Social online networking web sites have become the next "new
thing" that individuals and now companies have been flocking to
over the last two years. Local entrepreneur C.H. Low, who has
over 25 years of software product development and management experience
with such well known names as VerticalNet, Starcite, E-Money, has launched a new company Orbius that allows companies, universities, clubs,
and individuals to form their own social networking site.
Mr. Low
is a graduate of the University
of Pennsylvania Management and
Technology Program (Wharton and Engineering School)
and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics (Finance) and a Bachelor
of Applied Science (Computer Science). The
following is an interview with Mr. Low as he explains why he started
his company and where he sees online social networking going.
Why did you start Orbius?
When Rupert Murdoch acquired mySpace, the
mind boggling and very puzzling move by a very smart businessman made
me look deeper into the social networking phenomenon.
I saw the huge success of the social interaction but I also
uncovered many issues of such sites for adults and for brands.
These sites did not suit the taste of most adults I know. Marketers were quite enthusiastic the viral
marketing potential but they were also scared of the risk to their
brand from user generated content. Also the
paradigm for their brand's presence was un-natural. To
be a friend of a brand is quite meaningless. And
since marketers actually pay the bills, I saw there is an opportunity.
What
is the mission of Orbius?
Orbius (www.orbius.com) provides an
integrated social media and community eco-system where brands and
organizations can be safe and people can come together with trust, and
interact with each other more efficiently and in more enriching ways.
Groups can start to use us for free as we are advertising supported. Businesses and professional organizations can
private label (and remove our advertising) their community at a
fraction of the cost of a custom built solution.
Who is the target user of Orbius?
Typically, our audiences are at the post college stage of their life
and have outgrown sites like Facebook and MySpace, generally have little time and socialize
or interact for more serious life purposes. Our
users can maintain multiple personas and organize their asymmetrical
connections into multiple relationship categories.
Our customers are businesses/brands, small-medium groups (departments,
projects, human resources) within large enterprises, and other social
groups and organizations like non-profits, associations, charities,
alumni, PTAs and golf clubs. They can
use our community tools to enable their members to better interact and
engage with each other and with the brand or organization.
We can supplement existing websites with new community functions and
also provide a completely new website with community features.
What differentiates Orbius from other social networking sites?
Orbius has a unique governance system that
enables a community to setup with the ontology of the community's
organization structure and the varied privileges of the different
members of the organization.
Orbius provides full featured community
functionality with specific orientation towards information and
knowledge collaboration or sharing. Our Idea
Factory is tool to enable leverage of the community for idea/innovation
collaboration. Our Ask the Expert tool allows
discussion to be contextualized by enabling a group of experts (enabled
by Orbius' Governance System) to be the first
to respond and control the context of the discussions.
Our Library allows members or selected members to collaborate to
create information and knowledge.
Orbius is a highly configurable community
tool, requires no IT involvement to setup or change. We
provide an equivalent to high end custom white label community
solutions at a fraction of the cost.
Our users setup multiple personas and connections types to share only
what they want with whom they want. We make it
safe to be connected to your boss!
What
is the difficultly of starting an online business?
A highly
scalable enterprise quality SaaS(Software As
a Service) platform is very hard. This is my
and my team's 4th large scale software project and it is not any easier
as the demands and standards gets tremendously higher each time.
It was very challenging to find the right engineering talent that is
both technically capable and culturally fit our organization.
What
are the keys to your company's success?
We
believe our target market is global, huge and under-served. So we only need very small market share to be
wildly successful.
Our culture is to listen to our customers and delight them with our
customer service.
We have a great team with very experienced leadership, surrounded by a
great group of advisors, investors and board members.
And we love what we do!
What
would prevent you from succeeding?
A nuclear
winter in the economy and venture funding market could seriously
deprive us of our success.
What does it take to be a
successful entrepreneur?
You need
to have a large store of POSITIVE thoughts, emotional energy and
confidence! There are so many bumps and
stressful moments along the way. This is my
6th early stage and startup, and it does not feel any easier. But it is also very invigorating.
You must have courage to make mistakes and allow the same for your
employees to encourage the innovation needed to be competitive.
Finally, surround yourself with smart people that will tell you the
truth and then LISTEN WELL!
What
type of professionals should an entrepreneur look for in his first
team?
Cultural
fit is the most important. My senior people
need to get down on their knees and get their hands dirty, can work
with tight budgets and have very high standard of self-performance.
Also be kind, honest, humble, good judgment, have a sense of humor and
yet very decisive and courageous to take risks.
If
you would give an entrepreneur one piece of
advice what would it be?
Actually
I have two.
First is improving your emotional intelligence. Learn
how to read people well, understand their emotional drivers to what
they say and what they do, and then to interact with them successfully. The skill is needed in picking your partners,
hiring your employees, negotiating with your vendors and interacting
with your clients. And then also learn to have
the emotional fortitude to be able to let go people not appropriate on
your team quickly but kindly.
Secondly, make sure you are passionate about your product or service
you are providing! When you and your team love
what you do, your customers will feel it when they interact with you.
