Startup Interview Archives - Page 33 of 34

Indian Startup: Resumonk Makes Resumes A Cinch Interview

The most important piece of sales material in anyones arsenal is their resume. Resumes have evolved over the years. First there were typed resumes on fine parchment. Next was the rapid reprinting of resumes via the xerox machine in the copy room. Desktop publishing made resumes look very pretty but formatting could be a real pain in the ass.

Then in came the jobs site and the multiple types of resume files that every job hunter needed. Some job hunters needed to take a class just to learn how to do the proper type of resume file.

The resume has been a pain point that many startups have tried to solve, including Resumonk a startup based in New Delhi.

Resumonk is a DIY platform to build your resume. The company promises that they’ve got the technology, formatting and conversion down pat. All you need to know is your job history and have a decent grasp of the english language.

We got a chance to talk with Resumonk in the interview below:

Romanian Startup: Outsourcing.io Brings Contract Awarding Online INTERVIEW

There’s a very interesting startup brewing in Romania. The company called outsourcing.io is bringing the contractor’s bidding and awarding process online, to an easy to use, navigate, bid and win platform. We don’t want to go as far as calling it the ebay for contractors but it allows contractors to bid out jobs online.

Right now the startup is being coded, built and developed in Romania but the team plans to open their official European office in the UK shortly.

Outsourcing.io is taking all of the contractual bidding process into account. Contractors and those submitting calls for bids will be screened and verified and it’s a paid bidding process. Contractors will be able to bid on real good, and well paying jobs and those doing the contracting will know they’re getting qualified, interested contractors who know it takes money to make money.

We got a chance to talk to one of the co-founders, George Bratan in the interview below.

Eugene Oregon Startup: WallShops Offers A New Online Mall Shopping Experience

A conglomerate of online stores is nothing new to the internet, heck Amazon’s been doing it now for over a decade, however WallShops, a Eugene Oregon based startup, has reinvented the online mall. We get pitches 24 hours a day here at nibletz and every single pitch is revolutionizing, re-inventing, has the best ever, the most ever, etc etc etc, so when WallShops said they brought the shopping mall experience to the web, we brushed it off as pure startup talk. That was until we started poking around.

Wallshops has literally brought the mall experience online and it’s really about one simple function, a right left arrow at the top of the page. This feature will most likely take the form of a swipe in a tablet or smartphone implementation of the experience but it’s like you’re walking through the mall.

For instance we started with the category “Action Sports”, first I got QuickSilver then with a swipe (well actually hitting the right left arrow) I was at Vans, Element, Volcom then so on and so forth. Now really this sounds really simple, and it is, but there’s no experience like it just yet.

If you go to any of the major mall companies like Simon Malls, you go to a local mall site and then you’re looking at a list of stores and phone numbers. Other online shopping sites with multiple branded retailers make you sift through back buttons,menus, categories and keywords. The Wallshops experience is simplistic, beautiful and makes you feel like you’re in a virtual mall.

We got a chance to talk with Patrick Millegan, one of the co-founders of Wallshops and actually the only one of the founders not in the Kersey family, the other founders are all brothers. Check out our interview below.

Chicago Startup: EcoResume Offers Job Hunters An Easy & Green Way To Hand Out Resumes INTERVIEW

Whether you’re actively searching for a job or you’re just passively looking, chances are you’ve been to a conference, networking event or other meetup and needed your resume close by. Now without bringing a briefcase or worse, a book bag, to every professional outing you take, carrying your resume with you can be cumbersome, often times resulting in a crinkled up, less professional looking representation of yourself.

Well a startup in Chicago, called EcoResume has a solution for you that solves this particular problem and makes things a little greener.

With EcoResume you upload your credentials and resume information to their website. From there the folks at EcoResume create a virtual business card for you, complete with the bullet points from your resume and links to your supporting documents. You can easily send this eco friendly card with resume highlights to anyone that you come across at a meeting, or professional event from your smartphone or when you get back to the office.

Sure there are other ways of doing this, including getting your own blog site, or custom url but EcoResume has it all figured out in a nice looking site that’s both easy to navigate and easy to find.

We got a chance to interview the founder of EcoResume Efrem McGruder. Check out the interview below.

