Internet start-up Bizmunky taking on big three

FACEBOOK, LinkedIn and Twitter will be joined this week by a Scottish internet start-up with designs on taking on the big three by combining the worlds of social networking and e-learning.

Bizmunky.com is the brainchild of Ross Hardie, a sales and training professional and Ed Cochrane, who works in the University of Edinburgh’s business school.

The site, which is due to launch at Glasgow’s Corinthian Club on Tuesday, is pitching itself at the “younger professional” with a mix of video and audio chat, social interaction and dedicated content.

The initial roll-out will also see the inclusion of an e-learning facility, which aims to tap into a library of “high quality, engaging and interactive” training materials across a range of topics. Based on a low-cost subscription model, Bizmunky Learning will be complemented by a download store dubbed the “i-tunes of e-learning”.

The social networking explosion has seen LinkedIn go public, with its shares surging since May’s flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm is currently worth in excess of $7 billion (£4.6bn). Analysts predict that internet sensation Facebook could be worth as much as $100bn if it presses ahead with a market listing next year.

The ambitions of their new Scottish peer, at least in the short term, appear more down to earth.

Hardie, 33, who left his sales and marketing job in June to concentrate full-time on Bizmunky, is projecting turnover of about £800,000 in the first full year of operation. He believes that annual revenues could hit £10 million within five years.

“We see this building outside of Scotland pretty rapidly,” said Hardie. “We have found a way to build the platform ourselves and have a low cost base. This is a very sensible business model with little risk,” he added.

Hardie said the business will eventually have access to learning and training content provided by external coaches and trainers, who would receive “incremental income” through any downloading.

To date, Bizmunky has been self-financed and Hardie said there were no immediate plans to seek external funding.

“We are being careful with our projections,” added Hardie, a graduate of Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University.

“However, we would like to think that we can give Facebook a bit of a fright over time. I genuinely believe this could be a global phenomenon.”