The founders of Google were graduate students studying computer science. Mark Zuckerberg has been programming since he was in his teens. Bill Gates was the quintessential geek. It seems like the most successful software/web companies are those that were founded by technically able people. This then brings a fundamental question…. do you really need someone who is technically able in the founding team for the company to succeed?
In this article by The Next Web, editor-in-chief Ernst-Jan Pfauth interviewed the founders of Singaporean start-up Conference Bay and posed a question regarding their biggest challenge when developing the portal. The founders cited their lack of technical experience. Due to this deficiency, the founders had to outsource the project to a company in Australia for its initial launch and then to an Indian company for its revamp.
This itself has presented 2 issues. Firstly, technical knowledge may have allowed the founders to have a deeper understanding of web design principles which MAY have prevented the need to do a complete revamp of the website which resulted in wastage of valuable resources.
The second problem that may not have existed if one of the founders had a technical background is that they probably would have more contacts in the tech sector and hence be better able to find technical help and can build the portal in-house.
However, what the Conference Bay founders lacked in technical skills, they more than made up with their business capabilities and networks. Being able to gain funding from private investors and the Singapore government (both of which are not easy to pitch to), they had enough resources to obtain the services from professional web agencies and a experienced PR/Marketing consultancy.
Overall, I would say that having technical skills in the founding team is extremely helpful but at this age where the world is so flat and outsourcing partners are so easily accessible, starting a web 2.0 is no longer a feat that is unreachable for the programming impaired.
Filed under: Technology, Web Services | Tags: Conference Bay, conferencebay.com, Conferences
In a press release they sent out on Monday, Conference Bay, the one-stop shop for conference organizers and goers, announced the official launch of their remodeled portal and their decision to open up the portal to organizers worldwide due to user demand. The site was previously targeted for conferences within the Asia Pacific region only.
According to the press release, this new site developed by a design team that consisted of media powerhouse Ogilvy RedCard is to make it obvious to users that Conference Bay is not just an event listing company but also a portal which helps them save costs.
They have also released data on their progress since their initial launch in July 2007. There were more than 300 conference organizers using the site, listing more than 600 conferences in more than 30 countries and 70 cities around the world, all within 7 months. They have however left out the number of users that actually bought or bid tickets from the site, information that is definitely more important from a business point of view.
Conference Bay was previously covered here.
