This was published 8 years ago
Canberra tech firm heads to Silicon Valley for some real-life social networking
By Ashley Wick
Imagine being able to consolidate your social-networking profiles and contacts on one online platform, making it easier to find and connect with other people.
It would cut the time spent searching on individual sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, or looking up phone numbers.
Rollercoaster Digital founders Andrew Snell and Chris Shackleton are off to the US this week.Credit: Graham Tidy
That's the idea behind Rollercoaster Digital's latest product, Jaja.
It was simple ideas like this, which make modern life easier, that landed the Canberra-based tech company an invite to the 2016 global entrepreneurship summit in Silicon Valley, where they will be addressed by US President Barack Obama.
Founder and co-chief executive Christopher Shackleton said the invitation was "awesome". "It's a real honour to be going to something of this nature."
Out of thousands of applicants, Rollercoaster is one of nine Australian companies that will attend the event this week, where they will meet other entrepreneurs and investors and have the chance to collaborate with businesses from across the world.
"The whole premise of our company is about connecting people, places and devices together, so this is a really good opportunity to meet others around the world," Mr Shackleton said.
His company looks for ways to make everyday life and business operations more straightforward and efficient, by using existing technology.
"I think our experience in different fields makes us unique. We think outside the box. I think we're not afraid to take on pretty full-on challenges and dive in head first."
Mr Shackleton hopes he can network with like-minded thinkers and maybe even come up with the next big idea to innovate and streamline modern life.
"If there's a new idea for me that would be great but really it's about networking with other entrepreneurs."