Interview Spotlight: New York Startup Problemio

Problemio,New York Startup,startup interview” We hope to decrease the failure rate of new companies.” That’s the goal Alex Genadinik has for his startup Problemio. It’s a lofty goal of course but with his suite of four apps designed to help educate new business owners he may actually be successful at it.

The four app business starting series, that makes up Problemio, is based on data collected from over 10,000 businesses. The app suite is available for iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet.  They focus on skills every founder needs like  1) Business ideas 2) Business planning 3) Fundraising and 4) Marketing.

If learning from apps isn’t enough there’s also a live chat feature that allows users to chat about the topics covered in the apps.

We got a chance to talk with Genadinik check out the rest of the interview in our interview spotlight below:

What is your startup, what does it do?

Problemio is a 4-application business-starting guide available on the following mobile platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Amazon Kindle and the NOOK device from Barnes and Noble which. The apps focus on 1) Business ideas 2) Business planning 3) Fundraising and 4) Marketing.

The apps are based on the 10,000+ businesses planned on the original business plan app which also happens to be one of the highest ranked business apps on Android 

Users of the apps are able to get expert help in chat form, access to planning tools, as well as numerous articles curated especially to cover the common concerns of entrepreneurs who came before them.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Alex Genadinik is the single founder of Problemio. Alex is originally a software developer. In his past independent projects he found that without proper advice or mentors, it was difficult to avoid serious mistakes with his projects, which ultimately made it very difficult for those projects to be successful. That experience inspired the building of the planning tools to help others prevent similar mistakes.

Where are you based?

The company is based in New York, NY.

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

I find New York to be very vibrant with people generally embracing technology. The biggest difference between New York and any other place where I worked in the past in terms of being a startup hub is that during any given weekday, people come to Manhattan from hundreds of nearby cities and few neighboring states. That creates an extraordinary density of people sharing and collaborating on what is next. Additionally, since New York has such a deep business culture, people understand the value of networking here much more than other places where I have lived before, including San Francisco and parts of the Valley.


What problem does your startup solve?

The main problem Problemio is solving is helping entrepreneurs get support, mentoring and advice to help their businesses. We hope to decrease the failure rate of new companies.

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

Not only did I have to learn native Android and iOS programming to create the apps, but I also had to figure out how to market the apps and make the apps into a financially viable business. Since I am the only founder, every day is filled with balancing tech, app ux, marketing, and many other things that need to get done. Balancing all that and still making sure there is quality in everything I do has been the biggest challenge so far.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

At the time of writing this, we have had over 65,000 combined downloads across all the Problemio apps, and over 10,000 businesses planned on the apps. Most recently we released the 4-app series across all the major devices which took quite a bit of work.

What are your next milestones

Our next goal is to grow the 4-app series and making it the premiere business apps across Android and iOS. By user reviews, we are already the best. Now it is just a matter of conquering the app stores, which will be our biggest focus this Spring. I will also be looking for various companies who work to help entrepreneurs to advertise directly on the app.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages growing your startup outside of Silicon Valley?

I found that the New York tech hub is easier to navigate because everyone is pretty close. The Valley is made up of a number of places which are pretty far from one another. For example, there is San Francisco, Berkeley across the bridge, Palo Alto and San Jose a long drive away. And in New York, I can just about walk to the next tech thing in midtown!

What’s next for your startup?

I am always looking to make the product better. I will be looking to add video and phone support in addition to the current chat-based help that the entrepreneurs get. Additionally, I will be focusing on growing app sales and doing more marketing. I doubt I will be raising money as I rather focus on improving the fundamentals on my business. One thing I might do is actively look for mentors.

You can download Problemio for your device here. 

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