Youneeq

A.I. Personalization Platform driven tools for publishers, e-commerce providers, e-government, Advertising Networks and marketing firms (or, an affordable IBM Watson).

Finalist for:
Team of the Year

Interviewee: Murray Galbraith, CEO

When – and how – was your company born?
Youneeq was born out of the video game industry with Gameboyz in 1995. I took Gameboyz public in 1999. I sold high and got the asset back at a low price. Myself and others were talking about Web 2.0 back in 1999. The problem was there wasn’t enough internet IQ (servers etc.…) to do anything about it.

Once the cloud came into being and SaaS really came into its own, machine-learning algorithms could finally start making a difference.

Women make up 50% of the video game market but the media focuses on 18 -34 year old males and is missing a huge market.

We wanted a way to identify individuals as soon as they came onto a site, so we could deliver individual content and experiences in real time based upon their individual behaviours, wants, and needs.

Youneeq was born and we haven’t looked back.

Who are some of your clients? What projects are you working on right now, and what do they do
Youneeq’s technology and business partners include Shopify, Amazon, Google, Block Communications, Clixxa advertising, Libercus, Newscycle, TowneNews, EauClaire Publishing, Lorain Publishing, and more.

With initial focus on E commerce and digital media, Youneeq’s team has strong experience in these verticals. They are experiencing an erosion in audience traffic, resulting in diminished revenue/yields.

For E-commerce, we’ve developed and are developing E-commerce platform apps. Our first one (Shopify) was just launched and we are experiencing steady growth supported by strong app reviews. In two weeks, 51 customers have signed up. We anticipate building three more apps in the next quarter.

Some Digital Media client results:
– 20% Increase in digital ad revenue
– 200%+ increases in page views per user
– 7.5% increases in eCPM rates
– 19% increases in unfulfilled ad inventory

What was a pivotal moment for your company?
When we proved our value prop with demonstrable results and received our first paying customer.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
There really isn’t just one thing. Perhaps I can prune it down to 3 things:

  1. Never be afraid of the word “no”
  2. Surround yourself with people smarter than you and let them do their jobs.
  3. Be a good leader

What does the future 10 years look like for your company?
A global leader of A.I. powered personalization and a staff of 150+. With all my current staff in leadership positions or sipping Mai Tai’s on a sandy beach in the Gulf or Cook Islands with me.

Why Victoria?
That’s a great question…

As far as lifestyle and amenities goes, you can’t beat Victoria. There’s a great technical talent pool locally supported by outstanding post-secondary facilities. As the world shrinks, web conferencing makes it easy to access global markets from Victoria

Some of the best restaurants and freshest foods in the world are located in Victoria. No matter where you live in Victoria, you’re less than 20 minutes away from the full blown nature experience—fishing, camping, whale watching, beaches, poker with Rob Bennett, etc.

I always encourage people to travel and experience the world and experience other cultures and see how they live. This is the best way to answer this question.