Sharp

Focus.
By refining
their focus
Josh Adler
and Sam
Hutchin-
son have
strength-
ened their
growth

•
prospects.

SNAPSHOT publishing experience," says Adler,

chief executive. "We wanted to build a
software offering that would allow jour-
TECH TRAILBLAZERS nalists and editors to get back to doing
TWO ENTREPRENEURS BUILD A PRODUCT THAT IS SET TO REVOLUTIONISE
what they do best, which is creating
THE MAGAZINE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY. BY JULIET PITMAN
great content," adds Hutchinson, who
acts as the company's chief architect.

hen asked recently to
highlight key factors in
the ongoing success of
Facebook, co-founder
Chris Hughes, replied, "I
think the basic idea of providing some-
thing that didn't exist was a good one
but it's more than that. I believe that the
reason Facebook is where it is today is
due to a resolute focus on the product.
We focused on building something that
people would like using, would want
to use, would find relevant and would
keep them coming back every day."
In other words, build it and they will
come. A simple, yet effective approach
that Josh Adler and Sam Hutchinson
of Prefix Technologies have employed
in developing Preditor, their unique
content management platform for the
magazine publishing industry. "It took
us a while to refine our focus but once
we got going we kept our eye on devel-
oping something that would truly en-
able publishers to manage and monetise
their content through a totally seamless
PIONEERING CHANGE
The result is a revolutionary framework
that not only manages content for mul-
tiple publications, but also for print,
mobile and web formats, affording
publishers more opportunities to create
many revenue streams offa single article.
Adler explains: "An article gets written
once and then can appear instantly on
multiple web and mobile sites as well as
go into print editions. So publishers can
sell more advertising around the same
piece of content to distinct audiences.

JULY 2009 ASKENTREPRENEUR.CO.ZA I 33

 tactics

"We benchmark ourselves against our that's unique in South Africa and has
customers' ability to increase advertising few rivals worldwide, the road hasn't
revenues and reduce production time." always been smooth. "We started the
With simple interfaces, Preditor puts company fresh out of university and for
content control back in the hands of a long time we were good at a lot of
editors while inviting the participation things, but experts at nothing. We be-
of readers. "Editors can collect and ar- came lost, doing a whole host of things
range content to create an immersive, for clients that we frankly, didn't really
media-rich reader experience online or enjoy," says Hutchinson.
on a phone. To produce the customer's It was while applying to become En-
print magazines, Preditor speaks intel- deavor entrepreneurs in 2005 that the
ligently to design programmes like partners realised how important it was
Adobe InDesign," he continues. to refine their focus. "One of the panel-
ists who interviewed us for Endeavor
DRAWING ON EXPERIENCE told us we were nothing more than
The fact that Preditor has smart opportunists. We knew
been taken up ·by the larg- at the time that we were all
est publishing houses in the over the place, but we really
PREFIX
country is testament to how needed that feedback to force
TECHNOLOGIES
well the Prefix team has an- us to act on that knowledge,"
ticipated and responded to PLAYER says Hutchinson.
Josh Adler and
the needs of the industry. The company culled
Sam Hutchinson
This no doubt has much to products that didn't fit into
EST 2003
do with the fact that Adler its publishing focus, a tough
CONTACT
and Hutchinson have first- +27114476147 task according to Adler. "We
hand publishing experience. wwwprefix.co.za had to let clients go and we
While still at university they felt like we were letting peo-
started PC Music which, now ple down. As a result of those
known as Music Industry decisions we had a year of
Online (MIO), is South Africa's busiest no growth, whereas before we'd grown
local music industry site. substantially every year," he relates.
"Along the way we realised that we In the end, though, the move paid off.
were better at creating content manage- The company's growth doubled in 2008
ment tools than we were at publishing, and is set to do the same in 2009. Prefix
so we combined this with a love of the Technologies reapplied and were cho-
publishing industry and Preditor was sen to be Endeavor entrepreneurs by an
born," says Hutchinson. international selection panel earlier this
year. "A more refined focus has also had
REFINING THEIR FOCUS a positive impact on our team - we're all
But while he and Adler today head up much happier because we're doing what
a team 17 strong and boast a product we love," Adler concludes. 0

QUICK PICK SAFEGUARDING CONSUMER RIGHTS

The new Consumer Protection Act seeks to promote a fair,efficient and transparent mar-
ketplace for consumers and business. The Act protects consumers from exploitation and
empowers them to make wise purchasing decisions. Producers, distributors or suppliers
will be liable for any damages to the consumer. The Act also enables people to demand
a refund if goods are of inferior quality. Consumers are empowered to cancel contracts if
not satisfied with the terms of contract, and they will have a final say about whetherthey
would liketheir contracts to be renewed or not. They are also protected from unscrupulous
businesses that induce them to waive the obligations and liabilityof the supplier in terms
of the agreement. For more information, visit: www.michalsons.co.za

34 I ASKENTREPRENEUR.CO.ZA JULY 2009