Taking on the world
Here at HEXUS we're not entirely unfamiliar with precocious twenty-something year-olds starting their own business and attempting to show everyone else how it's done. So when we heard a young entrepreneur, who has managed to grab ten percent of the Australian consumer electronics market, was in the UK, we thought we'd find out a bit more about him.
His name is Ruslan Kogan, and he's given his name to a tech e-tailer he started four years ago, when he was 23. There are a couple of distinctive aspects to Kogan's approach, and they both concern the direct approach. Firstly its own-brand and direct-only - no channel, no third party brands. Secondly Kogan derives a lot of the inspiration for its products from direct feedback and from looking at search trends.
In our interview below - shot last week - we find out why Kogan chose the UK as the first step in his considerable international ambitions. We also explore the philosophy behind the company, why he thinks it will succeed in a very competitive market and his plans for the future.
We finish with a looks at the future of the TV market - Kogan's strongest. Of the current fads in TV technology Kogan expresses strong scepticism towards 3D, but reckons IPTV - of the kind being pioneered by Google - will transform the market.
