Solaborate launches globally!

By: Albina Makolli    May 1, 2013

Solaborate is a social networking platform that is dedicated to technology professionals and companies to connect, collaborate and create an ecosystem around products and services. Labinot Bytyqi, founder and CEO, created a platform that provides technology professionals a central place with the right tools and services to collaborate in real time and solve business problems. And there is no catch, it’s all for free! The company announced that it received over $ 1,000,000 in seed round for first social networking platform dedicated to technology professionals! Those funds were provided by angel and individual investors.

Solaborate was founded in 2010 and has its headquarters in Los Angeles. Labinot Bytyqi, CEO and founder, built a team of over 18 that designed and developed Solaborate in Macedonia (Skopje) and Kosovo (Prishtina). The 7 head strong team in Prishtina takes charge of testing the product.

What makes Solaborate so special is that it uniquely provides technology professionals with a platform exclusively designed for them. They can post questions, share documents and presentations, chat (on video conferences) and share best practices. All users are free to connect, discover and follow other technology professionals, companies and services. The platform can also be well used by those who seek and offer jobs or those who seek commentaries. Business cards, in form of profile information, enable users to present their skills. Following others without having to connect with them is also possible, and so-called tech-scores are distributed on profiles. Those scores are distributed along the lines of three different components of a user’s profile: activity, sharing useful content and having it shared, followers and connections. All search activities are, of course, offered with a filter function that allows users to narrow down their search based on localities, for instance.

Those screen shots might remind you of facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, added with some of the team’s individual features and spices. Just like other social media channels, Solaborate will generate revenue through advertisement, instead of making users pay monthly fees. Convenience is also an important aspect. Solaborate offers a system that prevents spam offering of uninteresting products. The given tool then learns to weed out unwanted offenders from the system.

In sum, Solaborate uses the best features of all other social media channels. Unlike others, however, Solaborate additionally offers its users to collaborate in real time. For now, Solaborate operates within one industry, namely technology, but in the near future expansion might be in sight.

Key features of the model in summary:

  • for free!
  • exclusively designed for technology professionals
  • a person’s/ company’s profile is their business card
  • video chat in one-on-one and group conversation with customers, experts, and product representatives (without having to download a software or plug-ins based on WebRTC)
  • view, create and share demos of products and services
  • seek and offer jobs
  • earn tech-scores (based on activity, sharing useful information, having content shared, followers and connections)
  • join or develop user groups where users can share content and participate in discussions
  • filter function to prevent spamming

See also

ZDNet: http://www.zdnet.com/solaborate-launches-new-social-platform-exclusively-for-tech-professionals-7000014702/

Market Wired: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Solaborate-Raises-Over-1-Million-Seed-Round-First-Social-Networking-Platform-1784467.htm

The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130430-910790.html#

Albina Makolli

Albina Makolli is a blog contributor. She fled Kosovo when she was four; she grew up in Germany. Albina received her under graduate degree in European studies, and then continued with a graduate program in Public Policy and Human Development at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. Within the framework of her graduate program she specialized in Migration studies. Last summer (2012), Albina visited Kosovo for the purpose of conducting research for her Master thesis. The data that she gathered helped her to learn more about young Kosovars’ emigration plans and concerns about their country’s economic development. This summer she returned to Kosovo to work for the IOM and UNDP joint project 'Diaspora Engagement in Economic Development'. The purpose of the study is to facilitate and incentivise Diaspora investments in Kosovo.

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