1st of it's kind in RSA - ISP aggregator with end-to-end sales
Chameleon Fibre was born out of the business connections between various players in the freshly booming South African Fibre internet infrastructure space.
At the time there were many aggregators for confusing or nuanced products such as insurance, flights or accommodation, but none for Fibre internet. During this period Fibre was still a fairly new and surprisingly daunting product for the public in South Africa. Repeated market research showed that consumers were not clued up on the differences between infrastructure types (Fibre, ADSL, LTE, etc), what was available in their area, who to speak to, and what the costs involved were.
At the time there were many aggregators for confusing or nuanced products such as insurance, flights or accommodation, but none for Fibre internet. During this period Fibre was still a fairly new and surprisingly daunting product for the public in South Africa. Repeated market research showed that consumers were not clued up on the differences between infrastructure types (Fibre, ADSL, LTE, etc), what was available in their area, who to speak to, and what the costs involved were.
This project started as a simple marketing brief with a logo attached and snow-balled into an industry monster.
When I began at this tech start-up we had 5 people on staff: Chief of operations, On-the-ground manager, Creative director, and 2 call-center agents. We grew to more than 100 in 1 year.
The mission was born to build not only an aggregator of Internet Service Providers but also the Infrastructure networks they are built on + the installers that connect a client. My task was to brand the company then facilitate the building of a digital platform that could easily: detect where you are, detect what networks are in your area, serve you the relevant ISP packages, tell you the honest pros and cons, then route the client to one of our agents to facilitate the contracts and shecudiling of installations. I learned quite quickly that this was much easier said than done.
When I began at this tech start-up we had 5 people on staff: Chief of operations, On-the-ground manager, Creative director, and 2 call-center agents. We grew to more than 100 in 1 year.
The mission was born to build not only an aggregator of Internet Service Providers but also the Infrastructure networks they are built on + the installers that connect a client. My task was to brand the company then facilitate the building of a digital platform that could easily: detect where you are, detect what networks are in your area, serve you the relevant ISP packages, tell you the honest pros and cons, then route the client to one of our agents to facilitate the contracts and shecudiling of installations. I learned quite quickly that this was much easier said than done.
This end-to-end capability was possible via the incredibly business savvy and outgoing nature of our operations manager and financers who managed to solidify reseller contracts with basically every major ISP and Fibre Network in South Africa. Our networks included OpenServe, Vumatel, Vodacom, Frogfoot, Octotel and more. Out ISPs included Telkom, Mweb, Cell C, Vodacom, VOX Telecoms, Web Africa and many more. Through dozens of channels we figured out a way to consolidate this multi-format data into a user friendly interface that was public facing while battling daily technological challenges.
From architecting website advertising space and pricing structures, to formulating CSV files for scraping or designing vehicle decals, I oversaw every aspect of visual and user experience related design during the companies life.
From architecting website advertising space and pricing structures, to formulating CSV files for scraping or designing vehicle decals, I oversaw every aspect of visual and user experience related design during the companies life.
Unfortunately as many involved with start-ups will tell you, it's a very turbulent field. Our primary infrastructure provider pulled their contract out-of-the-blue, replacing the service in-house and our company was sent spiraling. We tried our best to survive but with that lost market share it wasn't possible to sustain.
Although this business did not make it to where it deserved - I could not be more proud of what our team achieved. Through the leadership of our exceptional COO, we felt like not one hurdle or problem could stop us. Where most would walk away, we pushed harder. As a result we achieved great things and bettered ourselves for the challenges we endured. This experience taught me what it really takes to make it in the tech start up space; perseverance and the willingness to fail and try again.
