Julián Lerer in Interview

Last week we welcomed Julián from Neurona
up to Hamburg for a visit. We jumped at the chance to interview him,
asking him about his experiences with Neurona and Spanish networking
practices. Here he describes his personal attitude towards communities,
and explains how Neurona members can benefit from XING.

Julián, you studied theatre and cinema. How did you end up at networking for professionals after such dramatic beginnings?
Almost
by chance really, although I was drawn in this direction by my interest
in technology. With cinema you automatically become interested in
digital video, then in 3D and very soon after Flash.  Indeed , I
widened my scope, becoming interested in everything to do with web
concepts. When I first began working at Neurona, the challenge was
to widen the scope of the “Former Colleagues’ Communities”, developing
it and moving it in the direction of business networking as we know it
today.

What do these two fields have in common?
Maybe not that
much;) The fact is that I was always very interested in the ways in
which people interact; the dynamics of it. And the ability I had to
strike up relationships with people by means of stimuli. Creating
features, modifying them in response to feedback, a continuous flow of
actions and reactions, it’s something I find really exciting. I suppose
that in some ways you could say that the two fields are quite parallel
in that respect.

How did these experiences help you to develop Neurona?
I
could give you quite a complex answer, but basically it is the ability
to always keep listening to the end user. There are distinctions, which
aren’t always clear to people, between what actually goes on on your
site, what you think is going on and what you want to be going on. I
would like to think that I have developed a clear idea of all that.
Obviously, my experience as a small-scale entrepreneur in advertising
and online communities has helped a lot, but that’s another story

How would you characterize Spanish networking habits? How do they
differ from those in  Latin America and the rest of the world ?
In
a way, professional networking can be seen as a personal component of
professional life. A lot of emphasis is placed on how things are done;
there is a greater need for interaction compared to people from
English-speaking countries, for example, who are usually more practical
and direct. More importance is also placed on a trusted group, whether
we have friends or colleagues in common and what people who already
know you think of you. As for Latin Americans, there’s maybe a mixture
of influences. You can see the influence of the US, and in spite of the
emphasis on interpersonal aspects of business relationships, these are
quite direct, and speed and effectiveness are important.

Globally,  native Spanish speakers now outnumber native English
speakers. The Spanish economy is also growing at quite a rapid pace.
What role does social networking  play in all this?
It’s true
that it’s already the third largest language on the Internet. There is
a sizeable growth, and an additional factor, which is very important,
is that Internet penetration in this market is still very low compared
with other countries. Whatever happens, there’s still a long way to go.
At the same time I believe that networking will grow as a channel for
everything happening on the Internet and will continue to grow
exponentially.

Neurona is the largest platform for
professional contacts in Spain and Latin America. How did you manage to
become the market leader?
With a great deal of hard work! As
well, I think, as taking into account various factors which were very
well received by our users. Firstly, we have always believed that
networking is something which affects all professional industries and
levels. At first our targeting was restricted to the professional world
but that has enabled us to reach a sufficient critical mass in a much
shorter time than usual for a site with these characteristics.
Secondly, we applied a model which was very appropriate to networking.
First you have to give, the more the better, but with time you then
reap the rewards. We have always worked with sincere purposes in mind,
trying to ensure that the platform functions in the best possible way
and with the best possible features for our users. And finally, another
golden rule for networking: treat your users as you would like to be
treated. We have a very close relationship with our members. In fact we
use the platform in exactly the same way as anyone else, and this means
that we are one living community in a way, where the needs of users are
treated like our own, in the first person.

What benefits can XING bring to Neurona users? How will Neurona users be better off?
The
first meetings we had with the XING team were quite amazing. It was
very funny to realize just how many things we had in common, how
similar our situation was in terms of what our future requirements and
functionalities would be. We are working to adapt some Neurona
functionalities to be used by XING, but on the other hand there are
areas which Neurona has not been able to develop completely, where XING
already has a breadth of experience. I think that internationalization,
events in the offline world, and many other aspects of XING, can really
enhance the users’ final experience. I’m sure that when everything goes
to plan we have the potential to create a really powerful tool at the
core and then our two platforms can develop around that.

What has the Neurona team been developing recently?
Well,
we have been working very closely with the XING team. As I mentioned
before, we want to make as large a contribution as possible so that
users will see the benefits from the best aspects of both platforms.
Meanwhile….we keep on growing. In August we beat our own record and
reached the symbolic figure of 1  million users and are still growing
at a fantastic pace.