Technology >> CEO Interviews >> January 24, 2000
ALAN S. RAMADAN started Quokka Sports with two partners in a one-room
office. Their phone system was shut down for a day until a late bill was
paid in cash and in person. Back then, Mr. Ramadan and Quokka Sports
were focused on creating a single great Web site. Today, this high-
voltage visionary is credited with transforming Quokka Sports into one
of the leading digital sports entertainment companies in the world. The
transformation took two years but that's Web years. His company's first
site made Internet history. The 1997-98 Whitbread Round The World Race
turned sailing fans into self-described 'Whitbread addicts.' In the
process, they made the race one of the top 100 most popular sites on the
Net. By providing the athletes' innermost thoughts via email, videos,
photographs and stories The Whitbread drew nearly 2 million unique users
and gave Quokka the blueprint for what was possible in digital space.
Like Ted Turner, another well-known sailor and market creator, Mr.
Ramadan learned fast and moved faster. Today, Quokka Sports is producing
live coverage of sailing, adventure, motor racing and Olympic sports at
www.quokka.com the home for sports immersion on the Internet. Not
satisfied with the state of the art, he has been credited with creating
revenue models for the new medium, all in the name of sports
entertainment. And he's lured top people from sports, entertainment and
technology industries to Quokka's offices in San Francisco, London, New
York and Lausanne, Switzerland. Mr. Ramadan plans for Quokka Sports to
be the dominant entertainment player in a converged media and broadband
space. He still views himself and Quokka as David battling the well-
branded Goliaths. However, David now has friends. Investors such as
Intel, Accel Partners, Media Technology Ventures, Trinity Ventures,
Robertson Stephens, MediaOne Interactive Services and Stanford
University are betting on his vision. A native of Australia, Mr. Ramadan
represented his country in baseball and in sailing. He co-founded Fluid
Thinking, the technology company behind John Bertrand's legendary return
to America's Cup competition. (Bertrand is a co-founder of Quokka
Sports.) Mr. Ramadan also founded OzWare, a software development
company. He worked as a research scientist and computer scientist at BHP
and Monash University, from which he holds a degree in computer science
and applied mathematics. Profile
to set the stage for our readers.
Mr. Ramadan: The vision of the company is to revolutionize the way the
world
