'IT startup leaders need persistence'
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Soujanya Bhumkar, CEO and co-founder of IT firm Cooliris, explains his business at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, May 14. / Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
By Yoon Sung-won
Among others, IT industry is one of fields that are well-crowded with venture companies and ambitious entrepreneurs.
While almost all of them agree that one thing everyone should keep in mind leading a startup company to a success is chasing hares ― financial stability and venturesome, creative mind ― at once, which is said to be the most difficult part.
Soujanya Bhumkar, 41, CEO and co-founder of Cooliris, an IT firm that provides media and social networking service for mobile and web environment, said “enduring spirit” is the key asset for any IT venture company.
“I believe, especially for startups, economic success and adventurous entrepreneurship must not be separated from the start,” he told The Korea Times. “And the leaders of startups need persistence on their belief to maintain balance between the two.”
Bhumkar was invited to Korea as a speaker at beLAUNCH 2014, the nation’s biggest technology startup conference, held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.
Backed by capital firms such as T-Venture and DOCOMO Capital, Bhumkar and his partner Austin Shoemaker established Cooliris, in the Silicon Valley, California, in 2006. The company started with a web browser add-on application for desktops, featuring cinematic Cooliris 3D Wall, which provides a visually-enhanced media experience for users when they browse photographs online, Bhumkar explained.
Then in 2009, Google approached the firm and asked to develop a media application for Google's Nexus One smartphone, which eventually became the default Gallery app in all smartphones with Android operating system.
Prior to Cooliris, Bhumkar co-founded and worked in startups including Vazu, a business provided messaging service from desktops to mobile phones; Panopticon, dealing with online merchandizing; and then Tamarind, a company focused on human performance evaluation service which enjoyed better profitability than the previous two.
After studying in Ruia College in Mumbai, India, Bhumkar went to the United States in 1989 to study chemical engineering. Then he completed his MBA from the University of Chicago after working in the consumer food industry with Pioneer Foods and Nestle. He started his career in IT industry in Bay Area in San Francisco, leading his business at Panopticon.
Cooliris has launched a subscription-based photo curation application called “all-new Cooliris.” The app allows its users to browse, save or and selectively share photos from their gadgets, as well as social networks and online storages including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Tumblr and Dropbox, as their preference.
Bhumkar emphasized “going global” is important for IT startups as they are operate borderless. Cooliris is operating around the world and became the first foreign company to acquire permission to open business based on the database in China.
“Just locating in some overseas places like the Silicon Valley doesn’t mean that you are global. Instead, it provides an environment where you can break the mold,” he said. “To maintain balance and creativity, you need to endlessly renovate your products, services, processes and most importantly, yourself.”