John Doan came to the United States as a child refugee from Vietnam, guided through a strange new land and culture by his mother and a doting older sibling. “He was my caregiver,” said Doan, recalling how older brother Roy “protected me from the bullies, taught me how to ride a bike, and when I was 16, he taught me how to drive a car.” When Roy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and dementia in his 30s, Doan watched helplessly as some of those same skills were taken from him. Roy, who is now in his 40s and lives in a halfway house, sometimes becomes disoriented and struggles to get around using public transit. “There’s situations where he’s gotten lost,” Doan said. With both his own family situation and a rapidly growing population of elderly and disabled Americans in mind, Doan is weeks away from launching the “MO” platform — an online app that connects vulnerable commuters to professional drivers. That’s “MO” as in mobility, the lifeblood of the aged and infirm. Think of his general benefit corporation, Mobility 4 All, as an Uber for folks who need someone to walk them from their doorstep to a vehicle at pick-up, and from the vehicle to the lobby of their destination at drop-off. “It’s what we call the kinder, gentler ride-service,” said Doan, of Shoreview, who launched a pilot program in the north metro for a few weeks last year. “We found out there is a huge need — people who are not getting out because it’s too cold, and their life can be miserable. They’re not seeing people for days.” His goal is to quietly debut MO in the Twin Cities market with a soft launch in March and a virtual grand opening in May or June. If all goes well, he’s shooting to roll out MO in Phoenix by late 2019 or early 2020. Mobility 4 All is at least technically a St. Paul company — its corporate address is downtown. Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Sebastien Tavenas, who lives in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, has been working with Doan at Fueled Collective (formerly CoCo) co-working spaces in Lowertown, Uptown and downtown Minneapolis. Tavenas, the former director of the French-American Chamber of Commerce in Minneapolis, spent years bringing small-to-medium sized American companies such as Julia Knight tableware into international markets. He, too, watched a family member struggle with transportation needs following a medical ordeal. Tavenas’ father was left blind after a brain tumor. “Social life is really important to recovery,” Tavenas said. Doan, a U.S. Navy veteran who holds a degree in civil engineering with a focus on transportation as well as a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University, has built a career planning housing and transit services for vulnerable populations in state and local government. He served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Metropolitan Council, the metro’s regional planning agency, from 2011 to 2013. The Met Council oversees Metro Transit, the metro’s public transit authority, and Metro Mobility, a scheduled shuttle service for riders who are unable to use bus or rail. Is Mobility 4 All’s MO platform too duplicative of Metro Mobility? Doan says otherwise. For one thing, he’s promoting “hand-to-hand” service as being a step beyond “door-to-door,” with drivers who have passed fingerprint and background screenings actually entering people’s homes to guide them. Someday, possibly soon, the drivers won’t be driving at all — they’ll be there to literally hold a customer’s hand while self-automated vehicles do the rest. “We know that self-driving cars are coming,” Doan said. “They’re not here yet. We’re building that consumer base … and once the technology is around, we’ll be able to integrate it because we have caregivers as part of our platform. Our customers are not going to be able to access that technology without some additional help.” To date, Mobility 4 All has raised more than $540,000 in start-up capital, most of it in the last six months. That includes funds from the Carlson School of Management’s Minnesota Cup competition, where they placed second in their division last October, and also earned the Cup’s start-up award dedicated to veteran-run businesses. On Jan. 30, Doan was among nine finalists who competed in a “Shark Tank”-style competition for ethnic entrepreneurs arranged by the Metropolitan Economic Development Association, or MEDA. Mobility 4 All walked away from the challenge — which was held at Twin Cities Public Television Studios in downtown St. Paul — with $125,000. “It’s a huge validation of our business model,” Doan said. On Jan. 30, nine entrepreneurs were awarded a total of $1.48 million in financing in a “Shark Tank”-style competition. Funded by JPMorgan Chase, the Metropolitan Economic Development Association’s “$1 Million Challenge for Minority Entrepreneurs” was held at the downtown St. Paul studios of Twin Cities Public Television. The competition drew 200 applicants and 19 semi-finalists. The winners were: HabitAware, St. Louis Park: Wearable technology that helps people with body-focused repetitive behaviors, such as compulsive hair pulling or nail biting. $400,000. Ilerasoft, Chicago: Software that aids hospitals in optimizing their medical equipment by improving capital planning and budgeting. $200,000. Vemos, Minneapolis: Management software for the hospitality industry. $200,000. Cytilife, Minneapolis: A “Smart Campus” platform to help students and college administrators make data-driven decisions to help reduce college dropouts. $125,000. Mobility 4 All, St. Paul: A “kinder, gentler ride hailing service” for seniors and people with disabilities. $125,000. PopCom, Columbus, Ohio: Makes vending machines and kiosks “smart” at point-of-sale. $125,000. LegacyArmour, Minneapolis: An online asset protection platform that delivers protected information to designated recipients on a scheduled date or life event. $100,000. SquarePac, Austell, Ga.: Uses design and metal fabrication expertise to help shipping clients maximize space, reduce freight, save money and promote safety. $100,000. Virtue Analytics, Woodbury: Provides an “eEnrollment Management” platform that allows educational institutions to use machine learning and predictive modeling to make better decisions about admissions. $100,000.
An app called MO has been developed to connect commuters suffering from debilitating physical ailments with professional drivers. The app, which is available for download on Android and iOS, allows users to book a ride through the app. The app is scheduled for a soft launch in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area in March, with plans for a virtual grand opening in May or June.