-Originally posted on TINC Magazine-

Demibooks is a digital publication company whose Demibooks® Composer app enables users to create interactive books on their iPads – no coding necessary.

TINC: Startup vs. Growth Company AKA - What stage are you in? Series A (early stage) or Growth Mode?

Demibooks is an early stage startup that is now transitioning into growth mode with the recent launch of its first iPad app called Composer.

TINC: Give us your Elevator Pitch!

Demibooks, Inc. is a digital publishing technologies company. Founded in 2010, Demibooks, Inc. offers both software and service solutions for authoring richly interactive book apps, ideal for publishers, authors and illustrators. Headquartered in Chicago, Demibooks, Inc. has offices in Sydney and Tokyo. More information on the Company is available on http://www.demibooks.com.

TINC: To quote your website, From that perspective Demibooks® Composer (patent pending) was developed to meet the needs of authors and illustrators looking for a dynamic and unique platform from which they can design and create their own book app, utilizing the intuitive features of the iPad. Can you tell our readers more about the process and reach of the product or service you provide?

Demibooks® Composer is the first code-free, affordable way for the publishing world to author interactive books for the iPad, right on the

device itself. It is also very versatile and incredibly easy to use. The creative process is entirely code-free and takes place right on the tablet device itself extending the interactive nature of the book app into the creative process. Authors can easily animate objects, activate functions based on touch-gestures and assign real-life properties to objects, such as gravity or stickiness, to make them float, collide or bounce. Other features allow authors to layer in audio and other special effects within the story’s plot to create a truly interactive reading experience.

Composer received great reviews from the users and bloggers.

Demibooks® composer enables anyone with a creative mind to create and publish an interactive book app for the iPad. To try Composer you can download a free version from http://bit.ly/getcomposer.

To learn more about our products and services please visit us at: demibooks.com. You can also see the videos of Composer at http://www.youtube.com/user/demibooks#g/u.

TINC: What industry would you most closely align your company with? 

Demibooks, Inc. is a digital publishing technologies company. We offer both software and service solutions for authoring richly interactive book apps, ideal for publishers, authors and illustrators.

TINC: How many employees do you have on board right now?

We have less than 10 employees.

TINC: Who holds your top executive level positions?  Why those roles? (max 5 positions)

Rafiq Ahmed, CEO. A veteran of the first internet book, Rafiq has wide experience in user-centered design, software engineering, and product management.

Andrew Skinner, Chief Technology Officer. Andy’s background in games technology and computer science includes designing and developing mobile applications and technology platforms for corporations including Disney, Motorola, and Hutchinson.

Chris Roosen, Director, User Experience. His expertise in experience architecture engineering ranges from delivering the end-to-end user experience vision at an investment bank to developing mobile interfaces for the entertainment and educational sector.

Daniel Hotop, Director, Platform Technology. Daniel is a seasoned technology architect and games developer. While at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Dan worked on games across multiple platforms, such as PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 2.

TINC: When was your company established? What is the official founding date?

We incorporated in Illinois in Aug 2010

 TINC: Tell us about development platforms you may be using, or what you’re coding this in.

We're doing native iOS development in Objective-C, using the Cocos2D game engine with Chipmunk physics. One of our platforms - a more text-centric reader system incorporates HTML, CSS and Javascript. So far we've been focusing on the iPad, but have our future sights set on the broad Android-based tablet market.

TINC:What is your technical approach that makes your software better? How are you getting the details right or working in a more optimized way?

We have a XML based markup language, Demibooks Format Markup Language. DFML that is bundled with media assets to create the Composer book file, Demibooks Composer Bundle or DCB. DCBs can be shared via Dropbox with anyone else who has Composer, creating a unique way to create and share stories. For stand alone book apps in the App Store, we compile DCBs using the author/illustrator/publisher's own Apple credentials.

We have been working in an iterative fashion from our inception. We started with building an interactive book app, Astrojammies, which taught us how to do this right and build a platform. We started the actual development work on the platform work last Winter, and released a Private Beta version in April. Working with over 40 authors, illustrators and publishers during the Beta helped us fine tune the product. We showed early demos at TechWeek in Chicago in August, but formally launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco in September. Composer went live in the App Store on September 21.