S3E7: 'Personal CRM: Embracing Digital Minimalism & Privacy Empowerment' with Chris Zeunstrom (Yorba)

The Shifting Privacy Left Podcast

This week's episode, I chat with Chris Zeunstrom, the Founder and CEO of Ruca and Yorba. Ruca is a global design cooperative and founder support network, while Yorba is a reverse CRM that aims to reduce your digital footprint and keep your personal information safe. Through his businesses, Chris focuses on solving common problems and creating innovative products. In our conversation, we talk about building a privacy-first company, the digital minimalist movement, and the future of decentralized identity and storage.

Chris shares his journey as a privacy-focused entrepreneur and his mission to prioritize privacy and decentralization in managing personal data. He also explains the digital minimalist movement and why its teachings reach beyond the industry. Chris touches on Yorba's collaboration with Consumer Reports to implement Permission Slip and creating a Data Rights Protocol ecosystem that automates data deletion for consumers. Chris also emphasizes the benefits of decentralized identity and storage solutions in improving personal privacy and security. Finally, he gives you a sneak peek at what's next in store for Yorba.

Topics Covered:

• How Yorba was designed as a privacy-1st consumer CRM platform; the problems that Yorba solves; and key product functionality & privacy features
• Why Chris decided to bring a consumer product to market for privacy rather than a B2B product
• Why Chris incorporated Yorba as a 'Public Benefit Corporation' (PBC) and sought B Corp status
• Exploring 'Digital Minimalism'
• How Yorba's is working with Consumer Reports to advance the CR Data Rights Protocol, leveraging 'Permission Slip' - an authorized agent for consumers to submit data deletion requests
• The architectural design decisions behind Yorba’s personal CRM system
• The benefits to using Matomo Analytics or Fathom Analytics for greater privacy vs. using Google Analytics
• The privacy benefits to deploying 'Decentralized Identity' & 'Decentralized Storage' architectures
• Chris' vision for the next stage of the Internet; and, the future of Yorba

Guest Info:

• Follow/Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
• Check out Yorba's website

Resources Mentioned:

• Read: TechCrunch's review of Yorba
• Read: 'Digital Minimalism - Choosing a Focused Life In a Noisy World' by Cal Newport
• Subscribe to the Bullet Journal (AKA Bujo) on Digital Minimalism by Ryder Carroll
• Learn about Consumer Reports' Permission Slip Protocol
• Check out Matomo Analytics and Fathom for privacy

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Chapters

1. S3E7: 'Personal CRM: Embracing Digital Minimalism & Privacy Empowerment' with Chris Zeunstrom (Yorba) (00:00:00)

2. Introducing Chris Zeunstrom, Founder & CEO at Ruka & Yorba (00:02:09)

3. Chris describes Yorba, a privacy-1st consumer CRM platform; the problems that Yorba solves; and key product functionality & privacy features (00:06:29)

4. Why Chris decided to bring a consumer product to market to help achieve privacy rather than a B2B product (00:11:24)

5. Chris explains why he incorporated Yorba as a 'Public Benefit Corporation' (PBC) and sought B Corp status (00:13:54)

6. Chris shares his passion for decluttering one's digital life with a 'Digital Minimalism' design approach (00:18:26)

7. Chris describes Yorba's work with Consumer Reports on its CR's Data Rights Protocol and associated app: Permission Slip - an authorized agent for you to submit data deletion requests through that platform (00:22:32)

8. Chris shares how his team thought about & implemented privacy-enabling architecture (00:26:15)

9. Chris & Debra discuss the benefits of using privacy-first analytics tools like Matomo (00:28:12)

10. Debra & Chris discuss the privacy benefts to deploying 'Decentralized Identity' & 'Decentralized Storage' (00:32:30)

11. Chris describes his vision of the next phase of the Internet where people will be able to manage relationships with companies and platforms, essentially via a combined of a 'Personal CRM System' & 'Private Profiles' (00:37:22)

12. Chris shares what's on Yorba's product roadmap and how to collaborate (00:38:31)