Ryan Escober founded Oahu-based technology collective Kumu Tech after working in the tech industry for more than 20 years in different roles, including as a software engineer, product manager, sales executive and product marketer, according to Kumu Tech's website.
"We provide personalized technology and business insights to help you to achieve your goals," Escober told Pacific Business News. "Our overall mission at Kumu Tech is to share the benefits of technology and to empower people to be changemakers in their industry and — most importantly — in their community."
Kumu Tech offers both in-person and virtual consulting, research, mentorship and educational services, according to its website.
"What really sets us apart is we are really focused on being very intentional and being very relationship-driven," Escober said.
Tell me about Kumu Tech and the services it offers. The services that we provide include four different areas. Consulting: We work with you to understand where there are certain gaps in your organization and how we can best align on providing the right technology advice and the right technology architecture to help move you forward with your goals.
Then there's the research bit. The research area will partner with you to do some data analysis, either with your customers or with your employees, so that we can put together a plan moving forward on how best to incorporate a lot of these insights into processes and different tools that your employees or your customers can take advantage of.
... The next area is mentorship. ... We provide mentorship for anyone that's looking to get more information around technology and business. Ideally, this is aimed toward the high school and college level to help people prepare for what the industry is going to look like outside of the classroom.
The last area is education. ...Our main differentiator in this space, and what really sets us apart, is that technology can be very overwhelming, so one thing that we provide as a service is that a lot of the insights that we share will be relative to your industry and relative to your pace. Not everyone is meant to take the cream of the crop of what's happening in technology and implement them right away. ... We provide a collaborative environment for everyone to understand and absorb technology, because we all have different learning objectives and we all learn differently.
How did Kumu Tech get started? It really started with an idea that ... came from these moments that I had in life where I was like, "Hey I wish I had this in my career, I wish I had this in my education, I wish I had a mentor that I could talk to to go back and forth on this idea, I wish I had this resource." ... This was happening quite often. ... When I came to an impasse in my career ... I really at that moment did a lot of self reflection. I was thinking about all these experiences that I've had in my career and in my life and I felt like I really wanted to share those and empower others, especially those in my community, based on a lot of the lessons that I had learned in the technology space, the business space and the personal space. ... I finally said to myself, "Hey, let's bring this idea to life." And this idea is now known as Kumu Tech.
What is the greatest challenge you have faced recently? My biggest challenge so far has been raising awareness of Kumu Tech and making sure that others know about it and can leverage the resources that we provide. I recently moved back home here to Hawaii, and it's kind of like taking baby steps again. I lived in Hawaii when I was a teenager; I have not lived here as an adult. I almost feel like I'm relearning everything, for the better, because there's so much that has changed, and part of that relearning is getting plugged back into the community. The community I grew up in is completely different than it was 20-plus years ago. So I'm starting to understand who's who. ... How can I be a part of this community? How can I share my stories in this community? And a lot of it has been kind of like puzzle pieces that you're putting together, and to me, it's definitely part of the journey. ... I'm just trying to make sure that I land and make an impact, and that we actually showcase the services we have and are in our community, and [move] it in the right direction.
