Many people associate startups with very young IT professionals that work with their projects in a disused garage accompanied by rock music and plenty of Redbull within reach.

But it doesn’t have to be like that

swipx has been started by a veteran, former IBM man, and the office is a stone’s throw from the flagship company A. P. Møller Maersk on one of the most exclusive addresses in the Danish capital.

“We live here only temporarily, until we move to our new premises in Aarhus Street (in Østerbro, Copenhagen, ed.),” Says founder and ideas man, Svend Erik Kundby-Nielsen after we seated ourselves at the desk with the Danish compulsory meeting drink – a coffee – on the table.

Helps to find the right software

swipx has made it its business model to help buyers to find the right software to their business.

They are doing this by inviting software providers to register its products and specify their properties, and the information is collected in a database. Then software buyers can specify and enter their requirements for a new IT solution.

Between the two parties is as an algorithm which helps the buyer to find the most suitable software products. Hence finding the right match.

It is free for businesses to register their solutions, and it is also free to make a request for a desired solution.

swipx has so far divided and defined 12 different business categories (and more than 200 processes), such as security and HR, with searchable products within.

If it’s free for both parties, how can you make money?

“As a vendor it is free to sign up and get your solutions presented on our platform. Likewise, it is not possible to pay for a higher ranking in the context of a search result. The results are based on the best match between customer needs and software solution’s properties . But it is possible to purchase two additional subscriptions, he says”.

The free registration consist of a presentation of the products, pricing models and languages overview.

“With the second subscription It is  possible to buy for example extended visibility (videos and images), cross references to other products from the company and information about what buyers are looking at the different categories, i.e. all traffic data,” he says, and continues:

“The third  subscription is associated with the readiness to enter new markets in new countries. It is a data model based on all possible economic, social or political conditions that must be considered when you want to enter a new market . “

Is that all the revenue base?

“Yes. Of course there can be more to come, but that’s the basic idea.”

Automation gives impartiality

It sounds like you want to be an independent body between the parties, how do you secure the position?

“We interfere as little as possible and leave the link to the algorithms. The only manual process is that we verify whether a company exists when it is registered,” says Svend Erik Kundby-Nielsen.

Is it a guarantee of impartiality?

“It’s as close as you can get. It is not possible to manipulate into a higher status or the like. Furthermore, we have initiated a collaboration with IDC to provide content on industries, trends and development to create an overview.. Impartiality and trust are the core values that should carry the project forward”

How did you get the idea for the solution?

“It is now some years ago, when I worked at IBM. A large Danish company was looking for a new software solution. When I saw the company’s that were on the long list, I realized that  IBM was not there, despite the fact that we had a solution from the company” he says.

The discovery made me think that by categorizing all software products in a simple and user freindly way, buyers can much more easily find what they are looking for. At the same time software companies  get an opportunity to show their solutions to the customer.

“If not even IBM could get on the long list, what about the small or very small software firms? As I see it, there is a clear advantage for both parties i.e. a win-win situation.”

The project has been running for a year and in January, a series of private investors infused new capital in the company.

Danish developers are probably 50 percent more expensive, but the good

How would you like to be in three years?

“Now we just really got started in Denmark and Finland, which are the first countries. Then we plan to expand to major European markets. But we do not have an exit strategy that we want to be acquired or the like. It is my project. it’s obviously hurt to giving birth to a baby, but you are of course enormously happy about it”

A project of this type requires a solid volume of users. How will you achieve it?

“It’s all about visibility, which we spend a lot of energy on right now. We invest heavily in traffic generating activities every month and the number of buyers that visit our website are increasing day by day.

In which country is the development of algorithms and code taking place ?

“In Denmark. We have chosen to use Danish developers, although it probably is 50 percent more expensive than in eg Eastern Europe. It is much quicker and easier to get things corrected in a hurry”

Are Danish developers better than abroad?

“Both are skilled, but there are some cultural advantages of being in the same language. It is actually possible to make a good bargain, if you are ready to use smaller agencies and free agents. It works really well,” says Svend Erik Kundby-Nielsen.

 

Link to original article: Computerworld