For sure, it’s overdue to post here on Bagaboo. But here’s the reason: After building my first company Wildstyle Network and my first two ventures Little Bird and Ad Portable (all of them are in the business for more than 2 years), it was time to move on to a new adventure that I founded with my partner Alex. This start-up goes by the name of COMPASS. Compass is a new kind of mobile social media network that portfolios your taste – it’s social, it’s local, it’s mobile and it’s made in Brooklyn.

A Start-up? Why did I do that? Why now?
I spent most of my time thinking about Communities, wether it’s Xbox LIVE or Windows Phone or refurbishing the Samsung Mobilers program. And I always missed certain opportunities to try out new solutions or user experiences that I had in mind. Things which Facebook, nor Twitter, nor Path or any other network can’t manage: Organizing my local relevant experiences and making my desktopbrowsing experience releveant for real life, real friends, verything that is real. All combined in a beautiful UI (user interface) with a more sophisticated UX (user experience). Especially hand crafted for mobile use.

Unveiling at The Next Big Thing in NYC
On Sept., 20th we’ve been presenting Compass, formally known as Project Hugleberry) for the first time to a larger audience. Media networks like Wall Street Journal, New York Times (among others) were present. Five minutes of powerpointing the product (the real on-device demo didn’t work due problems with the Apple TV). The first mobile only solution had its five minute of fame at the US’ media council – The Next Big Thing (Marisa & Joel – again, thank you for the opportunity)!

Project Hugleberry, a pivot and a vision

We’ve been starting with COMPASS – formally known as Project Hugleberry in April. We’ve been founding a C-Corp headquartered in New York but as a Delaware firm.
From the very first minute on we’ve been following a specific idea: Changing the world with a sustainable and sustainability solution that should have made the world and our behaviour more planet friendly. A database and algorithm which we’ve been developing in the past allowed us to connect any local consumption (i.E. products or locations) with data about a its sustainability. To make this data more reliable, we’ve partnered with the University of St. Gallen.

Getting feedback in New York, San Francisco and L.A.
We’ve been pitching the idea and prototype in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Soon we realized that sustainability was a great idea, Project Hugleberry got early buzz in the community and was manifested in our hearts. But unfortunately it was ahead of its time. Wether VCs (venture capitalists) nor users were ready for this ambitous planet saving tool. After six months, we took a closer look on the metrics and made an “ectracting” decision. The team decided to move on and extract the most working and best parts from this idea which was lying in front of us but we haven’t seen it. Project Hugleberry was build on a “compass”. A sharable list of locations and local products. This compass, a simple collections of the things you like, is now a stand alone app and a start for an own digital eco system to sync your digital with your real life.

Compass was born but our vision hasn’t changed. We will be the first company to fully sync digital content with your real life – to make better decisions and be inspired by things and people around us.

visit: www.compass.to (become an ambassador, get the beta)
Tweet on www.twitter.com/CompassTo
Post at www.facebook.com/Hugleberry (will soon become CompassTo)