“Go big or go home.” That's the guiding principle that's been a part of Sean Riley's life and which saw him found Entelligence with FirstRand's GT Ferreira; take on a punishing case against goliath Google that has yet to be resolved; and launch Ad Dynamo, a pay per click alternative to Google Adwords. It's a philosophy that should stand him in great stead in the future, because he's been travelling to London in the first step to take Ad Dynamo global.
“We're busy preparing Ad Dynamo for global expansion into identified markets that include many European countries and some emerging markets,” says Riley. “London has been great, given we've been well received, but we still have a long way to go. Our roots will remain firmly planted in South Africa and we intend to continue our global growth using Cape Town as our headquarters.”
So, what exactly does it take to build a global business? According to Riley, the first step is getting Reserve Bank approval, and then setting up facilities in the UK that would enable Ad Dynamo to process multiple currencies.“ Since so many services can now be managed 'in the cloud' it is a lot easier to set things up than it may have been a couple of years ago. Our accounting, billing, CRM, and management of servers are all done remotely through various Web-based service providers.”
Slow and steady
However, Riley's advice to entrepreneurs wanting to take on the world is to take things slowly. “Get it right locally first. South Africa is a market that is open minded and accepting of new entrants and if you can't succeed here first, you'll struggle abroad. Additionally, operating offshore costs money, and this is easier to do when you have a profitable local business supporting you. A lesson we've taken from MIH is to leverage local partners and knowledge. Each market is unique and having access to people in those markets, who understand the specific challenges is indispensable,” says Riley, who founded Entelligence in 1999, having worked at Credit Suisse in London for three years. “I identified an opportunity to apply technology to business challenges where the understanding of the business needs took precedence to technology per se.”
Do what you say you'll do, always.
Sean Riley, founder of Entelligence
Riley's first stab at that kind of business saw him develop an online share trading platform that he later sold to E*Trade in the US. He says the most satisfying part of the journey has been creating a business that sustained itself for 10 years, and allowed him to do what he loves with a team that has stood by him every step of the way. The really tough part has been making difficult choices. “Unfortunately, great ideas or technology on its own is not always enough to succeed. Sometimes it's a mix of luck, timing and a breakthrough, which acts as a catalyst to launch a new product. During our years at Entelligence, we built some fabulous technology, some of which I feel is still competitive 10 years on, but unfortunately a small business needs to be realistic about how long it can invest opportunities that don't create revenue. We killed off many projects that had promise, so I'd say the hardest experience was learning to separate emotional attachment to a project from commercial reality.”
The biggest lesson he's learned has been one of trust, which was imparted to him by GT Ferreira, the founder of FirstRand. “I learnt my biggest lesson from our angel investor, GT Ferreira, who has always been a man of his word, consistent and unwavering in his support. Over 11 years we've made deals on handshakes with no contracts to govern them, yet after all this time we've never had a dispute. There aren't many people like that. The only thing you can control in a business environment is your dignity - do what you say you'll do, always.”
With expansion in Europe off the back of 2009's investment in Ad Dynamo by InVenFin, it looks like everything's going really well for Riley. Which begs the question - has he ever had to learn from failure? “During our years in Entelligence, we built myriad products that failed, although fortunately some succeeded. Over the time we managed to identify the common reasons for failure and revised our approach. The biggest lesson was to build something that can succeed globally and to launch only when absolutely ready. Very often it is the small details that make the difference between success and failure,” says Riley.
Although the anti-competitive case against Google brought great disappointment to Riley, he has got something to be grateful for; the fact that the dispute spurred him on to create a competitor to Google Adwords that realised the launch of Ad Dynamo. The response to Ad Dynamo has been heartening. “Ad Dynamo has met its South African objectives and is growing internationally at a good rate. We deal with scepticism daily, but once a publisher or advertiser gives it a go, they're generally happy. Advertisers have been extremely supportive and there is a definite demand for alternatives to Google, or at the very least, options that allow companies to advertise through more than a single, dominant supplier.”
With ZenithOptimedia reporting that online marketing will account for a much larger proportion of the global ad sector spend in 2012 (17.1%) than it does currently, it looks like Riley has chosen just the right time to “go big”.
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