Chicago Startup: SocialKaty Is Social Media Marketing For Everyone Else INTERVIEW

Enthusiastic and Scottish. Katy Lynch took her personality and social media skills from a hobby to creating a thriving venture backed company is less than two years. With a goal of providing result driven social media services for companies, she founded SocialKaty in August 2010.

SocialKaty is a full-service social media marketing firm employing 29 “social media assassins” who create and manage content for brands (big and small). Simply, they’re a one stop shop for social media who maintain and create content on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs and even develop tabs and apps for Facebook.

Why start SocialKaty?
1) Companies are struggling with creating and managing effective social media campaigns.
2) There are no real pure play social media firms out there. (There are marketing and PR agencies that offer social media as an “add on” service, but not as their core offering.)

What’s interesting is the diversity of companies and industries they service. To name a few – funded startups, bars, restaurants, retailers, non-profits, and heck even energy companies. It’s no wonder they’ve been profitable since day one, grown to a 29 person team and raised a Series A round from Lightbank.

We caught up with Katy last week during Techweek Chicago:

Links we’ve got em:

SocialKaty Is Here

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Interview With The Co-Founder Of Boulder Startup: MobileDay, Just About Effortless Conference Calling

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m not typically about the sexiest apps. I rarely play games, although Songpop has me hooked right now, and I’m not looking for the coolest way to share anything most of the time, because I’m too busy on conference calls.

I could scream at the top of my lungs that email and texting work better for me. I could put an outgoing voicemail message that says email and texting works better for me (and I have) but each and everyday there are three to five people that insist on having conference calls. What irritates me even more is when the conference call, using a bridge, is with just one person… yo dude just call me directly.

So when I came across MobileDay a sigh of relief was let out. You see when nibletz took on the responsibility of being the voice of startups “everywhere else” and then we got some help from a research analyst at Kauffman, we found out that there are hundreds of thousands of startups “everywhere else”. There are a lot of people in the world who want to talk and tell their story, and above everything I really want to listen.

My conference calls aren’t so bad, I’ve actually learned a lot and planned some great things via conference call. But anyone who takes conference calls on a regular basis (Read just about any strartup founder’s daily routine), knows how cumbersome setting the call up can be.

First off there are hundreds of different conference call services, and without a doubt every single person who wants a conference call with me uses a different one.

Next, they typically have some 7-11 digit number that you need to call into to connect to “your party”. Well it doesn’t matter if I’m calling from my iPhone or my Android phone du jour, no smartphone has been able to allow you to dial into a number, press one number than automatically dial in another number, like the conference calls ID.

So whether I’m sitting in the office (yes we have an office), or sitting at home (got one of those too) or on the road (which is 90% of the time) I have to fumble through my calendar, emails or heck even text messages to get all the necessary information to “hop on the call” listen people since the most conventional conference call applications have been out there’s been know such thing as just “hopping on” a conference call… until now (wow 400+ words to get to that part)

Boulder startup MobileDay is that conference call participants dream app. Once the conference call is loaded into the app it reminds you of your call and than voila one touch of the screen and you’re not just on the conference calls service, you’ve dialed the “bridge” number too. They’ve got even more features on the way that will make attending, postponing or notifying conference participants easier too.

This comes in particularly handy on the nibletz sneaker-strapped nationwide startup roadtrip because taking a conference call driving through Indiana (sorry Nick), Arkansas, or even up and down 95 can be a pain in the ass with call drops (and I’m on Verizon). So if you get disconnected it’s the same simple easy process to get back on the call. All you have to do is touch the button, and then wait to “say your name to enter the conference”.

So what’s even better than MobileDay is that we got a few minutes to interview MobileDay co-founder Brad Dupee and I must say Brad with Steve Jobs gone you may be the next person to make my life easier.

Interview below

Wisconsin Startup: Trinker Lets You Party Around The World INTERVIEW

If you’re stuck at home and can’t go out with your buddies who may have just hopped a plane to Atlantic City or Las Vegas, never fear Trinkerapp is here. Trinker is a multi faceted social app that lets you join in the social drinking fun whether you’re down the street or miles and miles away.

According to the startups founder Brad Orego, you can keep up with all your friends and even frenemies no matter where their at and socialize with them via mobile app. You can even make challenges with them centered around social (responsible) drinking. Orego gets into more about how the app works and starting up in Madison Wisconsin in our interview below the break.

