants to shop online on their smartphone.” Ella and Muaz had a clear vision for how the app should work and what features it needed in order to connect with clients. Clients can snap a photo of a sought-after purchase, chat with a personal shopper, arrange payment, and explain any shipping details or other requirements in a single spot. “It feels more personal and engaging,” Ella notes.

These kinds of ecommerce apps may seem simple, but there are complexities - in particular with an international clientele and high-end purchases - that Art+Logic’s team had to address. The biggest challenge: Frictionless, cross-regional payment. “Customers can use their preferred local payment platform for purchases,” says Art+Logic software developer and project lead Colin Gordon. “However, interfacing with these platforms can be tricky, as an American team may not be allowed to open an account with them. Customers can pay via a Kuwaiti payment system, for example, in dinar. We had to make sure that system and all the other key platforms worked with what we were building.”

“We went with two other companies before we began working with Art+Logic,” reflects Rabah. “It can take several trials to get it right. We knew we had to keep trying until we found the perfect team.”

The worldwide nature of Elite’s business made international communication a must, something that’s grown ever easier in recent months, as everyone has jumped on video chats to live their everyday lives. This byproduct of isolation has, in effect, shrunk the business world. “For a decade or more, I’ve worked with developers all over the world who had no problem using tech to collaborate,” says Gordon, who like all of Art+Logic’s team, works remotely and has for years. “Having the ability to do this with the general public, with non-technical people, is wonderful. When we did have an issue to resolve with a payment company, we could get on a call at the drop of a hat. It makes things way easier.”

The pandemic has accelerated remote luxury shopping as well, with a supplementary cultural shift in the way luxury brands interact with customers. Ella has noticed a seachange in luxury brands’ attitudes toward a more digital approach to finding the perfect item.

“Luxury brands, like Cartier or Chopard, the very French, traditional prestigious brands, are not used to this approach to personal shopping. They are used to having a client there in the store,” Ella recounts. “When we shopped on behalf of a client in the past, we’d often hear, ‘Bring the client in.’ Our client was thousands of miles away and wanted us to get something specific for her. We’ve watched that mentality and perception in luxury retail change. After COVID, boutiques are happy we exist because we kept the sales coming in. It helped them, even as they had to keep boutiques closed.” All because of an app that connects a world of luxury shoppers with the brands they adore.

Employers are piecing together one of the toughest puzzles they have faced in a generation: How to safely get employees back to work in the middle of an ongoing pandemic. HealthQ by Covitech was designed to make this process easier without invasive data gathering.

A simple and secure app for smartphones, tablets, and desktops, HealthQ allows employees to self-screen and report any potentially troubling symptoms before they leave home. After giving consent for HealthQ to gather the necessary data, the app walks employees through a set of straightforward questions to guide better decision making about when to come in and when to stay home. These include temperature checks, symptom lists, and other pertinent information about the employee’s wellbeing.

“The CDC has strongly recommended employers conduct daily health checks, but putting a system like this in place on your own is harder than it seems,” explains Covitech co-founder Paul Hershenson. “We’ve created software that allows workers to check in at home, before they expose any of their colleagues or customers, in a way that protects their privacy.”

HealthQ by Covitech features:

• Consent: Employee consent is solicited and recorded;
• Privacy: All interactions conform with HIPAA, FDA, EEOC, and other relevant regulations;
• Reminders: Employees receive daily reminders to complete a health check;
• Check in: Conducts guided employee symptom checks;
• Instructions: Gives accurate information to employees with symptoms about next steps;
• Notification: Authorized individuals at the company receive notification of reports of COVID symptoms.  

Contact tracing and other tracking methods are challenging to implement in the US, due to variations in local approaches and general skepticism. HealthQ discretely fills this gap for companies who want to maintain a healthy work environment while helping stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“We’re facing a crisis of trust as we face this public health crisis,” explains Covitech co-founder, tech investor and instigator Arabian Prince. “HealthQ aims to build trust. It doesn’t track your location or contacts; it simply helps you monitor your health and make the right decision about going into work. It lets your employer know in a limited, appropriate way how you’re feeling. We’re striving to capture the minimum effective dose of data to contain this pandemic.”

Covitech offers HealthQ free of charge to all companies, big and small, looking to reopen safely. "Our mission is to develop products and services that make a positive impact as we all struggle to endure the pandemic. We want as many companies as possible to come out of this prepared to prosper," says Hershenson.

About Covitech

Covitech offers back-to-work solutions to small and midsize businesses by combining compliant software, screening, and containment to keep employees safe. It harnesses the power of collective purchasing of PPE, medical supplies, regulatory consulting, and software to make vital resources accessible to businesses managing their operations in a time of public health complexity. For more information, contact sales@covitech.us.

Sourcing, vetting, and acquiring protective equipment at a reasonable cost has proved daunting for many small and midsize organizations. As businesses and nonprofits work to reopen safely, Covitech, the new startup designed to support companies coping with COVID-19, can help. Covitech is launching the PPE Collective, an initiative designed to get quality equipment, such as masks, gloves, sanitizers, and disinfectants, at a very fair price through the power of collective purchasing.

“Small businesses and organizations are facing an uphill battle in a chaotic, often shady market for essential items like gloves and masks,” says Covitech co-founder Arabian Prince. “You don’t really know what you’re getting, who’s providing it, and what the final cost will be. If you’re not a huge company, you can’t afford to buy a million pairs of gloves at once, but that’s the only way in current circumstances to get enough supplies at a reasonable price.”

Covitech’s PPE Collective shifts the balance in smaller organizations’ favor. Small and midsize businesses and organizations in need of PPE can go to the site, join a collective purchase offering, and know they are getting what they paid for. Covitech works to vet suppliers, ensure orders are met, fulfill the purchases, and then send the PPE to purchasers. The result is prices 30-40% lower than retail from reliable sources.

“Covitech’s team combines tech expertise with extensive experience in managing the supply chain for medical necessities,” explains Paul Hershendon, co-founder of Covitech and founder of software development house Art+Logic, whose team developed the PPE Collective software platform while relying on the medical development team at Hudson Scientific to handle product and vendor vetting. “Those two knowledge areas together allow us to tackle this problem.”

“Ensuring quality has also been a difficult task for small businesses overwhelmed by loss of revenue, the red tape of government and bank applications for loans, and keeping on top of the ever changing CDC and FDA recommendations,” notes Matthew Walk, Pharm D and Hudson Scientic Marketing Director and co-founder of Covitech. “Hudson Scientific’s experience as a medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturer, and FDA importer of overseas products, provides valuable quality assurance and bypasses the inexperienced middle men or price gouging occuring in the PPE supply chain.”

“People need to get back to work, but they also need to be safe,” Arabian Prince emphasizes. “The craziness of the marketplace for PPE shouldn’t be a barrier to workers’ safety. And companies facing a clear economic challenge and struggling to reopen should have a clear, affordable way to protect them.”

About Covitech

Driven by a partnership between Art+Logic and Hudson Scientific, Covitech offers back-to-work solutions to small and midsize businesses by combining compliant software, screening, and containment to keep employees safe. It harnesses the power of collective purchasing of PPE, medical supplies, regulatory consulting, and software to make vital resources accessible to businesses managing their operations in a time of public health complexity. For more information, contact sales@covitech.us.