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February 02, 2006
Jerome Mol is back with modest Blackberry software firm
A Dutch company that make software for the Blackberry to print emails, view PDF files, and the like, caught our attention this week, not so much because of its products, but because the co-founder and CEO’s name, Jerome Mol, rang a bell.
Mol rose to fame and fortune when he sold Prolin Software, a company he founded, to HP for $50M in 1997. As the bubble started to inflate here, he created a startup incubator in Amsterdam called GorillaPark, and a publishing company, Tornado Insider (your reporter was a stringer for its monthly magazine), efforts that received lots of media attention.
At the time it seemed like the old rules of what it takes to build a company, time, experienced management, customers, capital efficiency, and sales had changed. But as we all learned, the basics of creating a valuable venture do not change. (Are Web 2.0 startup entrepreneurs listening?)
Both efforts failed to cover their costs and fell into bankruptcy proceedings. Today, Tornado Insider is still going, but much reduced, selling access to a deal database and a weekly newsletter. GorillaPark was acquired by its management from Mol in 2004.
Mol seems to be onto something a bit more viable this time.
GPXS claims 200 percent sales growth over the last two years. The closest we could pin management down to an actual sales figure was a statement that it's expecting to turnover between €5M and €10M this year. GPXS recently acquired a smaller Blackberry software developer, Galty Technologies, and now employs 60. It has raised outside capital, but there is no disclosure on the amount.
Making software add-ons for another company’s platform is not as sexy as building something entirely new. But it makes sense for GPXS, which sells mobile office applications, a market segment that many have tried and failed to penetrate, mainly due to the slower than expected uptake of high-end smartphones.
Targeting the Blackberry user, as opposed to cellphone users in general, is one way to make sure there is an installed base that wants business-oriented applications via wireless networks.
GPXS sounds to be pragmatic and its products practical, but not as practical as the “ultimate” Blackberry accessory, the Blackberry Helmet (See video clip of Canada’s Rick Mercer demo-ing the device.)
Read - GorillaPark goes titsup
Read - Time's Mol profile circa 2000
Posted on February 2, 2006 11:04 AM | Posted to Business software | Where are they now | Permalink
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