Channel4
Channel4 3rd January,2008
TECHIES AT HEART
Antonio Gould heads down to the Future of Web Apps Conference at ExCel in London and tries to suss out the next big thing webwise.
Also of interest
Busy year
2007 was another busy year for web architects. The mainstream adoption of social networking platforms like Facebook have proved that the public will use online social software, and that behind the hype, profitable business models for these platforms can be found.
Get together
“Funders such as Seedcamp and 3i were, as always, scouting for new and promising businesses.”
The recent Future of Web Apps Conference at ExCel in London was a chance for the industry to look back on last year, talk about what’s working, what isn’t, and to look forward to another year of innovation and perspiration.
Plenty of big players were there to share their thoughts with the industry.
Facebook, Flickr, Yahoo and Digg talked about their experiences of building online communities. Software and hardware providers like Adobe and IBM came along to promote their new products. Funders such as Seedcamp and 3i were, as always, scouting for new and promising businesses.
Of course, the most interesting phenomenon were the start-ups. Each of them were hoping to generate a buzz around their product, make partnerships, get funding and hopefully become the next big thing.
Mix and mingle
“Everyone’s trying to find the next Ebay or Flickr. There’s definitely money to be made, and the web’s becoming the new big thing in the city again.”
As well as running this conference, Lisa Price from Carson Systems, has a diary packed with technology-based events all over the world.
Commenting on this year’s conference she says, “There’s a lot of energy around at the moment. Everyone’s trying to find the next Ebay or Flickr. There’s definitely money to be made, and the web’s becoming the new big thing in the city again.”
“It’s similar in feeling to 2000 just before the first dot com bust, but crucially the space is now very different. Today’s projects tend to have solid, profitable business models rather than relying on rather unrealistic predictions of growth. It’s also significant that we now have much higher levels of broadband connectivity.”
“What excites me about this field is that the barriers to entry are so low. To start a web app, all you need is a cheap server and lots of coffee. There’s no shop rental, there’s no manufacturing costs. People are just getting out there and doing it.”
“We’ve really tried to reflect that in the price of the conference by keeping it affordable for people on tight budgets. We’re keen for start-ups to come along and mingle with established players.”
Vindication
“The guys that make it aren’t just good at tech and design. They have real business skills too.”
Obviously low barriers to entry means strong competition. So what does it take to win? In Lisa’s experience it’s vital to have skills across the board.
“The guys that make it aren’t just good at tech and design. They have real business skills too. They have to be tenacious, playful, confident and willing to take risks.”
“Networking’s important, as well as being open and honest with people…although when it comes to business ideas some people do tend to become a lot more secretive.”
So how does it feel to be one of the start-ups? Dave Rooney is a cofounder of Just Routes, a Dublin-based service which helps people find their way around Dublin. By the first afternoon he was already buzzing about the feedback so far:
“It’s been a fantastic, fabulous experience. We were pretty worried about coming up against the big boys like Adobe, but we really feel that we held our own. It feels like a vindication that there is a genuine need for our service - it’s definitely given us encouragement to keep going.”
Next big thing
“One thing that everyone seemed to agree on is that social networking’s here to stay, and that we’re going to see more niche, targeted networks appearing as we move into next year.”
No one knows what’s going to be the next big thing, but there were plenty of predictions about what’s going to be important over the next year.