Interview: Jon Aizen Co-Founder and CTO of Dapper.net

October 24th, 2007 • Interviews, Uncategorized

I got the time to sit down with Jon Aizen the Co-Founder and CTO of www.Dapper.net, we talked about his new startup company and his future plans for it. Dapper is “Data Mapper” you can create feeds, widget’s, API’s and etc using their service. I’m going to implement it on this blog soon so keep and eye out for that. I had a fantastic time talking to him, and I’m sure you guys will have a great time reading this interview!

Milov Patel: Can please provide us with a bit of your personal background in business and entrepreneurship.

Jon Aizen: I am a long time web-veteran, having started my first web company at the age of thirteen. I have always been passionate about the web and the ways in which it impacts our daily lives, and the power it has to change the way we interact with the world around us.

I attended Cornell University and obtained my degree in computer science. While studying at Cornell, I worked for Alexa Internet and when I was wrapping up my studies, I moved on to the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org), where I helped pioneer a major digital library website. It was during that time that I really developed my interest in and familiarity with web services, which is a big part of what we do at Dapper today. While working for the Archive, I met Eran Shir, with whom I founded Dapper. We started working together about two years ago, raised a series A from Accel Partners in London about a year ago, and now have a team of 15 people working away in Tel Aviv.

Milov Patel: Great, can you please tell us more about your current venture Dapper.net.

Jon Aizen: Dapper aims to make it incredibly easy to reuse content from any place on the web and to distribute content in new ways. We’ve built out a sophisticated technical platform that enables this. Specifically, our entire application is web-based and we have a visual, point-and-click interface that allows users to select content and build robust XML APIs for any website.
The technology is built on a technical platform that also protects the rights of content owners, who can select the ways in which their content can be used.

Milov Patel: What specifically led you to creating Dapper.net?

Jon Aizen: Personally, I found the challenge and the idea very compelling. I knew that the world needed something like Dapper and was eager to enable others to realize their creativity with such a platform.

Milov Patel: It seems your business model is really aligned with a Web 2.0 style. Can you elaborate how your company’s approach on revenue creation?

Jon Aizen: Most people are not familiar with our business model. We have no intention on charging for our core service. End-users are not accustomed to paying for services online and we don’t intend to charge them to use Dapper. As a result, our revenue model revolves around other, tangential services that rely on our core service. For example, http://www.dapperads.com. This is a new product that allows publishers to use Dapper’s platform to extract content from their sites and use that content to generate very targeted and meaningful advertisements.

Milov Patel: What would you say are the most important elements for a flourishing startup company?

Jon Aizen: 1. Founders. The founders have to be passionate about what they are doing. They have to be committed to the success and growth of the company, even when it involves personal sacrifice. They have to get along well and complement each other in appropriate ways.

2. Employees. The core team has to be exceptional, dedicated, and committed. Dapper’s team is incredible and our success is due in large part to their efforts. Finding incredible engineers and talented people is no easy task.

3. Vision. The founders and the team have to believe in the vision of the company.

4. Execution. No idea, no matter how good, can succeed if it isn’t executed well. A lot depends on timing and luck, but without good execution, there is nothing to talk about.

5. Product. Naturally, one of the most important things is to develop a good product – something that people need, want, and will use.

Milov Patel: You mentioned that you got some funding earlier can you disclose how much you got, and can you give us some detail on the process of finding funding?

Jon Aizen: We received a multi-million dollar Series A investment from Accel Partners in London. Accel are the ideal business partners in that their support goes beyong the finances and provides a tremendous advantage in terms of developing business direction, connections, and defining company strategy. The funding process itself, at least for us, was relatively straightforward – we developed a technology that had clear promise, and Accel saw eye-to-eye with us on its prospects.

Milov Patel: If you want people to remember one thing when they think about Dapper.net, what is it?

Jon Aizen: I want them to think of it as a way to enable the things they want to do with regard to content on the Internet, be it distributing their own content in new ways, or consuming other people’s contents in ways that are better for them.

Milov Patel: Great, well I had a great time talking to you today Jon. And id like to say thanks on my behalf and my readers.

Jon Aizen: Thanks for the opportunity to address them. It has been a pleasure

Tags: Interviews

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