A Yo is nothing more than a message popping up on your phone with a tinny voice saying “yo.” That’s it. Nothing more. That something so stupid and simple raised millions of dollars was utterly perplexing to me.
Since launching on April 1, Tech Crunch stated that it had over 50,000 “active” Yoers and over 4 million yo’s have been sent. Last week, Valleywag interviewed Mobli CEO Moshe Hogeg, an Israeli investor who personally invested $200,000 of his own money into Yo. Hogeg said he envisioned Starbucks baristas, flight attendants, McDonalds workers all sending you yo’s to get your attention, because God forbid we actually look up from our phones and watch for people to make eye contact with you or listen for their voice to convey your order is ready.
But he also said something else that struck me as interesting: “My wife, she complains I don’t call her enough during the day. Now I can send a push notification anytime I want.”