In Conversation with Vincent Ng of FresboWorld

With the number of apps proliferating on Facebook, and the increased amount of attention turning to the potential long-term profitability of Facebook as a platform, we interview the founder of another Singaporean team, Vincent Ng, who has developed Fresbo World, along the virtual worlds line, also an app on Facebook here. They were recently funded by Front Edge Capital.

Gwen: Hi Vincent, thank you for accepting this interview at SGE. Tell us your story. What made you start Fresbo? What’s your vision for it?

Vincent: Hi Gwen, this is exciting as it’s my first time getting interviewed. Haha ok, actually Fresbo didn’t have a name when it was first conceived in 2005 between me and my founding partner, Bingjiang. We initially wanted to create a web application that facilitates collaborative web shopping, but we later realized that the idea was flawed and scrapped it. We did however, started exploring the realm of virtual worlds during this period. It was then that the ideas behind the current Fresbo World was born. Our vision for Fresbo is a constantly evolving giant playground where players can engage in fun and exciting multi-player games.

Gwen: Is this a full-time or part-time thing? What’s your day job or what were you doing before?

Vincent: Our entire team of five is working full time on Fresbo. Before joining Fresbo, I founded another startup that didn’t do too well, dealing with engineering services. Subsequently I worked as a software engineer for close to a year before I finally founded Fresbo with Bingjiang. It started out with just the two of us but we had new additions like Dyan (our artist from Phillipines), Zhongwei and our newest member Chen Qin. The team has grown to its current size of five over the past two years.

Gwen: How is your progress on Fresbo so far? And what can we hope to see over the next few weeks?

Vincent: Initially, progress was slow, as we had to juggle freelance projects (to sustain ourselves) and spending time on developing our own product. Things got much better after we received seed investment from Frontedge who saw our potential. Right now we’ve just launched an alpha version of Fresbo with avatar and room customization capabilities as well as a fun multi-player game called Pass the Bomb. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be adding in more features such as an auction system for players to trade, making improvements based on user feedback, and of course adding in more content (clothes, furniture and places to explore).

Gwen: How do you differentiate yourselves from the many other apps on Facebook?

Vincent: The biggest difference would be that we are a virtual world, where you can actually see yourself, your immediate environment, other players and engage with them in real time. Fresbo is not a single game, but many games rolled into one. We’ve also plans to allow 3rd party flash games developers to place their games within Fresbo. An example of this can be seen from the consoles games each player has in their rooms.

Gwen: Why Facebook? Have you explored other social networking sites?

Vincent: Oh we did not initially planned to run as an app in Facebook. Facebook apps simply didn’t exist back when we first started. Our inspiration came from looking at how Youtube is able to embed its video players in any web page. So actually believe that Fresbo is already capable of existing beyond Facebook, or any social network. We can be embedded into any web page just by copying a few lines of code. The reason why we ended up in Facebook is to leverage on its platform to help us gather our initial user base. Similarly, we’ll be entering other social networks to extend our reach. We’re also internationalizing Fresbo so people of all languages can play in Fresbo.

Gwen: Have you thought about how you want to monetize Fresbo?

Vincent: Our business model is based on free-to-play, pay for premium, as well as advertising. For now, its mostly the latter until we roll out more content.

Gwen: You prefer: a quick ramp-up or slow but steady growth?

Vincent: A bit of both actually. We’ll be doing a quick ramp up to critical mass, and subsequently steady growth.

Gwen: What makes you think users will (continue to) like Fresbo?

Vincent: I believe it’s the evolving world and games that keep users coming back. There’s always something going on in Fresbo.

Gwen: Thinking of any potential exits at the moment?

Vincent: Not in the near future. We see potential in Fresbo and we’re only just started. Besides, we’re enjoying the experience.

Gwen: Any other apps in the pipeline?

Vincent: Yes, we’re already building new apps off our Highly Available Distributed Environment Server (HADES) infrastructure, like our recently launched Pass the Bomb game. Because they share the same infrastructure, our apps are all integrated with our main world. Players can seamlessly go from one app to another. We’ll keep adding on more apps that can be played on their own, and also as a part of Fresbo World.

Gwen: Has it been an enjoyable journey as a developer of an app? What experiences can you share with potential developers for social networking platforms?

Vincent: It’s been a great learning experience and we’re still learning new things everyday. A piece of advise to potential app developers: Social apps’ greatest strength is its viral aspect. Be sure to make full use of all of its integration points to gain maximum leverage from the platform.

Gwen: Thanks, and good luck!

Vincent: Thank you! Fresbo World has been funded by Frontedge Capital (www.frontedgecapital.com). Frontedge is one of the partners in the MDA’s IJAM program, providing seed investment and mentorship to startups in the web, mobile, and gaming space. We have worked closely with Fresbo to develop the product, and are in the process of seeking follow-on funding – interested investors (or startups looking for funding) please send an email to ken at frontedgecapital dot com or the Fresbo team.

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