Putting the Breaks on Texting and Driving
Jonathan Young
Jonathan Young of Jacksonville, Fla., has been building million-dollar real estate and publishing companies for almost 20 years now. But he says his latest entrepreneurial endeavor is his favorite, because it just may save your teen's life. What's not to love about that?
A couple of years ago, Young, UNC Marketing '90, had been wondering how to prevent his new-to-driving teen son from texting on his cell phone while driving.
Young said he had an epiphany while driving along in his own car: Create a cell phone application that would use the internal GPS to disable the texting function when traveling faster than 10 mph. Such a security device that parents could install on their teens' cell phones would go a lot further than just nagging.
And that's how Young's Textecution cell phone app was born. Young pitched his idea around to several companies before deciding to work with a Jacksonville technology firm that put his ideas into reality.
It wasn't a stretch for Young to be so proactive in putting a business idea into action: Starting businesses and making them successful has long been Young's passion. But he said his first foray into the technology field has an added feel-good quality.
"I would say the greatest thing to come out of Textecution is knowing that every time we get a sell, we potentially save a life," Young said.
Young's Textecution epiphany came at the start of a nationwide spotlight on the dangers of texting and driving. More and more states are creating or talking about traffic laws against cell phone use while driving, and even talk show host Oprah Winfrey has launched well-publicized "No Texting" and "No Phone Zone" campaigns.
National statistics have reported that texting while driving can be more impairing than driving drunk. Teens have the highest chance of dying in car crashes in which distracted driving is the cause.
All the recent talk has bode well for Young's Textecution app.
"As we began to get this thing all put together and realize what we had and the impact we could have, that's when I began to do more research into texting and driving," Young said. "It started to become a more highly publicized issue. It wasn't just a perceived problem anymore. We had statistics to back it up."
Textecution is just one of many business babies for Young. After graduating from UNC, Young started in the business world with Mountain Wine Distributing, a Gallo wine distributor. He spent a few years working up the ladder there, until he decided to "cut the corporate handcuffs" and strike out on his own.
So he moved to Jacksonville, Fla., and started a free-distribution automotive publication, which became so profitable using then-new digital photography that he was able to sell to a national media company, Journal Communications, three years later. Journal then commissioned Young to start a similar publication in Tampa, which was sold after becoming highly successful in the area.
Young then moved back to Jacksonville to start Exclusive Living magazine, which is distributed to high-end homes in northeast Florida. He said he realized the most lucrative part of the magazine was its homes listings, so he got his real-estate license to tap into the market.
"I've been able to use the magazine as a platform to be one of the highest producing agents in the city," Young said. "It's a great tool and great for my customers."
Young has since created a new division of his real-estate business called Blackstone Auction Group, which auctions high-end homes.
Young says he has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up in Connecticut, he saw it in action every day by watching his father, Robert Young, a successful entrepreneur.
Seeing his father, who died when Young was 12, create a successful company was the catalyst for his own drive in business. Young said he's long been addicted to the whole process of starting the next big thing.
"I think it's just a love for business, and to see something go from a concept all the way through to have it created, and have that level of satisfaction," Young said. "You have to be highly self-motivated, work without someone giving you direction, persevere through obstacles."
Young says he's constantly thinking of new business ideas, so much so that his latest gig may involve creating a "business incubator" of sorts at the university level to help young entrepreneurs put their ideas into action.
"I just think there are a lot of good ideas out there, but most ideas are never acted on," Young said. "Whether it's a lack of ambition or direction or financing, they never get developed."
He says he's excited about what could happen if he could get several minds together, instead of just his own.
In the mean time, Young is excited to talk about his first — and likely only, he says — invention in the technology field: Textecution.
"The fulfilling side was not so much that we could have a business and make a profit," he said. "It was realizing the impact we could have on kids and keep them safe on the road."
Verizon Wireless has started giving away a free version of Textecution on every Droid phone sold, and that makes Young feel good.
"I can't imagine being the parent who gets the phone call or gets the knock on the door saying your child has been a victim in a crash involving texting and driving," he said. "We protect that child and protect the someone else they may be running into."
For more information about Textecution or to download the application visit www.textecution.com
Texting and Driving
According to the National Safety Council, a nonprofit public service organization:
• 28% of vehicle crashes — 1.6 million crashes per year — can be attributed to cell phone talking and texting while driving.
• About every 26 seconds a vehicle crash is caused by drivers using cell phones and texting.
• The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers in fatal crashes was the under 20 age group.
For more information on the dangers of cell phone use while driving, go to www.nsc.org and click on Safety on the Road/Distracted Driving.
by Jennifer Starbuck