Trinker is a free app that makes going out, or missing out, more fun!

Pennsylvania Startup: Dollar Rubber Club, What Do You Think They Do? Interview

You may be surprised to find out that grown men still get school girl giddy about buying condoms at the local drugstore. I’m in my thirties and still see the discomfort that some of my friends my age have going into WahlGreens and buying condoms. The experience is compounded when you have to ask the pharmacist or store worker where the condoms are located.

There’s a chance that you could bump into your ex-girlfriend, your girlfriends mom, someone you went to school with or someone that knows your parents. Even in you late 20’s and 30’s this can be a source of embarrassment or at the least, a slightly uncomfortable situation.

Picture this scenario, you go into your local CVS thinking that tonight may be the night you have sex with your new girlfriend for the first time, and then when you’re coming down the condom aisle, purchase in hand, your new girlfriend shows up to pick up a prescription. These things happen all the time.

That’s why Dan Elwell and Anthony Eagleton, the co-founders of “Dollar Rubber Club” have gone head first into the condom by mail business.

Dollar Rubber Clubs condoms are priced competitively, come in discreet packaging and are even sent with a little silk bag that you could keep in your sock drawer.

In the interview below the break Elwell explains why the condom business, and how they stockpile condoms and turn orders around same time to keep the customers satisfied.

NY Start Up: Moteevate Keeps You Motivated To Get Through Your Plans

If you’re one of those people with great plans and bad follow through than this New York startup may be for you. Moteevate is a motivational site that helps people going on their goals and plans. This is achieved by offering a huge knowledge base of action plans that use easy and manageable steps for just about anything and everything.

Moteevate offers a ton of action plans on a wide range of topics like the arts, business and money, coaching and motivation, music, health and fitness, pets and many more.

You can also create your own goals and action plans and then recruit your social networks aka Facebook friends and motivate friends, to cheer you on and help you with your progress.

For instance, if you’re looking to lose weight you can set up an action plan for diet and exercise or use one of the suggested action plans via Moteevate. Either way, once you’ve picked your plan your friends can monitor your progress and help you out when you’re having an off day and cheer you on when you’re on target.

Moteevate has already helped users with job hunting, finishing their thesis, running, staying in shape while traveling and even conquering the medicine regiment associated with breast cancer. As they said in the interview below, Moteevate is for just about anything, and everything.

Check out the interview after the break.

Toronto Startup: Konekt.Me Helping Build Personal Brands INTERVIEW

You’ve probably been hearing more and more about personal brands lately, and that’s a good thing. Years ago, the contents of your personal brand typically fit on one or two sheets of quality 8 1/2 x 11 paper. If you were really lucky you had that really heavy paper with the lawyer finish. Resumes were about the only personal brand identifiers available. If you were in media that could be complimented by a head shot, with your resume on the back.

Nowadays with the web, photos, movies, and hot graphics your personal brand can tell a lot more of your story. Your personal brand can include your work history, education, likes, recreational activities, heck even pictures of your dogs and your cats. Now, personal brand is all about you.

Sure there are personal branding sites out there like about.me however Toronto startup Konekt.me is hoping to make their mark by offering an even easier to use platform and a method of uploading that will knock our socks off.

Konekt.me is based in Toronto and part of Project Rhino. We got to talk with Neil Martin one of the co-founders of Konekt.me in this interview below the break.

Vermont Startup: i-ask Mobile App Let’s You Get Feedback Instantly INTERVIEW

Burlington Vermont startup i-ask is all about asking questions and getting feedback instantly. The concept is the brain child of co-founder Steve Foley who used to take online surveys for fun. He was looking for a way to offer a question and answer format with instant feedback via a mobile app. It was that idea that is the foundation behind i-ask.

Imagine being at the store and not having a buddy with you to decide what to get. Or actually I had this exact experience last month at Best Buy when both the Nikon D3200 and the Nikon D5100 were the exact same price. Luckily I have 100,000 followers on Twitter and could solicit feedback really quickly however if I had i-ask I could just ask and for lack of a better word, crowdsource the answer.

Foley was able to solicit feedback for his startup from comedian and star of the CMT hit show “Mabe In America”, Tom Mabe, who said, ” I spend hours going through sites having to delete unwanted or unrelated comments made on my videos and content, i-ask would be the perfect choice for me to put my material on and I no longer need to worry about the feedback”.

