About Six Apart

Olivier on LiveJournal sale, Six Apart strategy and the state of blogging today

2008-06-09T12:20:50Z

Our thanks go out to Robert Andrews of PaidContent:UK for his incisive interview of Six Apart EMEA VP and General Manager, Olivier Creiche.

In the videotaped Q&A, Olivier talks openly about why Six Apart sold hot property LiveJournal to Russian online media company SUP, as well as on the death of blogging (!).

See the full interview here.

Dhana does South America

2008-06-02T09:59:15Z

Six Apart EMEA is sending its very own Dhana Silva, Sales Manager of Spain and Latin America, on a 3 week-long blog evangelism tour that will cover her trek (in stilettos, of course) through Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

With existing Spanish and South American clients like Hola, El Tiempo, El Pais, Banco Sabadell, El Clarin, Mobuzz TV, Mercurio and Microsiervos, Six Apart hopes to help spread blogging throughout this exciting region of the world. Among other things, Dhana will be sharing her insights on the growth of Web2.0 in Latin America, based on her discussions with industry leaders and other pioneering companies already using web technologies in their respective fields.

Check Dhana's Blogging Trip Across South America for news, photos and podcasts from her grand 5-country blog tour.

Global Enterprise Web 2.0 - a $5 billion industry?

2008-04-24T15:43:22Z

Six Apart has always understood the possibilities in enterprise-level blogging (internal and external communications, easy publishing, data collection for R&D through direct client feedback, content management, creation of virtual communities and social networks, etc...). This month, we found out that we are not the only ones who see a proliferation of Web 2.0 tools in large companies.

According to Global Enterprise Web 2.0 Market Forecast: 2007 To 2013, corporate spending in the Web 2.0 sector will hit $4.6 billion by 2013. The report, written by G. Oliver Young at Forrester Research, also names Six Apart as a major industry player.

How to make money from Web2.0: Olivier Creiche to speak at Marketing 2.0 Conference

2008-04-15T15:29:01Z

Olivier Creiche, General Manager of Six Apart EMEA, will be speaking at the Marketing 2.0 Conference in Paris on 5-6 May 2008. Organized by the ESCP-EAP Business School (European School of Management - Paris), the purpose of the event is to gather industry leaders for a cutting-edge discussion on how to generate profit from Web2.0 tools like social networking sites, Internet TV and mobile marketing.

With speakers from industry heavyweights including YouTube, Forrester, Netvibes and MySpace, the conference is slated to be an interesting one that will offer insight into the evolving world of new media.

To register for the event, sign up on the official Marketing 2.0 website -- or better yet, contact us for a special discounted rate.

Olivier Creiche to speak at CeBIT 2008

2008-02-18T14:32:58Z

Six Apart Europe GM Olivier Creiche has confirmed that he will be speaking at the Enterprise 2.0 Summit at CeBIT 2008 this year.

The Six Apart-sponsored event will be held in Hanover on 4 March and aims to inspire corporations to implement Web2.0 innovations (such as blogs, wikis and social networks) into their strategies to become more competitive in their respective markets. Rather than dabble in the theoretical, the speakers at Enterprise 2.0 Summit will be presenting hands-on solutions to real-life challenges facing businesses today.

Organizers expect over 400 participants, from techies to entrepreneurs and businesspeople, to take part this year. If you would like to join in the discussion, you can register here; or if you are already going to CeBIT 2008 and would like to speak with Olivier in person, e-mail us here.

A new partner in Switzerland

2008-02-12T14:13:29Z

Six Apart is pleased to announce a new partnership with St Gallen-based web consultants namics. With offices in St Gallen, Bern, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Zug and Zurich, this Swiss company has over 1,100 projects attributed to it and is one of the most influential Internet consulting groups in the Germanophone world. Namics has helped develop the online presence of such international companies as DaimlerChrysler, Braun, Nestlé, Siemens and the European Central Bank.

To stay abreast of the projects currently underway at namics, please see their Movable Type-powered blog.

The story of Six Apart

2007-08-28T08:37:24Z

Hi, I'm Mena Trott, Six Apart co-founder. In the spring of 2001, I was doing design work in San Francisco when I began a quirky weblog called Dollarshort. My husband, Ben, and I had met in high school and were working together at a small web design firm that seemed impervious to the dot com bust occurring in the early 2000s. For me, Dollarshort, was a creative outlet, a place for me to tell anecdotes about my childhood, attempt to illustrate humorous accounts of our daily lives, and keep a traditional weblog with links to sites I found interesting.

In September of 2001, the small web design studio Ben and I worked for closed its doors and we were suddenly afforded a lot of free time. Concurrently, Dollarshort was growing in popularity, and I felt that I had outgrown the webblogging software I was using at the time. Faced with the prospect of looking for new jobs, Ben and I decided to take some time off and develop our own weblogging tool that we would share with some of our friends. In September I announced we'd be releasing Movable Type. (The original name was Serge, named for the French singer Serge Gainsbourg). One month later, on October 8, 2001, version 1.0 was available for download.

The morning of the Movable Type 1.0 release, Ben and I sat anxiously in front of our computers, fingers ready to make Movable Type available to the public. Were we ready to dive into the world of software development? Could we support our users? Would we be able to develop Movable Type and still have the "real jobs" necessary to support ourselves. Most importantly, Ben and I knew that once we released Movable Type, we were committed to its development. With no turning back, we launched the website and within the first hour over 100 people had downloaded the software.

Prior to the release, Ben and I had told ourselves that we would take three months off to work on Movable Type. After that, we would begin to search for jobs and Movable Type would remain a hobby. Not long after the launch, we realized that the scale of Movable Type's popularity was much greater than we had expected. It had become a full time job for both of us and the donations we were receiving for its development were enough to pay the rent. What had started as a hobby had turned into full-time job, complete with 70 hour weeks. Nine months after the initial release, Ben and I knew that we needed to make a decision about our future and the future of Movable Type.

Olivier Creiche named head of Six Apart S.A.

2007-03-28T15:49:35Z

Olivier Creiche, formerly Director of Business Development for Six Apart S.A., has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager.

Creiche joined Six Apart in 2004 when Ublog SA, the blogging service company he co-founded with Loïc Le Meur, was acquired by Six Apart. He quickly developed business partnerships with leading media companies in Europe and helped set Six Apart on a growth path in the region.

"Olivier has been a critical contributor to Six Apart's success in Europe," said Barak Berkowitz, CEO of Six Apart. "I'm delighted that he has agreed to take on more responsibilities as GM of EMEA as well as becoming a member of the seven person Six Apart management team."

Before cofounding Ublog, Creiche spent ten years in sales and marketing positions in such companies as Danone, Pepsico, and BBDO, where he ultimately specialized in interactive marketing. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of South Dakota and is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Loïc Le Meur, former Executive Vice President and General Manager of Six Apart EMEA, will continue his involvement with Six Apart as Honorary Chair of Six Apart EMEA, and will continue to produce the Le Web 3 conferences he launched three years ago.