Budgets are always a major consideration of a start-up and making the wrong decision can end up costing the business considerably.
Zurich, Switzerland (PRWEB UK) 13 October 2014
Co-founder Alistair Sergeant and Head CTO of Financial Services Alan Rae will attend the event to network with business leaders of startup hedge-funds to offer guidance and support on how to build the foundations of a strong technology platform right from the start.
Alan Rae comments: ‘Starting any business is always a very busy time! The intention for any start-up is to be up and running ‘as soon as possible’ and the duration from first decision to live operation can typically be 4-6 months. In the Financial Services sector, the longest elapsed time invariably will be the most important milestone which is that of acquiring regulatory approval to trade (unless a regulatory umbrella arrangement is in place). Once the application has been made, there are many work streams the CEO and COO need to work on in order to get the business ready for trading. Budgets are always a major consideration of a start-up and making the wrong decision can end up costing the business considerably.’
Alistair comments: ‘No business can underestimate the importance of technology, and whilst it may not be the founders primary area of expertise, it has to be addressed from the beginning in order to avoid costly mistakes at a later stage. Time delays can take place whilst recruiting a CTO to manage the remit of infrastructure and application landscape, or worse, a rushed process may result in hiring an individual not suitable or up to the task. A more common pain, however, is that startup budget constraints won’t even stretch to hiring a CTO or even if they could, they are not always required in a full time role, which results in the onus being on the founder to deal with technology matters. This is not a good use of time and can effect the timing of operational readiness and the ability to trade if system design and implementation is flawed.’
Purple’s business model and service offering is tailored to alleviate the significant workload that would fall under the remit of a CTO, from strategy to design to implementation. Once the infrastructure is setup correctly, Purple’s experience shows that a full time CTO employed by the business is not always a necessity and is therefore able to provide the resource ad hoc for the required time. Purple works with its clients to lay the foundations of the business and then reduce the time once operational. In essence, Purple’s service is designed to scale and flex in line with business demands.
Head CTO of the Financial Services practice at Purple, Alan Rae, filled this exact role from conception to operation and ongoing management, with London based Hedge Fund, Clive Capital (peaking at $5bn AuM). Alan was tasked with creating a fully operational office trading environment in just four months and for each week that Clive Capital was not operational, significant management fees could have been lost. Meet Alan in Zurich for further insight into deliverables and outputs of the Purple Virtual CTO service.
Purple is a virtual chief technology officer practice (vCTO) that engages with clients to bridge the gap between business and technology. Purple works with its clients to design and implement a technology strategy that aligns with their business objectives. Purple’s clients are empowered with competitive advantage through using the correct technology. Purple covers the entire spectrum of infrastructure to applications and works in a vendor agnostic manner to deliver output-based results.