Richard Gellai | Ziteboard Q&A
Richard Gellai (left) has worked extensively on spreading entrepreneurial culture and transparency in Hungary. The Budapest based entrepreneur joined Climate-KIC in 2013 through our intensive entrepreneurial summer school, The Journey.
He has since gone on to co-found Ziteboard, a whiteboard browser-based service which has won three highly respected start-up/development competitions. He also arranges multiple business and sustainable meet-ups and is an active contributor to the Hungarian start-up scene.
He took time out his busy schedule to talk us through his new business and how entrepreneurial programmes like Climate-KIC can turn ideas into businesses.
Thanks for taking the time out to talk to us. Why did you get into climate entrepreneurship in the first place?
It was inevitable. Back in 2009 I had been studying sustainability in Stockholm but abandoned the field for business. Years went by but in the back of my head I always had that itch for something more than funny and profitable products or services. Last year I decided to give it another try. I set-up BusinessMeetup, a business network which now has 1,200 members, and GreenMeetup, a sub community of sustainable-ordinated businesses with around 550 members. I’m building these because the need for added value services and activities is considerable.
For those people who aren’t aware of Ziteboard, what is it and why should they be excited.
Meetings and presentations usually require visual note taking - people doodling and drawing squares, arrows and the like. Just think of brainstorming sessions, group presentations and collaborative project plans. We noticed how obsolete whiteboards and flip charts are for such an important task. By the end of the meeting the content of the whiteboard is transcribed or a photo is made so the original content is degraded: a memo which you don't understand or a photo that can get lost.
And flip charts use an incredible amount of paper.
We are creating an easy to use, device independent, post-app service that uses no paper and loses no information. Ziteboard is a zoomable whiteboard in your browser.
A normal digital whiteboard would be enough if your screen is huge but you know it's not. In fact, even within one company - devices differ in size and even operating systems. The only thing they have in common is the browser. That's why we decided to go for a universal service instead of developing separate apps for each platform. The problem remains if you create an app, screen sizes are different and generally too small for doodling. So we developed a zooming interface to convert this problem to an opportunity. That's Ziteboard. It’s not presentation software and it’s not a project planner – it’s a zoomable whiteboard in your browser. Nothing more, nothing less.
Talk us through the team. Who is involved and how did you fit it?
Our core team of four (hacker, mathematician, designer and hustler (me)) is dedicated to make this project a success. With Tom Hornos (Ph.D., physics) we've been working together since 2006 on several IT and offline projects at university. He has the technological background to plan and implement complex IT-architectures for which solid mathematical foundations from Nick Salk (MSc Mathematics) are essential. Creating appealing visual appearance for each project is a must, which comes from a great illustrator and UX-designer, Tom Rekasi who I met in 2012 at a business training course of mine.
Ziteboard needed all these skills and the existing trust to become reality and we’re also aware of our shortcomings so we’ve already started looking to create jobs to expand our team.
When did you realise that Ziteboard will take off?
We were four months into development when we decided to enter to a worldwide start-up competition earlier in the year. It was the easiest way to get relevant feedback from an international pool of early adopters.
We didn't expect to the Coshx Labs start-up competition – we just wanted the experience. But we did win and the $50,000 in development fund launched us to a higher level.
Having the founder of TechStars say that this may be the next big thing was quite a validation.
Users started to subscribe in bulk. Requests for features, collaborations and co-developments arrived and then keep arriving in our inboxes. You could say that's when it really started. We won a pitch competition showcasing Ziteboard and private investors started to show up.
How long has Ziteboard been in process?
We're developing for a bit more than seven months. We're using a core technology that's the same age, it's full of surprises but it gives us an incredible advantage over existing products.
What difficulties have you faced?
Creating something from nothing is a constant challenge. People presume what you develop is exactly what they think it is. To meet unsaid demands and needs is close to impossible. We had to develop user interviews, measure relevant data and detect changes in the emotion of users. It was a difficult, manageable task but something which we found absolutely vital.
You finished Climate-KIC’s summer school, The Journey, roughly this time last year. What has been the most beneficial thing you learnt from in start-up experience so far?
In my business consultancy I regularly meet brilliant minds who are ready to change the world and cannot think on a smaller scale.
Throughout the five weeks I spent on The Journey, I became more sensitive and more able to work with them and developed ways to support their strike of genius to easily implementable, commercializable ways.
Also I've learnt a lot about myself for which I'm grateful for all whom I met and keep in touch with since.
After winning three competitions, what advice would you give to someone thinking of taking their idea that next step beyond The Journey?
You will always regret not trying. You really have nothing to lose if you enjoy what you are doing. Be open to opportunities, talk and listen a lot. Work with friends, trust is the biggest asset you may have in a team.
When can we start using it?
Go to ziteboard.com and give it a try. It's the simplest, minimal and free version of Ziteboard.
We are already accepting pre-orders for Ziteboard PRO (launches 10/10/2014) which syncs 24 zoomable whiteboards to the cloud, enables photo import, PDF export, enables simultaneous drawing by multiple users and instant collaboration.
We work full time for what we love and will make Ziteboard the best thing that has ever happened to online collaboration and interactive presentations.
To find out more about Climate-KIC and our education programmes, visit: climate-kic.org
To find out more about Ziteboard, visit their website: ziteboard.com
