Interview Series How Purple Lens is changing the face of web accessibility

The editorial team at Screaming Squid, recently had the pleasure of interviewing bussiness man, entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of forward thinking business, Purple Lens. We have the distinct pleasure of kicking off our interview series with Menashe Shani.

Menashe is a successful entrepreneur with 18 years of experience both founding and growing businesses. He launched and currently leads several profitable companies in the travel & hospitality sector: Ink & Co., UNIQ., Love Israel Celebration and Project 360 

His specialty is businesses that create meaningful, positive experiences for their customers. This led him to a new personal mission: creating a new standard of high-quality web accessibility, introducing Purple Lens. After collaborating on several projects, Shlomi Shushan (Co-Founder of Purple Lens) and Menashe experimented with the idea of high-quality, cost-effective accessibility solutions for ECommerce.

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Purple Lens, working every day with the goal to create an equal internet experience for people of all abilities. I’m fascinated by people’s behaviors and interactions, and my aim is to deliver valuable products to people around the world. After 20 years in the events, tour and hospitality industry, I wanted to focus my desire to help, make people happy and find creative, out of the box solutions to the web accessibility world.

I found out a few years ago that even though we are living in a world that is very progressive and advanced with technology and innovation, the web accessibility industry was so faulty. I decided that we at Purple Lens will set the standard of a better accessible world for everyone and to be the most effective, affordable and productive solution for our clients and users. Since then, this is our driving goal on a day to day basis to make Purple Lens as accessible as possible for everyone. We fight hard for our mission statement; equality is important, but inclusivity is essential.

I hope so! Our dream is that web accessibility does not need to be something that is punishable according to laws or legislations, we want Purple Lens to help pave the way for accessibility becoming the norm that is a standardized expectation by all.

Exactly, we designed Purple Lens to benefit all parties; whether you’re the website owner, web developer or the end-user, we wanted the packages and tools available to be able to fit to all website styles, product types and target audiences.

The Scanner tool for sure! After launching Purple Lens on your site, a website owner/developercan be pointed to all the current accessibility issues with that site. This unique, useful and productive element, highlights all the areas immediately and exactly how to rectify them for your users.

For me, success is going to sleep at night feeling confident that I tried my best that day to reach our goals. Success is an ongoing journey, we have many different milestones, steps and challenges to continue to overcome, but if I know I am truly giving my best, I am one step further on that path.

Don’t target web accessibility issues out of fear of lawsuits or legal fees, do it for the sake of your target audience. If you want to convert more, this is the best way to do it. You want to reach more people, you want to have a better user experience for all users, you want people to complete purchases on your site feeling comfortable, accepted and connected to your service.

I hope that even before 5 years, web accessibility is a normalized term that is recognised and accepted by all website owners and builders. I hope it does not have to be a concern or an issue to discuss because every website will be equally used by everybody online already. Web accessibility should become a prior expectation rather than an afterthought, it should be the bricks of the original house rather than a few new coats of paint on the extension!

My vision is that we grow internationally and become a worldwide utilized tool for WordPress sites. Whatever the language or the product, I see that Purple Lens will be a game-changer for the face of Web Accessibility; becoming a product that all web developers inherently build into their sites at the initial stages of development.

I do not believe in the word challenges, I believe that we have had many lessons to learn in order to become better for anyone with different abilities. We are learning new things every day and continuing to develop financially, technologically and ethically.

It is impossible to pick one, I have made so many, and I continue to make them. Yet with time and with small milestones, you begin to understand that mistakes are needed for these growing stages and I embrace them.

I would say commitment, passion and determination. It is not always easy starting a business, especially one that you are so emotionally invested in and is such an important cause. However, with a huge amount of passion for the project and determination to succeed I know we can just continue to grow. I am also hugely committed to my team, our product development and our clients in order to make sure Purple Lens is the best it can be for us all.

Trust your vision and your intention. This is an ongoing process and journey but you know the immense potential and of course importance of Purple Lens, not just as a product but a concept. When the intention remains secure and the vision is strong, you can trust that the right path will become clear.

Accessible web design is fundamental in all growing web industries. The online world should be a more inclusive place. We want to break down barriers and allow more people to visit the websites they desire and actually be able to enjoy them. At Purple Lens, we take that extra step to make sure our clients achieve 100% accessibility and most importantly, user satisfaction from our solution. We are the product that fills the gap in today's market to serve all parties involved: we help website owners meet regulations and grow their businesses while providing a unified and fair experience for ALL users.

Mr and Miss Squid would sincerely like to thank Menashe for taking part in this interview.

For Mr Squid, this has been a real passion project and it was something he has been determined to shed more light on.

Mr Squid put the first draft of questions together and then asked Miss Squid to cast her eye over them, she added a few more to ensure that the interview would keep the reader engaged. Mr Squid then sent the questions to Menashe. 

Upon receipt of the questions back, Miss Squid then put this article together while Mr Squid remained excited about Menashe's responses. 

The Squid team wish Menashe all the best for the future and we know this isn't the last that you'll be hearing of him.