Weld appoints ex-Magine dev as CTO and secures Almi support
Weld Sketch is an interaction design tool for responsive design, in real-time. Einar sat down with newly appointed CTO Henric Malmberg for a chat about the latest news, and got the chance to see how Swedish Startup Space could be sketched in less than 120 seconds.
A few months back James wrote a great piece about Weld, what we then described as the new programming tool for non-programmers. CEO Tom Söderlund was also one of the entrepreneurs pitching at Startup Day 2014 less than a week ago.
The first version, ‘Weld Sketch’, is now in private beta. It’s an interaction design tool for responsive design, in real-time. Sketch, plan and prototype on a computer screen and preview how it will look on smartphones and tablets. The views are shareable to allow real-time collaboration with colleagues and customers.
“With Weld, we want app creation to be more like assembling Lego blocks or building in Minecraft: fast, playful, and with immediate feedback” – Tom Söderlund, CEO
Former Magine developer Henric Malmberg appointed CTO
Henric Malmberg, formerly one of the original developers at Magine, was recently brought on as CTO. I sat down with him yesterday at SUP46 for some coffee and a live demonstration of Weld Sketch.
First of all, congratulations on your new position. Why did you choose to join Weld?
Thank you! I have always been a product guy and when I left Magine I wanted to do something at least as challenging and push the limits of the web. Combine that with my interest in interaction design and Weld feels like a perfect fit. Imagine creating apps in your browser! This is going to be fun!
You want to remake the development process in a radical way. What is the biggest challenge with this undertaking?
The biggest challenge by far, is striking the perfect balance between powerfulness and ease of use. Many of our competitors have failed at this. You want a tool that allows you to create almost anything, while not forcing you into an existing structure.
We believe the timing is right for a new attempt in this space, and we have some novel ideas on how to approach this problem. But we also have to be humble and realize that finding the perfect solution will take time.
We believe the timing is right for a new attempt in this space, and we have some novel ideas on how to approach this problem
What will you learn and/or validate in the private beta?
The private beta is part of our ongoing process of validating a minimum feature set for the first version of Weld, named “Weld Sketch”. Weld Sketch is purely a prototyping/wireframing tool, with an emphasis on speed, responsive design, online collaboration, and real-time preview on multiple devices. We then continue building on this to create Weld v2, which will allow you to use Weld as a complete design tool for web and app design. With Weld v3, we add the first interactive features, allowing you to make complete, functional apps within Weld itself.
Funding and Advisory board
Many good things seems are happening to Weld right now, as the team just got an important funding commitment from Almi. In addition, CEO Tom Söderlund managed to attract the following advisory team to help bring Weld forward:
- Anton Johansson – Serial entrepreneur, Twingly, Osom, Alltid
- Oskar Glauser – Co-founder of VideofyMe and marketing engine Minutemailer
- Jaan Orvet – SaaS collaboration startup Huddle
Weld feat. Swedish Startup Space, in 120 seconds
Before we were done for the day, I asked how fast they could sketch up a design of Swedish Startup Space. By using Weld Sketch and spending no more than 120 seconds, they come up with the following result. Live, editable and synced preview on laptop, tablet and smartphone.
Pretty cool, huh?
Read the entire article here