Transmedia Corporation Reducing Digital Friction
December 2008 Issue
TransMediaCorp. - makers of Glide, the online operating system and collaborationenvironment - was literally born in fire. The company launched on Sept.7, 2001, in offices located below 14th Street in New York City, just 4days before the 9/11 terrorist attack. Verizon, the company's internetservice provider, had offices in the World Trade Center, so for itsfirst 2 months in business the company had no internet access.
Notexactly an optimal way for a company that was hoping to make its livingon the internet to get started but Donald Leka, CEO and chairman ofTransMedia says that his company had a plan and they weren't about tolet the inauspicious launch get in the way. The company's vision was toprovide a compatible and integrated platform. "Those two themes werealways central to anything we've ever done," explains Leka.
Fromthese two basic principles, the company built five integratedtechnologies that form the foundation of Glide: synchronization,compatibility, productivity and collaboration, mobility, andintegration.
Leka and the founding members of the company,all of whom still hold the majority of the company stock, decided notto take any venture capital money, instead relying on angel investorsto keep the company moving forward. They felt in this way they couldmaintain their independence and achieve their goals.
"Weavoided venture capital and we focused on raising money from angelinvestors - individual, strategic investors - and from [inception]until today we have raised $8.4 million. That's basically how wefinanced the company." He adds, "No disrespect to the venture capitalfirms, but we wanted more independence in developing this platform. Wedidn't want to be politically restricted by the platforms we coulddevelop for. How you finance yourself has a lot to do with how muchindependence you have."
That independence has yieldedtremendous flexibility. Glide works on all major operating systems,including Windows, OS X, Linux, and Solaris, as well as many phoneoperating systems, including Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry,iPhone, Palm, and Symbian. What's more, Glide comes with 20full-featured productivity applications, including word processor,spreadsheet, and presentation programs in online and offline versions.Leka says that when the company went offline with its applications itmade a conscious decision not to use Google Gears or develop a browserplug-in. "Our view is the browser is limited long-term. Since we hadthe synchronization and compatibility engines in place, we decided ifwe developed native C++ applications, these applications could becomesignificantly more robust than competitors who have strictlybrowser-based applications."
Security is another keydifferentiator for Glide, especially in the business version of thesoftware. "Our view is that if you are an employee, being paid, workingon the company's time, that data is the company's data. Glide providesa centralized place where corporate administrators can access everydocument, image, video, contacts, calendars - all communications,online meetings, and group discussions - and see what devices were usedand what time the document was accessed." What's more, theadministrator can expire a document's rights at any time for anyindividual.
Leka emphasizes that they take the exactopposite view with consumer data, where the philosophy is that databelongs to you and you have complete rights to access and use it.
TransMediahas a global strategy for selling and distributing Glide, which Lekabelieves will help insulate the company from the economic problems inthe United States. TransMedia has a five-continent approach, and Glidehas been translated into 18 languages. Leka says the companyanticipated the economic problems and deliberately looked to globalmarkets. "We are an American-based company from an innovationstandpoint, but for funding and distribution, we have looked globally."
Glideis now at version 3.0 and TransMedia is working on deals all over theworld. There are plans in the works to white label it and deliver it aspart of a package of services with several well-known media and mobilecompanies in several global markets, as well as to continue to deliverit to consumers and businesses under the Glide name. For now,TransMedia will be gliding along smoothly, as a result of itsforward-thinking fundraising strategies and its clear vision of whereit wants to go.
Fun Fact: TransMedia is known forits exotic VIP product launch parties. It has held major events at HughHefner's Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., and at the exclusiveBellagio Light Nightclub in Las Vegas, which featured a liveperformance by Wyclef Jean.
