Bill West of Ellipsis Technologies

March 23, 2020March 10, 2021 thetechtribune

An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Bill West, the co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Ellipsis Technologies, which was honored in our:

Tell us the origin story of Ellipsis Technologies – what problem were you trying to solve and why?

We saw some of the conversion issues with CAPTCHA and other turing tests in the e-commerce marketplace. Initial studies showed that roughly 3-4% of visitors to an e-commerce site departed immediately without even making an attempt. Those that did attempt to solve the CAPTCHA had a 30%+ failure rate on the first attempt, with further drop off rates at each failure. We saw this as a problem that was definitely worth solving.

What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?

Our process is one that makes it difficult if not impossible to counter. We collect timing and movement behavioral data during the normal course of a browser session, then with our proprietary algorithms and with our historical database of human and bot movement, we can invisibly determine if a site visitor is behaving like a human and allowed to make a transaction. Non-human visitors can then either be presented a CAPTCHA at that time, or diverted elsewhere.

What does the future hold for Ellipsis Technologies?

We have gotten a very warm reception in the e-commerce community and now have thousands of merchants using our solution worldwide. We work directly with large merchants and are available as an app for Shopify, Drupal, WordPress, and Convesio, with 4-5 other channels to launch in 2020.

What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in Greenville?

The startup community in Greenville is strong with very talented people. The city and the state of South Carolina have a number of resources and support organizations such as SCRA and NEXT, along with an emerging venture community such as Venture South here in Greenville.

What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Spend investor money wisely and keep your focus.