Behind The Click: Katrina Miles, Chief Strategy Officer at Roscoe Labs - Page 3

KM: Honestly, it wasn’t the “next” thing. All of the volunteer work I’ve done, or service work, or mission work I’ve done has just been a natural progression of what I’ve always done. I’ve been socially active since high school. I organized rallys and marches against the gang violence and shootings that were happening in the DPS back then. And, I don’t remember not feeling like there must be a cry and a voice against every possible injustice. I think that was one of the reasons I wanted to be a journalist. I would read Louise’s columns and recognize my friends and neighbors – a whole city in crisis. And I wanted to speak for them. At one point I wanted to be a public health reporter and I wrote a story about a family that got suckered into the American dream of suburban living, but a whole community was dying of cancer because their beautiful babbling brooks were built on toxic waste. Who would speak for them?

When I made the leap from reporting to government to non-profit, it was the same principle – when we raze our cultural heritage and our history – who will speak for us? The truth? A lot of what’s happening now is revisionist. Even in media. It’s entertainment and revisionist. Reporters afraid to call out politicians. Where’s the analysis and context? Where’s the data to support what you’re reporting on? When was the last time someone reported accurately what went down at the school board meeting?

KM: From a strategic development perspective, one of the single most important things that I have learned along the way is how socially active people are with the “news,” however they define it, and their mobile phones.

So, it’s taking this experiential knowledge and combing through the data, looking at behavioral patterns, and leveraging relationships to formulate a direction for our platform. People want to, and do, actively engage in the news that’s important to them in the places where they live. Today, injustice, sport, and death are the primary reasons people will report or engage with a platform that gives them an opportunity to “speak” out on behalf of one of these topics.

KM: We are a fully engaged start-up. I begin each day by reading the local news. Here in New York and also in other places. I reach out to reporters of the smallest daily presses to talk about how they interact with their mobile. A few months ago I began talking to a reporter at the Barrington Times, part of the Eastbay RI papers. I tackle tech news. I go out and interview local merchants about their web presence and what their plans are for mobile commerce if any. We have daily team meetings. Hack around on our software that we’re building. Look for funding opportunities. And then I do keep my mentors and advisers updated on our progress.

KM: Our client is you – the user. We are launching and testing our beta so the more feedback we get, the better. So, to date, one of our challenges is making sure that we have a critical mass of users to provide us with the necessary feedback to make our product better. And aside from money, which is every start ups’ “biggest challenge,” it is getting people to rethink the classic ad models around news. I believe that no new innovation can be tied to a proven failed model. So, when we say our revenue model is not ad dependent, it really raises eyebrows.  Because, we’re a news platform, right?

KM: I hope to see more black women in mobile development. You have to be completely self-motivated. I’m taking advantage of every possible course, class, seminar, and person willing to talk to me about the future of mobile. I’m learning how to code. At the beginning I was learning game theory and physics. I honestly thought I’d need a doctorate of engineering three times in order to jump in. But, you just have to jump in.

 I’m challenged to ask how do we interact with the places we live? How is this applicable to the platform we’re building? So, I hope that there will be more black women in tech and that we’ll not limit our entree into this arena because we don’t have a computer science degree from Stanford.

As for Roscoe.tv this year, I’m looking forward to a successful launch in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago and some other target markets. I look forward to strategic partnerships with a venture firm that shares our passion for news and our near zealous drive to create new models to support it.

Be sure and watch for the next installment. In the meantime, keep up with tech news and more via my website http://www.ldcoleman.com and/or follow me on Twitter @mediaempress