StartUp Beat

LionSaves.com seeks to help homeowners more accurately and effectively navigate the debt refinancing waters.  Founded by loan-industry veteran Mike Sweeney, the web site made its public debut late last year.

SUB: When was the company founded, and how did the idea come about?

Sweeney: I’ve been a loan officer for 15 years now and I first had the idea in the spring of 2006.  I realized there are so many homeowners who have no idea how much they can save by refinancing their debt into a mortgage.  I also kept hearing people say they were fed up with well known mortgage sites taking their contact info and then being hounded by calls.  One morning I woke up and the idea just kind of hit me.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized it could be huge.  After programming and reprogramming for over a year, we finally beta launched in the fall of 2007.

SUB: What is the site’s primary value proposition?

Sweeney: It's a tool, a mortgage calculator for refinancing debt.  It runs thousands of calculations based on live interest rates to give accurate and personal answers.  Yet, it's very easy to use.  And, it lets the user remain anonymous.  We don't ask for any contact info.  It empowers the user with answers instead of hassling them with calls.

SUB: Who do you see as your competition?

Sweeney: No one.  There’s no other site attempting this.  There are plenty of sites with mickey mouse calculators and there are plenty of sites who will take your name and number to sell you off as a lead.  But no site gives complete and personal answers while letting you remain anonymous.  It’s web 2.0 at its finest.

The well known mortgage sites have run their course.  Zillow has taken a step in the right direction with its mortgage marketplace but is still lagging.  This is three steps ahead of anything out there.

Trust is probably the main hurdle in the mortgage industry right now—especially online.  The brand that builds trust with the consumer will beat all competitors.  You build trust by giving accurate information while treating the user with respect.

SUB: Can you describe the underlying technology behind the site, and how the site works for users?

Sweeney: I sure can.  We took a somewhat novel approach to the technical architecture.  The site balances the need to execute so many complex formulas and the need to be immediate.  The key was to rethink how to use the database.  Instead of only storing traditional data such as user information and loan scenarios, it also stores programming commands, which can then be pulled and run “on the fly.”

This greatly improves the user experience.  The end result is an application that allows users to get answers in seconds by having the pages draw commands from the database and execute them as needed in the browser.  Essentially the pages can program themselves, which is pretty cool.  We’ve blurred the line between server-side and client-side programming.  Otherwise, you’d have to constantly wait for pages to reload which would drive the user bonkers.

One of the interesting challenges we faced were the circular references.  That was tricky.  As one example, in order to calculate the new loan amount it needs to determine the interest rate, but in order to determine the interest rate it needs to know the loan amount.  We were finally able to come up with a creative targeting approach that essentially makes it think, so to speak.

It takes into account everything from determining if a borrower can drop PMI, to pulling live interest rates, to calculating the escrow account and to the FHA loan limits in the borrower’s county.  When somebody wants to see what happens when they take out more or less cash, they can see the payment and interest rate update instantly.  Since this is first and foremost an educational tool, I wanted to let the customer ‘play’ as much as they wanted.  In order to do that, it had to be extremely liquid.

A side benefit of this approach is that none of this type of ‘playing around’ within a scenario places any demand on the server, it's all client side.  This makes the site very scalable.

SUB: Have you raised any outside funding to this point?

Sweeney: No, 100 percent bootstrapped.  Sold my Harley, my ‘66 GTO and my rental properties to make it happen.  We’re in seven states right now and have a patent pending.  To really ignite this, I want to take it nationwide and that will require funding.

SUB: Are you actively looking for financing?  Do you have a timeline for raising outside funding? 

Sweeney: I don’t have a timeline, per se, I’m more concerned about having the right fit that’ll be a good long term solution rather than rushing into it.

LionSaves - www.lionsaves.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Spot Runner, founded in 2004, is on a mission to make advertising across various media easier and more accessible.  The company makes the entire process of buying and executing advertising on television, the web, radio or out-of-home, available through its service—everything from buying ad time or space, to production of advertisements and creative. 

SUB: What need does Spot Runner address?

Gentry: Spot Runner is developing new technology solutions to fulfill and address the needs of both advertisers and media companies as the landscape continues to evolve.  Our mission is to make advertisers successful by revolutionizing the entire advertising process—including the way ads are created, targeted, planned, bought and sold.  The company levels the playing field by giving advertisers of all sizes access to products and services that were previously unavailable or out of reach.

The ad industry is undergoing a sea change thanks to an increasingly fragmented media environment.  Consumers are now getting information and entertainment from many different sources and advertisers can now utilize multiple channels to reach audiences with highly targeted messages.  In order to advertise efficiently, new technology solutions are required to automate aspects of the creative production, information sharing, and the media buying and selling process.  At the same time, businesses of all sizes need a more seamless, easy and more affordable solution to access and employ effective advertising.  Spot Runner is developing those solutions.

SUB: How did the idea for the company come about?

Gentry: Spot Runner was founded in 2004 by co-founders and tech industry veterans Nick Grouf and David Waxman.  Grouf and Waxman have launched several successful startups, first joining forces in 1995 to create Firefly Network, which was acquired by Microsoft in 1998.  Its core product, the Firefly Passport, became the foundation for Microsoft’s Passport and .NET initiatives.  Next, they launched PeoplePC, which went public in 2000 and was acquired by EarthLink in 2002.

After PeoplePC, they took a break to work on the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign.  During the course of the campaign, they saw firsthand the power of TV to get a candidate’s message out and influence voters.  But they also saw how complex and expensive it was to produce an ad and get it on air.  They believed that technology could help make TV advertising more affordable and accessible for local businesses and put them on a level playing field with larger competitors.

