The un-tech entrepreneur
Photo: Harvey Bremner
Janice Taylor likes to say she grew up “raised by the United Nations.”
Born in Saskatchewan, her alcoholic dad left when she was young and her mom worked three jobs trying to stay afloat.
Without her parents around a lot, Taylor spent a lot of time with other families in her neighbourhood – a multicultural place teaming with people from “all over the world.”
It was at those families’ kitchen tables that she experienced first-hand how caring and cohesive a good community can be.
Eventually she grew up and had kids of her own, and when they started going to school Taylor noticed that cohesive and caring caring community she knew as a kid was gone.
Parents were cheering against other kids in the hockey rink, and children spent most of their time in isolated bubbles, not connecting in any meaningful way.
“I thought, something’s gone awry in our neighbourhoods,” she says.
Taylor, who has a background in psychology, knew she wanted to solve the problem, but watched non-profit organizations struggle to make the kinds of changes she was after.
That’s when she realized the thing that cut a “big swath through everybody” was technology.
She had no real technological experience to speak of, but that didn’t stop her from “immersing herself” in that world, learning everything she could about how technology affects people.
After months of reading and research she had written the manifesto that eventually became her book “Wisdom. Soul. Startup.” From there she knew she needed to start a company.
“For me to think about making a tech startup is outrageous,” she says, breaking into a smile. “I have no basis being here other than the fact that I look at technology from a psychological point of view.”
All of the popular social media spaces of the day, Taylor says, are built on a “rudimentary” emotional level, promoting knee-jerk responses and instant gratification.
“Basically meaning a Grade 5 boy,” she says.
But she believes technology needs to be built to take into account humans’ emotional response to it, and that’s the driving force behind Mazu.
With Mazu, Taylor asked the question: “If technology pervades on our fear, could it pervade in the exact same way on our love?”
The Mazu app is an online “padded space” that is boundary-driven and focuses on “core values.” Kids and parents can chat, share photos and engage with content in an online environment that’s safe.
“You can’t solve a technical problem without looking at the humanity involved,” Taylor says.
Taylor has a pretty solid lock down on the humanity part (everything Mazu does, she says, is driven by the question, “is that fear or is that love?”) and she has built a company filled with talented developers who transform her ideas into code.
Mazu is a full end-to-end development shop, which means they do absolutely everything in house.
“I tell them my brain and this book,” Taylor says, picking up “Wisdom. Soul. Startup.” And I say ‘OK I need to do all these things,’ and then they figure it out.”
“We do it all here, and I built it all here. It’s crazy.”
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