
Apply HN: Sohoko.io – iBeacon Cloud Platform for Interactivity, Not Marketing - thevibesman
Sōhōkō is a cloud platform for associating content and defining interactions with Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) beacons.<p>Existing platforms in this space are largely focused on pushing content (with a bias towards marketing); our platform is focused on bi-directional experiences between users and hot-spots of interaction represented by beacons.  Apps running on Sōhōkō can share users, beacons, and content, which helps app discovery.<p>Instead of launching the platform directly, we plan to build it through internal dog-fooding as we build the first set of applications available on the platform.  These first apps will be focused around letting individual users create experiences with a single beacon.<p>The first app we are building is Sōhōkō Messenger, a messaging app where BLE beacons are used to deliver messages contextually.  Instead of a message being sent when composed, delivery is triggered when either the sender or the recipient enter or exit the region of a beacon they have shared with each other.  In the single-user use-case, this could be used to send contextual reminders; when sharing a beacon with friends, family, or co-workers, this provides a new way to receive messages in the right context and we feel this creates a little nicer feeling compared to the current state of affairs where we send messages regardless of the recipient&#x27;s context.  We feel such a personal use-case is a great place to start because messaging in the home is a place where we will be forced to be very careful about protecting user privacy.<p>400M beacons are estimated to be deployed by 2020[1], creating a revenue opportunity from micro-transactions for user interactions payed by developers on the platform.<p>Short term, there will be some revenue from premium app features and in-app beacon sales, but will mainly be from SDK licensing and developer partnerships with early adopters.<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;sohoko.io<p>1. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;ny-unacast-idUSnBw265779a+100+BSW20160126
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pjlegato
What's your go-to-market plan -- how will you find the partnerships and SDK
licensees?

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thevibesman
> What's your go-to-market plan

First we will promote the Sohoko Messenger app to developers who likely
already posses beacons to use with the app; they will be reached through
beacon manufacturer forums and other developer forums.

We are pursuing some leads for other early deployments with managed
residential buildings in Boston that are interested in using an app like this.

Our current thoughts for the third go-to-market step for the Sohoko Messenger
app is to run a user acquision experiment with targeted social media
advertising.

> how will you find the partnerships and SDK licensees?

Before the Sohoko cloud platform is available for public release, we want to
promote growth of our apps built on the platform. Instead of trying to focus
on pure growth or trying to monetize our early users, we are trying to create
some revenue through these licenses. Having other developers licensing
technology or using the platform before its public release allows for more
testing of alternative use cases.

We are currently evaluating the right balance between pursuing licensing deals
and user growth for our apps.

I have been consulting in the beacon/IoT space for the past 2 years and my
business partner and I have some connections with beacon manufacturers. This
has provided us with some leads for developers who could benefit from
technology we have/are developing to get their work done faster; we are
planning to pitch these developers and reach out to our network to find other
developers to pitch.

After releasing the Sohoko Messenger app, one of our next ideas is an
interactive hotspot app for university campuses---based in Boston/Cambridge,
there are a lot around. We are thinking about offering the platform free to
students/faculty to encourage students to develop projects on the platform and
spur outside development and licensing.

