New Tech Firm Has Moose Jaw Roots

In the minds of many 2020 was the year of the COVID - 19 pandemic and a total write off but for a few entrepreneurs and forward thinkers 2020 was perhaps a bump but also an opportunity.

Such was the year for Moose Jaw entrepreneur Jessica McNaughton. McNaughton is joined by co-founder Taylor Fox who brings her technical skills into the mix.

“I worked corporate all of my life,” McNaughton told MJ Independent before telling her story about how she had decided to step away from the corporate world and become an entrepreneur with a new concept to preserve people’s memories and so much more.

Her dream child is MemoryKPR (pronounced Memory Keeper) which is a proprietary and innovative way for individuals, groups and others to safely store and arrange their memories across a multiple media platform that includes - but not limited - videos, photos written words and audio or even combining the different forms of media.

MemoryKPR is more than social media by allowing the user to further and dictate who may contribute to, share and view memories in a secure and private manner.

“What we were trying to create was something that preserves things in a better way,” she said, adding “how many of us have shared things on social media only to lose them. Often on social media when it is gone it is gone. We ensure that doesn’t happen.”

She said going on her own after so many years in a corporate environment was a major leap of faith. Something most entrepreneurs take.

“Oh God yes, I think I put on the blindfold and just jumped,” she said, adding “there are days when I sit there and think what the heck am I doing? Then there are many, many more other days where I am glad to have done it.”

McNaughton said that she had thought of how to better save and allow cooperation and viewing of memories and the COVID - 19 pandemic - by having technical programming people seeking work following layoff - allowed the fledgling company have easy access to technical talent that otherwise would not be so readily available.

“It (the COVID - 19 pandemic) was better for us. We had access to talent we would not have gotten access to the talent (without the pandemic.”

After launching in January time was spent in development as part of an business incubator dedicated to innovation set up in Regina . The incubator is one of two major incubators in the province, the other incubator is in Saskatoon.

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During the development opportunity sprang for the small firm when they brought together people at events such as weddings who were otherwise restricted by the pandemic.

By using QR codes the 30 guests allowed at the wedding to upload their memories which at the same time could be viewed by the other 300 guests who were not allowed to attend due to the COVID - 19. It made for a more personal virtual wedding experience than other applications available could provide.

Another example of the new way to display and retain memories came while working with senior’s homes by allowing loved ones to see their elderly relatives in a different virtual way that also saved safely to be viewed later. An added bonus of the system was it also allowed the residents to view and hear themselves speaking in a manner which helps them more cognitively remember.

And yet another successful use of MemoryKPR involved a Calgary based computer related company that was down-sizing and it allowed people to submit their memories of staff who were retiring in a manner which allowed the entire company to see the tributes.

Another template that the firm offers is a family tree or genealogy template which allows a more intensive experience in viewing and listening to a person’s ancestors, family and descendants in a manner that safely preserves it for future generations.

Although Cloud based (stored on servers independent of the user) MemoryKPR also allows the media to be transferred to memory sticks.

McNaughton said that the technology used to collect and upload to the stack is not proprietary but it is the way the memories and media are collected and presented is a proprietary and different means of how everything is brought together.

Although getting started in January 2020 it is not until this December that MemoryKPR is making its big marketing push after fine tuning throughout the year.

“We made a bunch of modifications and we are ready to go…the beauty of our system is it is simple and easy while at the same time unique…we like it that it is multi-dimensional…in many ways it is like a digital scrapbook but much more than that.”

Other addons to the system include exporting memories from social media platforms with the chapter, map and input ultimately being left up to what the consumers or users are looking for.

At the present time MemoryKPR offers a free or Basic option that restricts what the user can do with the system while there is an Advanced or Pro membership which provides the user with full functionality.

CONTEST

As part of their major launch MemoryKPR is offering a free contest where they are asking people to submit their photographs, video or story on how they kept the Holidays in 2020 merry.

“It is a digital time capsule on what happened at Christmas and how people managed to remain merry despite COVID,” McNaughton said.

For more information check out their website by clicking here.