04 Feb 2019 Spotlight on Stambol Studios
Describe your company and its product.
Stambol is a distinguished creative technology studio specializing in hyper-realistic immersive experiences through Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for various industries from real estate and construction to healthcare and marketing.
What year did your company start?
We started operations in June 2016 with a team of multi-potentialities that carries decades of experience in various exponential technologies from VR/AR to IoT and AI.ad
Which city (or cities) are you located?
We are located in the False Creek Flats area in Vancouver. We also have another office focused on our healthcare/wellness related solutions at the Health and Technology District in Surrey, BC.
Describe your company culture in three words.
- Innovative
- Passionate
- Energetic
- Transparent
That is four words. Read more on our manifesto.
How do you celebrate company or employee wins?
Our team footprints are global, which means we have to be a little more creative when celebrating our accomplishments. It is not uncommon for all of us to get on Skype and celebrate together when we achieve a milestone accomplishment, like a closed deal. We also reach out to individuals to convey our collective appreciation with an e-gift card to an experience such as a dinner at their favourite restaurant.
What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
Our end-to-end immersive solutions and platform are removing the inherent limitations associated with how architectural projects are traditionally communicated with stakeholders in all lifecycle stages. Combining various sensor data with predictive analytics and real-time visualizations through VR and AR, we are building Digital Twins of spaces and extending the lifespan of BIM data from preconception, design and construction, to marketing, operations and maintenance.
What is your biggest milestone to date?
Last year, a large real estate developer decided to adopt our platform to remove all physical aspects of their presentation centres and use only VR/AR and 3D media to showcase their upcoming properties. The demand from other developers tripled since then, so did our team size, setting our trajectory for growth.
What is your biggest challenge?
It takes a highly specialized skill set in tech and creative, to create the hyper-realistic content we need in our projects. It is not always easy to find people immediately with these necessary skills. Therefore, we adopted a future-of-work model and decided to establish a highly-talented but geographically-dispersed team, which presents its own unique management challenges.
What is your motto?
“There are 360 degrees, why stick to only one.”
-Zaha Hadid
How are you making an impact?
There is no replacement for transporting someone into an environment that doesn’t exist in real life yet. Our end-to-end VR & AR solutions allow architects, construction companies and real estate developers to showcase and communicate their projects with their stakeholders in a much better light, both literally and figuratively.
What is your hope for the future of tech in BC?
Our hope is that our province will continue taking bold steps for a strong tech vision that we can all get behind. If we want to take over and maintain our leadership position for VR/AR/MR, we will need more highly skilled talent and companies to arrive and contribute to the creation of amazing interactive and digital media in our province.
Lightning Round with Dogu Taskiran, Co-Founder and CEO of Stambol Studios
What excites you about your job?
Our clients face unique challenges that need an innovative approach in their respective domain. As a polymath, I am excited that I can apply my knowledge and skills in multiple domains, and impact our customers by integrating multiple technologies to help them overcome these challenges at scale.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?
As a startup, we simply cannot afford to be perfectionists in everything. Moving from a perfectionist engineer role to a startup founder and CEO, I had to learn to let go a lot of some things more easily.
Wildest thing you ever have done?
Flyboarding in Mexico. Rewriting an entire rendering engine for a large game, just 2 weeks away from the shipping date.
What are your pet peeves?
I cannot handle loud-eaters. Also, I prefer tabs over spaces.
Words of wisdom to other tech CEOs or founders?
Trust your own instincts and experiences but also know when to take advice on something you are not great at (yet). You need to surround yourself with people who are better than you on at least one topic each.
Favourite city you visited?
Istanbul, Turkey
What is your formula for success?
Work-life balance implies mutual exclusivity and a trade-off. Instead, always shoot for flow and work-life harmony.
Name one book that everyone should read.
- Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal OR
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
How do you decompress?
Exploring a new hiking trail with my dog among the hundreds of amazing trails our beautiful province has to offer. Snowboarding in winter.
Favourite movie?
Life is too short to have a single favourite: Forrest Gump, The Matrix, Star Trek.