Sramana: How do you facilitate integrating Liferay with other technologies such as Java application servers? Did you develop adapters? Bryan Cheung: The nice thing is that because we adhere to open standards, as long as we implement the standard we can achieve integration. There is a content management standard called CMIS which is supported by
Sramana: Does your software help IT organizations personalize work environments for their users? Bryan Cheung: There are two things going on. The personalization aspect is now broadening: It is not just about personalization for the individual, it is about communities. It is about getting social with the work we are doing.
Sramana: The sales cycle you just described illustrates the beauty of the open source go-to-market strategy. I like how that model allows entrepreneurs to bootstrap the early company with services. I also really like a model that allows customers to find the company. Bryan Cheung: Exactly. Another nice thing is that a lot of times
Sramana: What were you doing at that time? Bryan Cheung: I was consulting with Universal Music, which was trying to sell artist memorabilia online. They were doing a few things on eBay and some special promotions with artists.
Sramana: At that time there were a lot of companies in the Valley that built expensive offices without a business plan to support them. Bryan Cheung: I remember some of my co-workers had varied backgrounds. We met writers and former voice actors, and they were working as Web experience engineers. A lot of money was
Bryan Cheung is the CEO and co-founder of Liferay. Drawing on his technical experience, understanding of customer needs, and a passion for end users, Bryan leads Liferay in meeting its commitment to deliver focused and effective business solutions to its customers and its community. He graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a bachelor’s
Sramana: I can definitely understand why you would have the biggest challenge in India. It is an English-speaking country, and it is well connected to Silicon Valley and tied into America. Dan Serfaty: The Silicon Valley connection is key. LinkedIn is very popular in Silicon Valley.
Sramana: What is the size of your user base today? Dan Serfaty: Globally, we have 35 million members. We need to distinguish between emerging countries and other countries because that affects revenue generation. We did not start reaching out into the international community until 2007.