LITMOS: The Next Big Thing
Released
on: September 1, 2008, 5:42 am
Press
Release Author: Tim Skellern, Black Sheep Brands,
tim.skellern@black-sheep.co.nz
Industry:
Internet
& Online
Press
Release Summary: Media Release for Litmos, an emerging New Zealand
SaaS product. Litmos is an on-demand platform to easily deliver
training online.
Press
Release Body: Much like our athletes in Beijing, New Zealand tech
companies continue to punch well above their weight on the world
stage. You only have to think of success stories like Navman,
Xero and Virtual Spectator to appreciate what happens when you
take a healthy dose of Kiwi spirit, ingenuity and sheer hard-work
and apply it to the software market.
LITMOS is the heir apparent to the title
“New Zealand’s next big software success”.
Currently filming the TV reality show Start-Up TV, LITMOS
is turning heads on the global IT stage. In a nutshell, LITMOS
is an on-line training company that seems to have successfully
found a way to not only simplify the on-line training environment,
but to do so in such a way that engages the end-user and trainer.
Most attempts to transfer training on-line stumble because they
require huge resources to manage, are impersonal and fiendishly
complicated to use. LITMOS has changed all that
with a simple interface that does not require additional software
installations to run (as a trainer you upload your content and
LITMOS takes care of the rest) and that engages
users with an interactive experience that fully utilises the web
2.0 environment.
Their approach has earned them the opportunity to star in a Start-Up
reality show to screen on TVNZ profiling New Zealand start up
companies in which start-ups are pitched one against the other
to help identify and support the next big thing in the New Zealand
software world. The winning company is rewarded with unprecedented
public exposure for a new start up, but also the chance to pitch
for a global market launch in Silicon Valley, USA.
From
an initial line up of over 100 hopefuls, LITMOS
has made it through to the final rounds and is in with a chance
to go for the big prize. Already it has signed up new customers
with Telnet, Safe Access New Zealand, and Learning Takeaway utilising
their services, but they will only know if that is enough to impress
the judges on September 11th when they make the final decisions.
LITMOS
founder and CEO, Rich Chetwynd: “It’s
an exciting time for LITMOS. Participating in
the TV show has forced the pace, made us accelerate the market
validation stages of our development, and given us the kick we
needed to push on. We’ve
known from the outset that our idea was a good one, and had an
intuitive feel for what would be needed to make on-line training
a serious alternative to face to face training. Being
in the programme has forced us to address a lot of the execution
issues that turn the good idea into a good business. We’ve
had access to fabulous advice from our mentors and have really
focused our thinking along the way. Regardless of whether we win
the top prize, the work that we have done to get this far has
put us in a great position to achieve our market place success.”
Whether
LITMOS does indeed
win first prize will be determined by the panel of judges that
include some of the top names in the NZ software industry - Richard
MacManus (ReadWriteWeb); Tim Norton (PlanHQ); and Andrew Hamilton
(The ICEHOUSE). The progress of the competing entries will be
tracked during the filming of the TV show, with the winner announced
when Start-Up TV is due to go to air on TV One in October. One
thing’s for sure, LITMOS is yet another
bright example of exactly the kind of world leading initiatives
that young Kiwi software firms are capable of. The success of
LITMOS and their contempories will play a critical role
in defining the shape of the New Zealand economy into the future.
For
more information please contact:
Richard Chetwynd, Litmos - +64 (0) 21 807 715
or rich@litmos.com
Tim Skellern, Black Sheep Brands - +64 (0) 21 324 863 or tim.skellern@black-sheep.co.nz
Website: www.litmos.com
Web
Site: http://www.litmos.com
Contact
Details: Rich Chetwynd
24 Queens Parade
North Shore City 0624
New Zealand
Ph: +64 (0)21807715
Website: www.litmos.com
Email: rich@litmos.com
2008
