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Telstra "Your Business" Magazine
Profile - November 2001

Next Stop: Template Central

If you sometimes draw a blank when it comes time to put together a presentation, log on to Template Central and let them help you fill the gaps.

How many times have you sat through a Powerpoint presentation and felt your eyes glaze over as the same slides you've seen countless times before have flashed up on the big screen?

Paul Wilson was teaching software applications to executives 18 months ago, when they complained about how boring the standard Powerpoint templates were. Wilson was already running Hot Chilli, a Web development company, and his students' criticisms gave him the germ of an idea. Just months later, Template Central was born.

Template Central is an online service that offers customers hundreds of different templates for websites, brochures, Powerpoint presentations, emails, reports and faxes. "It allows our customers to give their work a professional look and feel without needing to be a designer," says Wilson, who took a crash course in design to come up with his initial templates. Wilson's gut-feeling that he "might be able to make some money out of this" has proved correct - Template Central is currently experiencing a growth rate of 200 per cent per quarter.

Though he runs his three-person business from a studio in Sydney's inner-west, 92 per cent of Template Central's customers are from the US, and Wilson says that most of them are blissfully unaware that he's on the other side of the globe.

Formerly an electronic journalist, Wilson says that the most gratifying aspect of running his own business is selling: "Selling and sleeping at the same time. It's very satisfying to get up and check the sales total each morning." Wilson also enjoys "being able to respond immediately to requests, to make modifications and get back to the customer in a very short space of time".

Wilson's customers comprise a wide range of people with different needs. Students and educators use the product for both tutorials and CVs. Small business owners, who are already working 12 hours a day and have neither the time nor the money to hire a professional designer, are able to download a template and use it straightaway.

Wilson has found that medium-sized businesses have "been burnt in the past by a designer, but they need to remain competitive", and the templates allow them to present a professional image. Consultants who are meeting with a number of different clients are able to browse Template Central by industry and create presentations that are industry-specific.

For Template Central and Hot Chilli to succeed, reliable Internet access is critical; and that's why Wilson uses Telstra as his ISP. Access is "always there and that's crucial for our credibility. That had a lot to do with our decision to get a complete package with Telstra. If things go wrong, you need to know that someone will be there to help - you just don't get that with smaller providers."

Template Central has more concepts in the pipeline, including a logo service that customers can browse, buy, customise and then remove from the library. By removing the need for a designer Wilson and his products are giving small to medium businesses the chance to build a corporate identity that will be a point of differentiation, at a price that is very affordable.