Raviv Nadav on Augmenting, Rather Than Escaping Shared Spaces In A Post-Pandemic Era
WITH RAVIV NADAV
Raviv, founder of Kino, is a tech alchemist who’s tinkering away at bringing the nuances and happenstance back into the office environment, from the comfort of your own home.
Photography, Julio Nuno
Words, Brandon Scott Roye In Conversation with Raviv Nadav
VIEW GALLERY
In the early stages of work-from-home culture, it felt like the death of nuance. So many non-verbal queues and happenings were lost.
Fun fact — Google’s Gmail was created after two Googlers bumped into each other in a micro-kitchen which sparked a multi-billion dollar conversation. And for this very reason, they continue investing billions into real estate post pandemic.
Convincing people to turn their cameras on was the first big leap. Then, apps like Clubhouse began facilitating a more inclusive environment in the way members introduce and engage with each other. Then came the Zoom happy hour phase where everyone was cameras-on with a glass of bubbly enthusiastically in-hand — until we realized that this is quite literally never the vibe.
And look at us now. Taking our first steps into the metaverse. Like it or not, the future of our reality is both augmented and virtual. I’ll place my bet more so on the former, as I’ve always viewed the latter as a potentially unhealthy form of escapism.
Raviv, founder of Kino, is a tech alchemist who’s tinkering away at bringing the nuances and happenstance back into the office environment, from the comfort of your own home. With the metaverse as our new frontier, Kino’s IRL-to-URL balancing act expands beyond work into life, events, conferences, and education.
It is possible to do things your own way. you don't need to be held to society’s timeline on how you need to do those things.
The exciting plight of a tech entrepreneur is ultimately letting your baby, your tech innovations, out into the world. When you launch, you’re pushing your little baby bird out of the nest and into the world — not just to see if they can fly, but to see where they fly. After all, billions of people press the “home” button on our iPhones at the end of a long day and end up in a very different destination, and reality.
One can only hope that the users of Kino’s technology will bring us one step towards augmenting, rather than escaping, our fast evolving reality.
THE LOOK
Rib Sweater, Filippa K; Watch, Carl F. Bucherer; Trousers, Theory
BSR: Tell me about Kino.
RN: I have four different brands which complement each other. Kinetx, KIT, Kino, and Kodex. Everything started with Kinetx in 2009 based in Israel, an IT consultancy providing infrastructure services to businesses. This means everything from running cables through the walls and setting up wifi systems through the virtual infrastructure like computer systems — to how you share files and collaborate with team members. Back in 2018, I moved my company here to the US and we started looking into the market here which is much different.
We started focusing on telephone solutions after a client wanted to significantly lower their monthly payment. We wanted to provide service at a very low cost knowing that between 2018 to-date, many communication costs are basically free.
Back in 2019, our clients were paying $96K/Y for 220 telephone lines. After moving to our solution and adding 30 lines, they’re now only paying $8K/Y. We branded this solution separately as KIT, Kinetx Internet Telephone.
In March 2020, everything shut down. No projects, no clients, everyone was at home trying to figure out what’s going on. I went on a Zoom happy hour with friends for the first time and it was so awkward. You don’t know if it’s your turn to speak, you really only want to talk to a few people separately without exiting into a breakout room, and so on.
I began to wonder, “How would this happen if we were in a physical room together?”. Let’s say I grab you and bring you to a corner. We can still see and hear everyone around us, but your ears are focused on the person you’re talking to in your center of vision.
Then, we thought of how to bring this into a virtual setting, which is how Kino came about.
BSR: Such an organic approach to entrepreneurship, solving problems as they arise in your life, and spinning it off as another brand. What makes the Kino video space different?
RN: You can bounce between the main conversation and side conversations with the background noise from all conversations remaining at lower volume, rivaling what it feels like working in a physical office space.
In the beginning, we were expecting to mute others so you could focus your conversation with specific people. Then we thought, “What if I want to simply speak up for everyone in the room to hear, just like a real office?”
So, we have background noise at 5% which is a comfortable, non-distracting volume and 95% volume for the conversation you’re focused on. This allows me to speak up and say something like, “Hey Brandon, can you join us over here?” and you can switch your focus to a new person or group.
BSR: By nature of using Kino, your home is your office. I’d love to hear how you separate time living vs. working within the same space. What you wear, what you use to make a more comfortable and productive in-home work experience, etc.
RN: This room I’m in right now is my office and extra storage. We just moved here about a year ago. When I sit down to work in terms of attire, I’m always properly dressed. It’s a sign of respect to my team which I really believe in. At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of mindset. When you sit to work, you sit to work.
At least once throughout the day, I’ll step away from my desk, stand in the window for a moment or step outside. Something simple to meditate. This helps me immediately decompress and get back to work.
Everyone on my team is doing this throughout the day. You’ll see an empty chair of someone freshening up. We all find our own balance.
Some work in their bedroom, which is the most comfortable place in your apartment. You can still have a mindset of, “I’m at work right now” in the coziest of spaces.
THE LOOK
Turtleneck Sweater - Sunglasses, TOM FORD; Coat, AMI Paris
BSR: When you’re wanting to really establish a connection with someone like a client or new hire, how do you decide between meeting them through Kino vs. in-person? What flips that switch in your mind?
RN: The fact that we have an international team with people from different cultures coming together is very special.
Brilliant people have joined Kino who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to work for an American company. I love being able to create more of these opportunities for people. They can be based in New York, Chicago, California, Texas, and around the world.
I don’t always meet everyone in-person. Honestly, I don’t even know what their height is.
[Laughter] I did go to Albania to meet a chunk of my team there, some from Kosovo, as well. We went to a resort for the weekend, ate at a beautiful restaurant, all of those fun things. It was incredible meeting everyone.
BSR: Have you thought about expanding outside of office solutions to everyday consumers for connecting with family and friends, sort of like Facebook’s Portal?
RN: Yes, we’d love to bring this into people’s everyday lives. If you have several Portal devices throughout the house, you can walk between rooms and click between rooms, as you like.
You can speak up to get people’s attention, hear if someone’s crying, all of those everyday moments can be experienced with Kino.
We can help with your everyday life, work, events, and even conferences like CES. And another exciting application is e-learning. For schools which are completely virtual, teachers can bounce between classrooms for real-time teaching and workshopping, rather than a lecture hall where it feels like you’re talking to yourself without those deeper interactions being made.
THE LOOK
Coat, Paul Smith
I don’t think the future lies in VR. It doesn’t make sense to wear hefty hardware like helmets and masks all day. I think the future is much more so in AR, augmenting reality.
THE LOOK
Shirt, ASKET; Watch, Carl F. Bucherer; Sunglasses, Lindberg
BSR: Do you anticipate stepping into the metaverse?
RN: Well firstly, I don’t think the future lies in VR. It doesn’t make sense to wear hefty hardware like helmets and masks all day. I think the future is much more so in AR, augmenting reality. Something like Google glasses would be much more comfortable and realistic.
You can’t fully replace all five senses through technology. Until maybe in the future when we can upload our entire consciousness into the VR world.
[Laughter]
BSR: I’ve always seen VR as escapism in a way and much prefer the idea of improving our reality, rather than unsubscribing our world and living in another.
RN: I’m with you 100% on that. AR is the way to go. In the future, you can even project yourself into someone’s home, restaurant, etc. spending time with people from across the planet without an excess of monitors and speakers. There’s a lot to look forward to.
