Virtually there

A Singapore-based software house, FriarTuck Pte Ltd, is dedicated to developing and marketing software solutions and services for scheduling complex events. It concentrates on three areas: sports events scheduling, educational time-tabling and health-care staff scheduling. The company was also incorporated in the United States as FriarTuck LLC and works out of a virtual office in Mountain View, California.

Unlike many other ventures, FriarTuck chose not to adopt the conventional approach to internationalising its operations.

Avoiding setting up a physical office in the United States, the company has acquired a broad range of customers such as academic institutions, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and even Nasa (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The directors of FriarTuck considered that setting up an actual office would bring with it a host of issues.

From hiring an appropriate team to managing overheads, these concerns would be too much for a young startup to deal with, they thought, when the priority should be perfecting the product and sourcing new customers.

Directors Martin Henz and Sevugan Alagappan found the ideal entry medium in the form of a senior consultant based in the United States who would help them "evangelise" FriarTuck and add value to the company at the strategic level. For most companies, engaging the services of someone like this would represent a significant cost item.

FriarTuck, however, had managed to convince its consultant of the real value of its software solution back in 2003, when it incorporated in the United States. According to Mr Alagappan: "He began to believe in what we were doing, and the fact that he'd been an entrepreneur before really helped a lot. He was aware of the kinds of challenges faced by startups, and that we didn't really have deep pockets."

Both parties are extremely enthusiastic about the relationship. Working with FriarTuck for a modest retainer and sales commissions, the consultant candidly prefers to wait for the big payoff at the end.

When asked if managing someone remotely was a concern for FriarTuck, Mr Alagappan said that Skype's VoIP software had brought them all much closer.

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