The Future Is Now: Eddie Ibanez of MKTSQ On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

If you have a passion and an idea, go all in and pursue it. I love traveling, it’s a big part of my life, that’s why I decide to create MKTSQ in order to make people get excited about booking travel again. I finally found happiness in life when I decided to pursue what I am passionate about.

As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs I had the pleasure of interviewing Eddie Ibanez.

Eddie Ibanez is a technology entrepreneur and pioneer in computer tech and data patterns. As a teenager, Ibanez successfully hacked AOL from his bedroom and pursued computer science until attending MIT where he was recruited out to work for a government agency in cyber security, developing software that reverse-engineers the location of known government and terrorist threats. Eddie contributed to the KNN method in mathematics and the collective experience helped pave the way for the launch of his first company, Zenabi. Zenabi is an AI and advanced analytics firm used to help companies unlock the potential in their user data. In 2016, Zenabi Analytics was acquired by Priceline to replace their marketing automation platform where Ibanez was appointed Chief Scientist before leaving to develop MKTSQ.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thanks for having me! What brought me where I am today is a combination of my passion for travel and my purpose in life is to democratize and use the internet to help people navigate financial success. With MKTSQ, I want to properly reward great destinations, great products, and people who make great content.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Where do I start, I have so many! One of it is probably jumping out of cell phone towers with my friends for work. But it’s all fun!

Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?

We’ve created a platform so that people can find interesting products/destinations to purchase through amazing content made by content creators instead of the usual mundane, static images you see when online shopping. We use data driven AI to understand people’s shopping patterns to give users a curated view of what to purchase as well as a a proprietary checkout system allowing for multiple brand purchases & experiences within a single cart for a seamless buying experience.

We also give people the opportunity to monetize the content they make and once we go further and rolled out, everyone will have the opportunity to become a creator on MTSQ.

How do you think this might change the world?

We’re changing the world because we think differently. We aim to change the way people travel and how people will experience purchasing products through experience and through video content.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I wouldn’t say there are any drawbacks, if anything, there’s a drawback in our favor to the users. We represent the users and not MKTSQ, so we aim to always advocate for them first.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?

COVID was definitely the tipping point. Being home all the time made it possible for me to develop and grow the idea that had into a reality. With traveling being paused as a result of the pandemic, I wanted to build a platform that gets them excited to travel again once restrictions lift.

What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?

To communicate my voice and share my idea with influential people! Word of mouth amongst a group of th right people can go a long way.

What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?

We have been working with influencers as they are key for this product. I’m using patented algorithms I’ve developed over the years and emerge what people want, predict what they want and what I have in inventory for them and using that intelligence in order to get them to plant them

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I wouldn’t be here without Christopher J. Buch, who has always believed in me when no one else did.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I love kids so I started a charity to help young unfortunate kids & show them how to gain success in life no matter what their backgrounds are.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Always read the fine print of any business agreement, every tiny thing is very crucial. Review everything down to the appendix.

2. Don’t compare your opportunities with what other people have & focus on the opportunities that you own. When I stopped comparing myself to others, that’s when I grew, both personally and profesionally.

3. If you have a passion and an idea, go all in and pursue it. I love traveling, it’s a big part of my life, that’s why I decide to create MKTSQ in order to make people get excited about booking travel again. I finally found happiness in life when I decided to pursue what I am passionate about.

4. Fundraising for business is as important as developing the product, I had past instances where I had a great products but lack of funds which in turn slowed down they’re growth and maximum potential.

5. Marketing a great product is more important than stocking up on inventory. When you have a great product, then the demand for inventory will follow.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would love to get the opportunity to support and help every single person to do what they love and be fairly paid for doing what they love.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Do what you love! If you have a passion, go all in.

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

My pitch varies from person to person so would have to actually do it in person!

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The Future Is Now: Eddie Ibanez of MKTSQ On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.