Intridea is a fast growing software solutions company here in the DC metro area. For the last two years friends, Barg Upender, Yoshi Maisami and David Naffis have been building one of the premier Ruby on Rails (RoR) development shops in the nation. For those of you who don’t know what Ruby on Rails is, it is essentially a development language that makes building complex web sites faster and easier. Many sites you visit these days use or are completely built on Ruby. This makes Intridea a very popular company.
However, the team at Intridea is not stopping there. During their growth period of working with firms all over the country building cutting edge RoR apps, they have been developing apps of their own. From a social networking platform called SocialSpring to its most recent launch of Present.ly, which many people call a “Twitter for Companies”, it has begun the transition to be primarily a product company. I recently had the opportunity to sit down Barg Upender and discuss his experience as a serial entrepreneur and what the future holds for Intridea.
Here is the transcript of that interview:
Steve: You guys have been building Intridea for the last two years. Since this not your first startup, what are some lessons learned, good or bad, which you have applied to this venture?
Barg: Having co-founders is great. Startups can be a roller coaster ride. It’s nice to have partners with diverse skill sets to bounce off ideas and get through the rough times. So the journey becomes more social and fun.
Steve: Since you are a serial entrepreneur and have been through many business cycles, with the economy in a tough spot these days, do you feel it is a good time to start a business?
Barg: Absolutely. But it’s important to pick the right product and/or service that is in high demand. For example, we picked a fun and productive technology like Ruby on Rails that was popular for launching interactive web services. We are also building products like CrowdSound, that are at the bleeding edge of Social Feedback and Crowd sourcing of Ideas and Innovations.
Steve: One question I get from people thinking about starting a business is “do I need a business plan”? I tell them that if they are a freelancer and selling their skills, they don’t, but… if they are planning to grow a business that they can’t run without one. What is your philosophy on this type of thing?
Barg: I think the process of thinking about the business plan is more important than the actual document. A two page executive summary that outlines the problem, solutions, target customers, competition should be sufficient. But prepared to revise it often, things move fast on the Internet.
Steve: Your firm has been one of the pioneering software development shops focused on Ruby on Rails. How has this particular technology evolved in the last few years? How do you feel it is used most effectively in a business environment?
Barg: When we first started, there were a couple of books and the core open-source Rails framework. Over the last few years, a nice eco system was built around the core. There are tons of open-source plug-ins, dozens of books, websites, and training resources. Our team is contributed to many open-source plug-ins. Most of our website traffic and customers comes from these contributions.
Steve: As a follow up question, since you are using Ruby on Rails as your central technology solution, what are the benefits and possible pitfalls to being focused on one technology?
Barg: We are passionate about technology in general. While most of our projects are in Rails, we use the best technology for a given problem. For example, for our MediaPlug, a media transcoding appliance server, we use Java. Our Scalr product, we use PHP to scale web applications in the cloud. For our mobile applications, we use Objective C for iPhones and Java for Google Android phone. I think having expertise in all these helps us provide the most creative solution to our clients.
Steve: Since you are moving from a services company that has some products to a products company that provides services to support the products, how has this transition changed the culture and selling approach of Intridea?
Barg: When we were doing purely services, customers approached us based on our reputation in the community. As we transitioned to a product company, we had to become much more proactive about reaching out to our target customers. This is where Yoshi has been a huge help. Now, we talk at lot of conferences, we have a presence at lot of shows, and we sponsor many events. It’s been a big shift, but we are seeing the payoff now.
Steve: You guys just released a new product called Present.ly. What exactly is it and how can small businesses utilize it?
Barg: Present.ly is a micro-blogging communications tool for use inside the company (i.e. “Private Twitter for Companies”). Present.ly gives co-workers the ability to instantly communicate their current status, ask questions, share files, and passively connect with each other. We use present.ly internally to reduce meetings, increase awareness, and reduce lengthy email threads and distractions.
It’s a great productivity tool for small businesses as it helps you to have asynchronous, many-to-many communication. I would encourage you to checkout short videos at: http://presentlyapp.com/video
Steve: According to Gartner, “Web 2.0” is in the “Trough of Disillusionment” where is projects over the next 12-18 months that since the hype has worn off that these technologies will be folded into mainstream software development and adoption. Do you agree or disagree and why?
Barg: I would agree with that. I think many of the social features (comments, ratings, feeds, RSS) will be naturally folded into mainstream applications to give a richer, interactive experience to the users. For example, we can already see Google docs integrate with Group Chat on the right.
Steve: To close our interview I would like to get a “Top 5” from both of you. Since we are facing some tough economic times ahead for possibly the next 12-18 months, what are the Top 5 things you would recommend new entrepreneurs running a business should do to weather the storm?
Barg:
1. Build a great team – our whole team consists of rock-stars. Their expertise, speed, and productivity are what’s fueling our company.
2. Keep experimenting – Dave taught me to question everything. We continue to try new products and services and see how the market reacts to it. We iterate and organically grow our products and services.
3. Get started – it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and dream. You have to take the plunge and start swimming.
4. Ideas are cheap; execution is the key to success. Its hard to be in a stealth mode these days. Get something out there and keep learning and improving.
5. Did I mention a great team?
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