Today we’d like to introduce you to Edwin Hernandez.
Hi Edwin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I came to the US in 1997 as a Fulbright scholar to obtain my MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, I had an ISP in my country HONDURAS, that was called COMPUNET. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras and my family asked me to continue with a PhD as the country was devastated.
I applied for my PhD and stayed at the University of Florida working in Mobile Computing. As of 2002, I graduated and worked for Microsoft, filing my first patent, and moved to Seattle right after. At the end of 2003, I moved back to Florida and joined Motorola in Plantation. FL. During that time, I worked for Motorola as an engineer, leading teams, and creating new technologies in the mobile sector.
By 2010, I was working for Motorola Mobility, and despite being a stellar employee, I was terminated due to a patent dispute for the technology I invented for my Ph.D. dissertation. As a consequence, I started working for myself, as getting a job was becoming more difficult. This matter turned into an employment and patent dispute, and litigation became time-consuming, and expensive, learned a lot, but ran into debt.
By 2012, I had started working on different other software gigs, one of which was the creation of a new streaming idea, and EGLA CORP had its first product. This first idea was a solution for a company called DMX Media. DMX was having difficulties in moving forward with an ancient distribution system and wanted an upgrade. While working on this consulting gig, I offered consulting but whatever was generated in IP would be EGLA’s anemone. DMX Agreed, as time progressed DMX was acquired by MOOD MEDIA and started using my platform to distribute their music to millions of subscribers on Cable TV and music apps.
At one point my platform was being used by many cable operators reaching 20M subs in over 20+ countries. As the music product became mature, I started working on a video & audio product, among other products that include an AI recommendation engine, a Set Top Box, and others. The music platform was a playground for many different solutions with some generating a new IP portfolio in what today I call MEVIA with 3 issued US patents and 1 European patent.
As I was developing the corporate structure, around 2017, I was part of EDC’s technology accelerator. Around March’17, the EDC went out of business, as 8 to 10 startups were being evicted from the office I was part of, EGLA CORP stepped up to the plate and took the lease with the landlord to avoid eviction, and despite all roadblocks, by 2018, the EGLAVATOR was created and started helping startups with space, advice, and funding.
As part of the unfortunate situation with Motorola, I gained experience with patents and since 2017, I have personally been involved in over 25 intellectual property cases as an expert witness, source code reviewer, and audits. My clients have had great success in many actions, IPRs, ITC, and even a trial that my client was awarded $700,000. In other cases, the award was significantly higher, but that information cannot be shared publicly.
In summary, I have participated in high-stake cases that have included companies like Citrix, Bank of America, Verizon, NetApp, Magento, Kopin, Blue Radios, Keller Williams, Google, Samsung, and Sprint, with large law firms from DLA Piper, to Quinn Emmanuel, Devlin Law, Fish, and Richardson, and many top-10 firms.
Years have passed and by 2021, those patents those same patents that triggered the dispute with Motorola are now licensed by several major telecommunication giants including Verizon Wireless.
On the media front, EGLA has obtained several awards as a streaming platform including Cloud TV market leader by Digital Journal, and other awards in pitch competitions, and other recognition.
Besides that, EGLA has invested in some failed startups like SAFEFI, and CBS Biomedical, and has ended with new intellectual property, such as the Demolizer platform that uses Augmented Reality and IOT to control heating processes, also with a US Patent. At EGLA we use our tech for many projects, from MEVIA Studios, to door access control, to cybersecurity.
In the past few years I work from the EGLAVATOR, EGLA’s tech incubator, as if we were another startup. Currently, at the EGLAVATOR, there are several startups and ventures that work under our roof including Mobility Workx, Guiltless to Go, MEVIA, MEVIA Studios, Adam Rehabilitation, Open Snd, MedMatch, Evolux, Forteneer, Anchor U, PTAB Expert, SEO Turbo Booster, and more than 15 other startups, including success stories with Mobility Workx and PointsKash. At the EGLAVATOR, I help my startups with strategic advice, technology direction, IP protection, and negotiation techniques. Our philosophy is to generate revenues and optimize budgets.
In 2019, I started a youtube channel that is called TECHEDTV. TECHEDTV has over 4000 followers on youtube, and Facebook TechEdTV in Spanish has over 24K followers. I interview entrepreneurs and it is available in all podcast outlets.
Now, EGLA CORP is working on the next-generation Operating System, “Mevia OS” and is investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence and all startups with some AI/ML exposure. We have in the plans the creation of an AI Academy, a Podcast and New Media Academy, and potentially a software academy.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all, a) Minorities have a hard time getting funded, and in many cases, some individuals want to take advantage of that as well, funding has been a major roadblock, but working smart and efficiently has been the solution to reduce costs, b) Inventing a technology in today’s work means nothing when people say “China steals tech.”
Possibly true, but also American big corporations may want to take it, they rather spend Millions on attorneys before compensating an inventor. In my case, I spent thousands of dollars defending my inventions, against a mammoth called Unified Patents and their attempts to invalidate my patents.
c) Real Estate is not driven by purpose, in my past incubator my landlord, knowing what the incubator represented, went under a handshake agreement to lease the premises to my tenant that never in default on their sublease, that’s how I ended up where I am today. d) So many pitfalls, crashes, and struggles that I could write a book on them.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and a Master’s in ECE with 14 issued patents, I have worked for Motorola and Microsoft in the past, I am an expert witness for patent and IP cases, and have been in more than 30 matters in the ITC, PTAB, and Federal Circuit.
I am a tech entrepreneur owner and founder of EGLA CORP, the creator of the EGLAVATOR with an eco-system of 17 startups that could be valued in 10’s of millions of dollars, excluding my intellectual property that has been licensed to Verizon Wireless.
Do you have any advice for those just starting?
Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. Entrepreneurship is difficult, and learning to deal with risk is essential.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://edwinhernandez.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dredwinhm
- Facebook: https://facebcook.com/edwinhm
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/edwinhm
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/edwinhm
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/techedtv
- Other: https://eglacorp.com
