Márton Szőke – IndexTools
Szőke was interested in setting up his own business from a very early age. His first successful venture was the import and distribution of flexi barriers, the cordoning strips used at cinemas and airports. Having tapped a relatively small but unexplored market segment, his business quickly took off.
Though not a programmer, he gained plenty of experience via the search engine optimalization of his own website and he also enlisted the help of software developer Péter Galántha. This sparked the idea that led to the eventual creation of the IndexTools web analytics system. Szőke deliberately marketed his product to partners in the west, especially the United States. IndexTools soon became big, attracting plenty of prospective buyers over the years, with the amount offered continually growing. The actual buyer in the end? None other than US giant Yahoo!, for an unknown sum.
Architect and designer Somlai-Fischer has always had an interest in collaborative technologies. He is the co-founder of the Kitchen Budapest media lab, a cooperative where individuals can gather, throw around ideas and distribute their time to work on their own projects while also pitching in to help out their peers. He is also known for his various design ideas and projects which have landed him lecturing positions at a number of prestigious schools throughout the world.
His latest and most widely recognized creation is Prezi.com, which some of the acclaim – often referring to the program as the new PowerPoint – indicates could or already has revolutionized the way presentations are delivered. Unlike the tried and tested method of going from one slide to the next, Prezi uses a single canvas where the presenter can move around between various texts, images and videos, creating an appealing visual and non-linear experience. It is a cloud-based solution that relies on a combination of free and paid licenses; in the case of the latter, the presentations come without watermarks. Besides winning a range of startup awards, Prezi has been hailed as an “enormous triumph.”
Anka started out his career from a rented Budapest apartment. Widely considered a computer genius, he developed a remote access solution that propelled him to world-renown. From small company (a Bt) he became the founder and is now the chief technology officer of a multinational company based in the United States. Still actively coding a range of pet projects, he was ranked Hungary’s seventh wealthiest man in 2010. His business was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2009, raising $80 million with the IPO.
LogMeIn started out as RemotelyAnywhere and developed into what is now an internationally acclaimed suite. The set allows users to remotely access computer desktops, with the target customer-base ranging from average end users to professional help desk workers. Accordingly, it has a free version, whereas going pro costs money and the package also features a direct link option when the user does not even need to use a browser. Its list of past and presents business partners include IT heavyweights IBM, AMD SAP and Intel.
