The history of COG
Part of the Additional Pages Index
We 3 Kings
You might be happy to know that COG is a family business, the "3 Kings" are David, Chris and Paul King. I'll tell you how we all came together to work on the COG project, and just where the whole idea came from!
David King
Hello, I'm the creator of COG, the voice of COG online, and also the fella who coded the entire system. I started toying with the idea of an e-commerce company after leaving a job in the same specialist area.
Initially my job role was to rewrite their system, converting it from an outdated Coldfusion mess into a more accessible PHP working. Sadly when my first day at work came they told me they had decided to outsource the work to a foreign company. Instantly my role changed to "Fixing the problems" as a lot of ideas and concepts were lost in translation (both verbally and programming). Not exactly the job I'd been expecting, but I slogged it out for as long as I could and eventually left.
Now, because of the way I work and think (thin slicing and other speed thinking techniques) I'd already planned most of the work before started the new job. I was quite fond of some of the ideas I'd had toward the project, but I felt that the way the company was setup was ultimately flawed. Without going into too much detail, their clients were required to do some really technical work (as with most e-commerce solutions) like: Hosting; Server setup; FTP upload; Chmodding; Installation and other programming tidbits! Half of the business was supporting new customers that were lost or confused with the installation and truth-be-told I'm not surprised!
Joe Bloggs knows best
I decided to outline the issues with e-commerce, if I was "Joe Bloggs", what would I want from a website? I'd want it to work for me and then get back to running my business. I don't even want to hear too much jargon and I certainly don't want to spend time learning how to do anything complex.
So, with that in mind I went through every aspect of an e-commerce venture and applied a kind of "Does Joe Bloggs need to, or want to do this?" mentality and eventually had planned a project that anyone could use. This is now the essence of COG, everything you need and nothing you don't!
Chris King
I have worked on-and-off with my Dad (Chris) for all of my programming career, and I'm one of the new and fairly rare 2nd generation programmers. When I approached him with this no-nonsense business plan he made it immediately clear that I'd hit upon a good angle to an otherwise complex area. So we discussed many things and had a month-long brainstorm and really delved into all foreseeable aspects of such an undertaking, from the COG name to colour theory and help / documentation, literally everything!
I had decided that I didn't want the influence or pressure of any outside sources like funding-bodies or employers, so we struck a deal whereby my Dad would support me by funding a minimal lifestyle for as long as it would take to create COG in its entirety. After 10 months of hard work between the two of us COG was eventually completed in May of 2008.
During the programming process we really defined the roles we would both take in the new company, I am in charge of all programming, direction and the business as a whole. And my Dad took on the role of advertising, marketing, print and PR (all of which he has many years experience) and is essentially the face for the company.
Paul King
My brother and best friend Paul gave me a lot of advice and input into the financial side of e-commerce, helping me to create a usable and easy VAT system, postage calculations and helped criticise the system from a consumers point of view. Paul is an accountant and has worked for Sage (accountancy software), his input has been invaluable.
Paul is COG's accountant and financial advisor, and although his role is currently part-time we expect his workload to increase as we expand with more clients and business, he will eventually be our full-time employee!
And then?
We hope to continue expanding and create a friendly company that benefits those that would otherwise be left out in the cold when it comes to e-commerce. Our goal is to keep supplying the companies we serve with top class services and easy affordable e-commerce, we all love seeing small shops doing well!
