Welcome to our first interview here on MSD. We hope to get regular interviews going in the future – with some industry experts mixed in with some exciting up and coming talent. We’re very keen to interview some people that have some really good development projects going on – so give us a shout if your interested.
So without further delay, we present owner/founder of CreativeNine and Vorolo.com – Jason Rai
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
Well, my name is Jason, I’m 17 years of age and I currently reside in London, UK. I’m a Freelancer/Web Designer in my spare time.
2. How did you get into the web business?
About 6-7 years ago someone called ‘Lee Dava’ help me set up my first very own PHPBB forum on Lycos, since then I’ve had a great passion in developing websites and thinking out of the box with my projects. Lee Dava also used to deal with Photoshop and I remember when I used to go through his art work and think to myself “I want to be a Photoshop expert like Lee one day”, infact to this very day I’m still not a Photoshop expert but I know enough to design to a standard. I guess I’ve always had a interest/passion in designing for the web.
3. Your portfolio, CreativeNine – this going to be serious business for you in the future? What are your plans for it?
At the moment I’m planning to keep it just an online business, however, I do plan on making it an offline business too, just not yet.
4. Ok, we’ve seen this exciting new project of yours, Vorolo – a new social network. Where and why did this begin?
Where? It began as a simple thought in my imagination which I got off my arse and executed. Why? Gut instinct, I had a feeling inside of me that said “What’s the worse that could happen?”, Vorolo started off as an experiment, to see how far I could push myself to the creative developing limit but has now become quite successful.
5. Such a tough Market to enter, do you think you can mix it with the big boys, e.g myspace/facebook -give us your marketing pitch?
I agree, it is a tough market, however, I do honestly believe that if I was to put enough blood sweat and tears into the project then I could maybe, just MAYBE make it to the top. Everyone needs a goal/target to get themselves motivated right?
6. We had a play with Vorolo whilst it was in beta testing, we are impressed with the design and functionality are you planning any changes, any sneaky peaks?
Yes, there are going to be BIG(notice it’s in caps :P) changes and new major features to the website, enough to hopefully take it a step up the ladder. And no, I’m not going to show you any sneak peaks yet! You’ll just have to wait and see.
7. So you have the fantastic product, how are you planning to market it? – unless its top secret information!
Right now, I’m relying on viral marketing, word of mouth, but once I’ve got Vorolo to a stable, rock solid level I’ll probably be investing most of my money and time into marketing it offline and online.
8. Any other projects lined up?
Yeah, GTAWishlist.com. Not going to say anymore until it’s released(next week hopefully), although the domain name should give you a little idea.
9. What inspires you? Who inspires you?
I inspire me. That might sound a little vain but I’m just being modest. There’s nothing like your own personal preference. After every successful project I like to take a step back and admire what I’ve built all from a simple thought/idea. That gives me a drive to do something even bigger and better next time.
10. Finally, last words. Your advice for any up and coming designers/developers out there? For anyone with a ‘killer’ idea ready to be put into practice?
Time is vital, it’s no good sitting down and imagining a project for years on end, do something with yourself, put that imaginative idea into action NOW. Like they say, there’s no time like the present.
A big thank you to Jason for taking the time to complete this interview – if you haven’t got a Vorolo.com account/profile, get one!