A blogger’s account of ‘The Story of a Startup’
Editor’s note: A couple of weeks ago, blog writer Marty Mallavibarrena contacted Zyncro suggesting we carry out a virtual interview. That initial interaction [M] – [Z] (Marty-Zyncro) produced this interview that you can also see on Marty’s original space: Marty’s blog (in Spanish).
Thank you Marty for showing an interest in our story, for doing such a good and informative job and for allowing us to share it!
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
In order to prepare a speech for the itSMF summer course, I looked into and contacted various companies with products in what we could refer to as the “Corporate Social Networks” sector though the term usually varies amongst the following: Intranet 2.0, Social Software, etc. In all cases, they are services for businesses and work groups based on technologies that we are already accustomed to using on a regular basis on the Web 2.0 and above all social networks such as Facebook or platforms such as Twitter.
One of the companies I contacted was Zyncro, My contacts were very friendly and were delighted to help prepare this post in the form of an interview. Rather than tell you about the environment, I will include the information here and invite you all to try the platform out yourselves. It is very simple to use, very intuitive and very fresh. Sharing documents and communicating with your team in the form of microblogging is very effective here.
[M] What were the origins of Zyncro (idea, foundation, etc.)?
[Z] The original Zyncro idea back in 2008 in the Grupo Inspirit technology laboratory consisted in creating a files synchronizer that would allow and individual to access all of their professional and personal documents “in the cloud”. Nonetheless, upon seeing the potential that this tool could have within a company, a more corporate approach was given to it each time. At the same time, the “surname” ‘social’ and the 2.0 style was inundating the Internet and it was then that the decision was taken to add collaborative and communicative functionalities to it that later converted it to what it is today: an intranet 2.0 or company social network. This part of Zyncro‘s trajectory is what Didac Lee, founder of Grupo Inspirit, considers the a “Journey accross the desert”, which all startups must endure. Thanks to the appointment of Luis Font as Zyncro CEOnin November 2010, the business strategy and product definition became polished and sales and marketing departments were consolidated until we became what we are today. And still on the uprise! 
For more information about this topic, I recommend reading our blog entry; “Take off Zyncronisms“.
[M] Where did the Zyncro name come from and what do you aim to convey with its logo?
[Z] As mentioned previously, Zyncro comes from synchronize. Though the initial Zyncro name was actually “zyncrum”, but Inspirit‘s management team was not completely convinced by the sound of the term so the ending got changed from ‘um’ to ‘o’. The logo is round and multi-coloured which symbolises the integration and complete fusion of various concepts. Zyncro is in some way a mash-up of applications (microblogging + file manager + directory + search engine…), it is modern, integrates and is integratable… which is where the geometric formula of the circle and its colouring comes from.
[M] What is Zyncro‘s business model (mission and vision) within the marketplace?
[Z] The Zyncro idea is based on the notion that “Within five years, all software will be social” (Luis Font) and we consider ourselves pioneers within the market making the concept of social software available to businesses: a corporate social network. The Zyncro mission is to optimize and structure communication within the business and in this manner, manage corporate knowledge which is a company’s greatest asset. We aim to provide organisations with a powerful tool that allows for efficient management of all corporate content, documentation as well as the people who make up the business framework.
[M] You currently have a presence in various countries. What is your current presence and what is your expansion strategy for the near future?
[Z] Zyncro currently has offices in Argentina, USA, Japan, Brazil and Peru. It is foreseen that we will open offices in Mexico and Italy during the September, October months and we will continue with European expansion and Latin America during the last trimeter of 2011. We are also planning to close a deal with China before the end of the year. The expansion strategy within the three continents will also continue in 2012.
[M] How do you see the Spanish (and European) market when it comes to this type of platform for business and the success levels amongst SMEs vs Large corporations?
[Z] Zyncro currently has over 110,000 users worldwide. Indisputably positioned in Spain in the field of business 2.0 solutions on an inter-company level, it is the first Corporate Social Network tool in the Spanish market. It has also been the first solution of its kind to reach the Japanese market which has also stirred power in the media and the acquisition of many clients and followers in this segment of the Asian market. In terms of success levels, we have been pleasantly surprised with the response obtained in the market as to the solution as well as the proposed concept and on both a small-medium and a large corporation level. In the large corporation field, there is already a widespread awareness of the need (demonstrated in many cases through the existence of an internal communications department) to support and promote the flow of communication within the organisation so therefore, a tool that has no need for installation, is in constant improvement, is very reasonably priced and integratable with all of your corporate systems, is a very good solution that is openly welcomed. In the SME field, the solution is even simpler to implement due to the volume of users because it is always easier to optimize professional behaviour within small work groups rather than large ones.
Note: Support material to this interview is recommended in the form of two information graphics created by the Zyncro team: What is Zyncro? and the great Business 2.0.
The Zyncro Blog is very interesting. You can see some photos of the Barcelona office on Facebook. Many thanks to Patricia and Luis for their collaboration. Best of luck to Zyncro and its team.
