Guy Sewell was working as a commercial manager in media when he came across a research project which sorted data and presented it in ‘3D’ form. He quit his job to commercialise the technology and the result is There it is. The technology can be applied in a number of ways, from presenting social media graphs to styles of shoes.

Guy spoke with SMK about his plans.

Can you tell us about your professional journey so far?

13 years in Sales and Commercial Management for global software and media businesses, including AOL, Reuters and Fairfax. Lived and worked all around the world, including UK, USA, UAE, Holland and Australia.

How would you describe There it is?

The future of the user interface. We have built a software company that is based on one core platform. Using this platform, we aim to enrich people’s lives, by making data consumption more immersive, engaging and efficient. Our vision is to become the default interface for everyone on the planet, irrespective of the device they are using, the language they speak or the place in which they are accessing data.

How did the concept come about?

Originally it was developed by a researcher at a University in South Australia. I came across it whilst working at Fairfax and decided to quit my career to commercialise the technology.
That was two years ago, and we are very close to bringing the technology to market. We've since won a Commercialisation Australia Grant, the “Best Early Stage Company” award at Tech23, raised two Angel rounds and built a world class development team.

How do you envisage There it is being used in the future?

Over the next 12 months, we will be targeting high volume eCommerce sites around the world, to partner with us and get maximum reach for our platform. We will also be pushing our Facebook app Spaces, www.thereitis.com and our iOS App Bosh.

How do you envisage the platform will be monetised?

I envisage several potential revenue streams. Firstly, from businesses licensing the technology to use our interface in their website, ecommerce site, systems and applications. Secondly, we will soon be re-launching www.thereitis.com as a shopping portal and receiving affiliate revenues by sending sales to merchants. Thirdly, we are launching an application called Bosh, which enables you to visualise iTunes – revenues from this will be
through affiliate fees and in-app purchases.

Are there any opportunities for brands to be involved in sponsoring/advertising on the platform?

Certainly: eCommerce companies can submit their inventories to us and display their products on www.thereitis.com. We are looking at the potential of adding additional tabs to our Facebook Application, Spaces – this would provide a highly targeted audience for partners.

What can you tell us about the There it is users? Do you have any preliminary traffic demographics/target demographics?

We have conducted beta testing on customer sites using the platform and the user base is truly global. The users so far have been fairly evenly split in terms of demographic profiles. Being a visual search, we appeal to young and old, male and female and geographic location becomes less relevant. Most of what we are doing is still under the radar and we haven't pushed the PR angle yet. We have had about 1,000 downloads of Spaces and we're getting about 500 calls to our API a day. These numbers will ramp significantly over the next few months, when we launch with key eCommerce customers in Australia and launch our consumer products globally.