In 2008, a 24-year old Amos Winbush III was a musician trying to carve a niche for himself in New York City. He had no idea that one devastating day was going to turn him into a technology entrepreneur. In under two years, he turned his wireless solution brainchild into
CyberSynchs, a multi-faceted Universal Data Synchronization and transport company now valued at $20 million.
Winbush explains how CyberSynchs materialized: "The idea for CyberSynchs came about in 2008, when my first-generation iPhone crashed. I was in the music business, and I was coming home after a 14-hour recording session. As we were leaving the studio, my device went completely black; I lost everything. I went to Apple, and they said there was nothing they could do."
The sheer frustration of losing contacts that had taken years to acquire consumed him, and Winbush had visions of a mobile service that would prevent others from experiencing similar data loss pain. He says, "I dreamt about the company and called my business manager and asked, 'How can we make this happen?'"
The CyberSynchs Web Service is accessible worldwide and stores subscribers' contacts, text messages, voicemails, notes, photos, videos, ringtones, calendar content, GPS and e-mail; so even if the device is broken, lost or destroyed, users that have synchronized their mobile data with CyberSynchs can access their important information. While the company started with just mobile synchronization, it will soon enable the synchronization of all electronic devices. Users will be able to sync all devices -- televisions, PCs, digital cameras, etc. -- together and store information in a secure hybrid cloud to manage from the Internet anywhere on the planet.
Currently, Winbush's company covers 98% of the mobile market. Those that sign up for the mobile service get a small application sent via text message that goes onto the device. Once the message is opened, it is automatically embedded. CyberSynchs has also been licensed out to a variety of technology firms that have integrated it into select devices as part of the manufacturers' features packages. Users simply have to confirm their subscription and can start using CyberSynchs. The service synchronizes everything on connected devices and allows users to set their own syncing frequency.
Winbush admits marketing for the technology company presented a challenge in the beginning. He focused his initial efforts on prospective customers in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. "Very early on, you have no resources. No one knows you, and you have no contacts." Still, his music career helped CyberSynchs gain some visibility: "As a musician you get some notoriety. We called the local newspaper and explained exactly what we were doing. That was how we got our first customers." Initial marketing efforts in a Shreveport newspaper with 600,000 subscribers produced 13,000 new CyberSynchs customers. The product was originally released to Windows Mobile devices and was solely a mobile wireless synchronization service.
In terms of small business marketing techniques, Winbush is proud to say that there was really nothing that outright failed in the beginning. However, he had less success when he got too impersonal with prospective customers: "We brought on a PR agency in the beginning, and they got us some press. But we realized just because we brought on a PR agency didn't mean we would see a windfall of subscribers. We still had to be the voice and ambassadors of the company. That experience allowed us to go back to the drawing table and say, 'This isn't working. This isn't what's best for the company.' Going out and talking about our product to people was the most successful marketing strategy, and resulted in a partnership with Sun Microsystems Cloud and JavaFX."
Winbush admits the business has changed a great deal since its humble beginnings: "We had no resources when we launched the company. We were flying by the seat of our pants with no rules, and everything was so new. It was all about saying, 'We have no resources. What can we do to achieve the same results as someone with unlimited resources?'"
Winbush says the idea of building a company when the economy bottomed out seemed insane. "We launched in November 2008, right before the recession. With $100,000 of my own money, I was trying to run this company, and it was pretty cool. We realized that this was an opportunity. During the most difficult time, we signed a contract with one of our largest partners because they were looking for companies to execute new technologies and bring added valued solution to the market."
He has also come to realize that for an entrepreneur, sharing your experience with others is critical when you achieve success. He sees the process of teaching aspiring small business owners as his responsibility to the tech community: "The technology market and Venture Capital monies have rebounded this year. I now have the opportunity to talk to tech entrepreneurs and CEOs about how we received funding and grew our business at the height of the recession. We're constantly evolving our business. The struggles are what make entrepreneurs strong and build the character of your company. If you can't relay those struggles to others, what's the point? We've added amazing advisors and want to be mentors for someone else and give them as much information as possible. We have a responsibility to continue to build a strong technology community in New York City, because we've fallen behind the Silicon Valley and Boston."
The future for CyberSynchs is full of limitless high-tech possibilities. The company is soon releasing a product that integrates software into televisions and allows users to bypass buying hardware. The service will be available for those that have Internet-enabled televisions or work with participating cable providers and will let them sync all devices to the television. They will be able to stream a TV show from a home computer, DVR, mobile device and into monitors in their cars. A similar service that streams music through car radios and computer systems is also coming soon, along with a digital camera and camcorder solution provided by CyberSynchs that will allow manufacturers the ability to offer unlimited data storage and wireless synchronization between cameras and other devices. Winbush is particularly excited about his company's upcoming hardware division and the release of newly developed solution that will change the industry to be announced within the year.
The newly-designed CyberSynchs website that will outline the company's wide range of new products and services is set to launch in June.
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