We got a chance to talk with Steve about i-ask, check out the interview after the break
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Chicago Startup: Ox&Pen Loyalty & Reward Network INTERVIEW

Loyalty and Reward startups are hot right now. One thing that some of the newer entries into the space are learning is that people are tired of accumulating points and rewards at one place, that they can only spend at one place. Philadelphia’s Lokalty, DesMoines startup FreeBee Cards and Kansas’ Front Flip are all loyalty reward networks that allow users to earn points in one place and spend them at another.

Chicago’s Ox&Pen takes that reward philosophy and brings it to the bustling city of Chicago. Ox&Pen isn’t just about checkout reward points though. With the OxandPen app you can earn points by checking into network places, socially sharing network places and of course with purchase rewards.

The app is quite robust and feature packed while keeping the UI graphically rich and easily organized. There is also no printing involved with Ox&Pen, everything happens in-app including redemption.

With Ox&Pen once you accumulate enough in network points the rewards are free and require no additional purchase.

The best part about the network? It’s reserved for local, independent, unique merchants. You won’t find deals or rewards for big box national chains on Ox&Pen, but you will find promotions for Vera, The Fifty/50, Krista K Boutique, Bleeding Heart Bakery, Dog-a-holics, Roots Pizza and more (only in Chicago at this time). And, of course, you can earn loyalty points at these placesand redeem them anywhere in the network.

We got a chance to interview Ox&Pen, check out the interview below the break.

Austin Startup: BeDJ Bringing Turntable.FM To Real Life, This is Hot! INTERVIEW

By now most of us have had the great experience that is turntable.fm. Hanging out with friends in a virtual space, and going around the room and controlling the music. You get to be the dj and so do your friends. You get to control the music in the virtual room.

Now imagine if this concept was done in real life. For instance, you and your buddies go to the local sports bar and hang out. Now it’s 2012 so instead of a juke box, imagine if you could control the music in the bar or restaurant using your phone. Sure you can control the tv’s with an IR blaster and you may even be able to hack a stereo system, but imagine if it was encouraged. Imagine if you could BeDJ in real life.

That’s the technology behind Austin based startup BeDJ. It’s so hard for restaurants and bars to control the music in their establishments. They can never appease all of their clientele all the time. That’s why in the 60’s -80’s jukebox bars were hot because the people could put another dime in the jukebox and hear what they want.

BeDJ is offering a system/app for venues that allow their overhead music to be controlled by customers with a controller app. It’s a fermium service where venues will be able to get the music controller app for free, however they can upgrade to offer a more robust user experience and also deliver location based ads to their customers.

Imagine the benefit to a restaurant or bar that says, “select your next song and get half off your next round” well we’re definitely in on that deal even if we’re four or five rounds in. The social, customer, and reward element of BeDJ make it a great model for the establishment.

We got to talk in depth with co-founder Simeon Duong to hear all about this exciting startup. Check out the interview after the break
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Chicago Startup: Justice Bid, Bid Out Legal Projects INTERVIEW

Law firms spend millions of dollars a year contracting legal work out to third parties. Whether it be research, document reviews, investigative work or any of the hundreds of tasks that can be handled by third parties, there is an entire industry of service providers for law firms.

Typically law firms contract with one or two service providers for each type of outsourced work. Sometimes they spend more than they could on this legal work whether it be out of the convenience of using the same provider over and over again or there just aren’t enough service providers in their immediate local area to offer competitive pricing.

Also, as busy as legal firms are these days it’s hard to find the time to evaluate and outsource other service providers.

Now, a new Chicago startup called Justice Bid allows law firms to anonymously bid out projects to service providers and get the best quotes. Everyone knows that legal fees aren’t cheap but hopefully if law firms turn to this new service, and new way to bid out jobs, they could save their clients some money as well.

When the law firm is just billing the client back for this third party work anyway, as a client you would be happy to know they are looking to save you some money.

Justice Bid was founded by Omar Sweiss. Omar is an attorney himself and he founded Justice Bid by solving a problem that even his firm was experiencing.

We got the opportunity to talk with Justice Bid’s Chief Operating Officer Justin Strane about this new startup, in virtually its own space.

Check out the interview, after the break
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