Оваа недела во Гик на неделата, претставуваме интервју со Bogdan Iordache, организаторот на најголемиот настан за веб технологија во регионот - How To Web 2011.
Bogdan Iordache има богато искуство во развој на ИТ образовни програми во Романија и бројни проекти од Интернет технологијата. Сопственик и основач е на компанијата Conectoo, провајдер на е-mail маркетинг услуги.
Следи го Bogdan на Twitter или поврзи се со него на LinkedIn.
Во исчекување на How To Web, продискутиравме со организаторот за целите на конференцијата, што може да очекуваме, какво е IT окружувањето во Романија и можностите за иновации во регионот. Овој пат решивме да направиме исклучок и интервјуто да оди интегрално на англиски, со цел да се задржи автентичноста а и да им биде достапно на нашите пријатели од странство.
Can not leave without…
my sneakers.
When I wake up, first thing I do is…
check my mobile, kiss my wife.
I enjoy...
James Bond movies, red wine, good football, reading tech stuff.
Facebook, Twitter or Google+?…
Twitter.
Windows, Mac or Linux?...
no preference, depends on the goal.
Android or iOS?…
iOS is great, but they don’t have any marketing money (or focus) on Eastern Europe. I would go for Android.
Geeksmk: The How To Web conference is coming on 9-10th of November. As its founder, please tell the Macedonian geeks and internet public, what is the conference about?
Bogdan: How to Web is focused on bringing in Eastern Europe the best knowledge and connections people need regarding the business of the web, global web trendss, hot technologies, innovation & entrepreneurship. We know that we have a very strong tech side, but we need support for taking on the global web.
Geeksmk: It is the third time How To Web is taking place. How did it start and did it develop through the years?
Bogdan: Well, How to Web rose really fast, as it’s third year will be the biggest so far. We’ve got attendees coming from 10 countries, some of them outside Eastern Europe, because of the special structure of the event. The “How to” is by no mistake included in the name, the structure of the event is very focused on practical knowledge and networking between participants, speakers etc.
Also, we’ve got a “no VIP” policy, and that’s important too. We don’t have special rooms for speakers, bloggers, community leaders etc. Everybody who’s attending the event stays in the same venue, goes to the same parties, and that creates the perfect environment for meeting and talking to them.
Geeksmk: What can we expect on this year’s edition of How To Web?
Bogdan: Just expect the best event ever. We’ve got 35 international speakers coming from 15+ countries, a vast majority of them being founders or investors in global web businesses. Some of them are excellent Western European founders (from Huddle, Soundcloud, RjDj, Lightbox etc.), others are great Eastern European founders (from Nordeus, Gravity RD, UberVu, Erepublik, HTTPool etc.). We’ve got representatives from the top web accelerator or incubator programs (Seedcamp, Startupbootcamp, Springboard, HackFwd etc.), also representatives from VC funds, business angels from across the region and so on.
Almost everybody who’s somebody is at How to Web.
Geeksmk: As an entrepreneur you are very involved in the Romanian and broader IT startup scene. How has it developed in Romania through the years?
Bogdan: Romania has a bigger digital market than Macedonia, for sure, but also too small for creating global businesses when starting local. We’ve got some great successes in the past (Gecad antivirus was sold to Microsoft, InterAKT was sold to Adobe etc.) and now we’ve got a few great teams hacking their way to the global web, as UberVU, Brainient and others. Also, this year we’ve got 5 Romanian teams being accepted in web incubators across the world, from UK, to Denmark, to Chile and Canada. The time seems to be on our side.
Geeksmk: What are the challenges and opportunities for the startup and innovation scene in Romania and the region? It is said that it is easier to get an investment from organized crime than from a VC in the Balkans. Is it still the case?
Bogdan: I don’t know if that true, but the organised crime probably has far more cash available than the tech sector.The challenge is that if you work for a very small market, as Romania or Macedonia have, it’s pretty difficult to think big and go as global as possible. On the other hand, we’ve got great tech talent, and that’s a great start to get things going.
This is exactly why we’ve started How to Web, because we want to offer the missing link: the business knowledge, the product management knowledge, the business connection, the understanding of the global web.
Geeksmk: We belong to a developing but fragmented, or balkanized region. What is the benefit from the regional collaboration with regard to a faster development of the entrepreneurship eco-system in the Balkans?
Bogdan:We’ve got the same problems, and probably we’ll manage to solve them using the same solutions. It’s amazing to see Eastern European entrepreneurs, business people or tech geeks sharing their war stories, they learn hugely from each other’s experiences.
Geeksmk: How do you see the technological and business trends in IT? Is it just So-Lo-Mo?
Bogdan:It’s mobile first, for sure. The development of the mobile sector is an important driver for the local and social approach. Imagine Twitter without the mobile side. Think of Square, who takes on the huge market of e-payments, using mobile technology to connect to local businesses.
The tablets can also be an important part of the future, as digital media will be consumed using tablets quite a lot, and a big part of that is because of HTML5 too. There are a lot of changes that can take place in the near future, like the replacement of laptops with tables for home users. If you’ve got a phone, tablet and a big TV, all connected to the internet, enabling you to see videos, communicate with your friends, take pictures, play games, who needs a laptop anymore ? Only the ones that use it for business, I would say.
Geeksmk: And lastly, what do you think will be the most memorable part of this year’s How To Web?
Bogdan: I think this year’s edition of How to Web will be the most memorable one because we’ve already got people coming from almost 10 different Eastern European countries. The knowledge-rich talks, the networking opportunities, the level of energy you’ll get will boost everybody to the next level.
