Each month, Capitol Post interviews a business operating out of its coworking space or a member of the Bunker Labs DC Accelerator. This month, we spoke with Ryan Luu and Diego Quispe, BLDC Spring ’16 Cohort Members, and Co-Founders of Vumble, a startup focused on allowing viewers to discover, discuss, and vote on video clips to collectively determine what’s worth watching.
Name: Ryan Luu
Where did you grow up? Rockville, Maryland
School(s): Montgomery High School, University of Maryland School of Business.
Favorite DC-Area Restaurant: Yo Yogi’s Sushi in Germantown
Favorite Local Activity: Pickup Basketball
Go-To Pump Up Music: Hip-hop
Tell Us About Your Family: My 19 year old brother is a co-founder and Vumble’s designer. My mom is a single mother who works as an architect, my dad lives in Vietnam, his home country.
Little Known Fact About You: I aspire to take a lap around the world every year.
Brief Business Description: Vumble is a place to explore awesome videos without interruptions. Every day, viewers discover, discuss, and cote on clips to collectively determine what’s worth watching.
Briefly tell us how you decided to become an entrepreneur. I quit my first job after two days to pursue an idea for 6 second preview before videos.
Who has influenced you the most in your career or organization and why? My brother Brendan because he and I started Vumble from nothing. Now Diego is my primary influence, pushing me to learn and grow.
What have you accomplished that you’re most proud of? I’m most proud of learning to code and building Vumble’s visual expeience from scratch.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to another startup or entrepreneur? Get real feedback, learn the ins/outs of your business and focus on the things that matter.
Where would you like to see your organization in ten years? Home of what the world’s watching across all different devices.
Name: Diego Quispe
Where did you grow up? Cajamarca, Peru
School(s): Clarksburg High School, University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences.
Favorite DC-Area Restaurant: China Chilcano in Chinatown
Favorite Local Activity: Pickup soccer
Go-To Pump Up Music: Rock
Tell Us About Your Family: I have two siblings – one is working on his Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and the other one is a senior in high school. My mom is a housekeeper, my dad is an electrician, and we all emigrated from Peru in 2007.
Little Known Fact About You: I used to be in a rock band in high school.
Brief Business Description: Vumble is a place to explore awesome videos without interruptions. Every day, viewers discover, discuss, and cote on clips to collectively dertermine what’s worth watching.
Briefly tell us how you decided to become an entrepreneur. I interned at a company that was part of Y Combinator and I fell in love with the experience.
Who has influenced you the most in your career or organization and why? My family. We left Peru in search of the American Dream.
What have you accomplished that you’re most proud of? Back in college I started a hacker group called Terrapin Hackers. We participated in hackathons in different colleges and we took home the first ever trophy for competitive hackathons between colleges.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to another startup or entrepreneur? Don’t wait until you have the perfect solution because that might never come. Show people what you have and get feedback very early on.
Where would you like to see your organization in ten years? I would love to see Vumble replace TV.