Charl Norman

Just a quick note about my interview on Tech Leader by Nic Harry. Definitely one of the most interesting interviews I have done. This is my second interview on the M&G blog network. Previously, internet stats guru Arthur Goldstuck interviewed me on Thought Leader.

Here’s a short blurp from Nic’s interview -

Is web 2.0 going to burst like its late sister, web 1.0?

Most of the investment around web 2.0 startups have come from private sectors where most of the investment which fuelled the web 1.0 crash came from public markets. There are great examples of 2.0 startups with positive cash flows which proves there’s money behind all the hype. Each market has their winners and losers so there will always be startups that fail. More so in our market because its relatively easy and low cost to create your own Myspace of Facebook. However, scaling your business and infrastructure to a mass audience is another story.

What are the benefits of being a part of the Naspers family?

They have internet and print investments all over the world and a wealth of experience and infrastructure which we can tap into. We’ve had the opportunity to meet with some of the great minds at Naspers such as Elan Lohmann, Russel Hanly, JP Farinha and John Kotsaftis who helped us with strategic decisions around our product and business model.

Building technology in South Africa has its challenges - the audience you build web properties for is small, quality engineers are hard to come by and relatively few advertisers are willing to spend their ad budget with smaller publishers instead of the big media houses. Doing business online in South Africa is a lot harder then you think. The 24.com acquisition gave us credibility in the industry which means we can attract advertisers and potential partners a lot easier.

Read the rest of the interview here