Since its launch, Spot Runner has expanded its capabilities to include not only TV, but radio, online, print and out-of-home.  Spot Runner has a successful track record of working with businesses of all sizes and using proprietary technologies to optimize their campaigns.

SUB: How do customers use the service?

Gentry: Spot Runner’s customers can access our services in several ways, including through our web site, phone and email.

Continue reading "Q&A with John Gentry, President, Spot Runner" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The team at MaxLinear, based in Carlsbad, in Southern California, has developed integrated circuit (IC) semiconductor technology that has applications for various consumer electronics devices.  The company has focused on television in particular, and claims to be the first to deliver on the promise of an easy-to-use silicon solution to enable TV on any device.  MaxLinear was founded in 2003 and is led by a management team with deep experience in semiconductors.

E.Factor, based in New York City, exists in the online business networking market (think LinkedIn, Ryze, etc.), and was founded in 2007 by Adrie Reinders, Roeland Reinders and Marion Freijsen.  The three had previously collaborated on two books about entrepreneurship before starting the site, which differentiates itself with its focus on entrepreneurs.  StartUp Beat recently did a Q&A with co-founder Adrie Reinders to find out more about the company.

SUB: What primary need does E.Factor address?

Adrie Reinders: Actually, it’s four needs that all entrepreneurs have in their lives—build your business; find funding; save costs; and expert advice and information.

SUB: What exactly can entrepreneurs do on the site?

Adrie Reinders: Entrepreneurs can find funding, get expert advice, network, live chat, post classified ads, post multimedia ads, sell goods and services, attend events, and have access to resources and tools that one needs to help grow their business.

SUB: How do you make money?

Adrie Reinders: From premium memberships, sponsorships and our own Satellites that allow us to bring groups to the platform based on a white-label basis.

SUB: Please explain what the Satellites are, and how they work.

Adrie Reinders: The Satellites are white label community networks that allow the content and information to be controlled by the network owner.  For example Cambridge University’s Judge Business School has a satellite (http://cambridge.efactor.com) which it uses to communicate with students and alumni and allow them to connect in a community sense.

SUB: How did the idea for the company come about?

Adrie Reinders: The E.Factor is a unique global community for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.  Roeland Reinders, Marion Freijsen and myself, all serial entrepreneurs, founded the company after the success of our jointly-authored book on networking, “The N Factor.”  We began writing a second entitled “E.Factor”—the topic being entrepreneurship, and as a way of gathering insight and feedback and sharing information, we set up a web site.  The concept of sharing information amongst entrepreneurs proved to be so interesting that we decided to broaden the scope and use of the site to entrepreneurs globally.  It proved to be the beginning of something wonderful—the E.Factor.

The E.Factor is a virtual economy and a network comprised of one factor—growing businesses.  By giving entrepreneurs and investors tools both online and offline, our members can connect, promote and find funding all in one location.

In addition to being an online platform, the E.Factor holds 100 events per annum, in keeping with its founders’ belief that business relationships are built on face-to-face contact and trust.  The E.Factor team believes in sharing knowledge and helping others, and recognizes that as a group you are stronger than on your own.  We believe all entrepreneurs have some unique piece of knowledge or an extraordinary skill with which they can help other entrepreneurs.  Bringing that together is what we call the E.Factor—that extra something, which is almost indefinable but which can make all the difference.

SUB: How do customers use the service?

Adrie Reinders: Both online and, of course, by attending events and coming to the E.Factor lounges where they can meet other E.Factor members.

SUB: Who do you consider your competitor(s)?

Adrie Reinders: No one out there that is covering all aspects of what we do, from online to offline, with the different services.  There are no real competitors that encompass all of the services that the E.Factor provides to its members.

SUB: How has the company been financed to this point?  Who are your investors?

Adrie Reinders: 25 percent of equity sold to friends and family, other then that self-funded.

SUB: How many customers do you have, and what markets do you target?

Adrie Reinders: 50 thousand members in 3 months, considered the fastest growing social network out there.  Our targets are entrepreneurs, small businesses and investors.

SUB: How much do you charge for E.Factor memberships?

Adrie Reinders: We offer “Business Class” memberships for $15 per month, and a premium “First Class” membership for $50 per month.

Posted by startupbeat at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Communicado is a Unified Communications Management company that offers software to help businesses of various sizes manage their communications environments.  Its flagship product is its Streamline software.  Based in Santa Ana in Southern California, the company was founded in 2001 as SyncVoice by Kerry and Kevin Shih.  StartUp Beat connected with Kerry Shih, now Chief Strategist at Communicado, to find out more about the company.

SUB: What primary need does Communicado address?

Shih: Microsoft’s focus of current and future releases of Office on Unified Communications dotted the “I”, and IBM’s billion-dollar investment crossed the “T”.  Companies need the reduced human latency and improved process flows of Unified Communications, or UC, to compete.  Companies are looking to their trusted local Value Added Resellers (VARs) to implement Unified Communications for them because it’s a very complex melding of IP telephony and advanced collaboration applications.  They also want to minimize the risk of making this complex new technology mission critical by having VARs with UC expertise manage it for them.  Communicado Streamline allows VARs to remotely manage their customers’ Unified Communications infrastructure.

SUB: How do you make money?  What is your revenue model?

Shih: Communicado Streamline is Software as a Service sold by subscription.  Our revenue-share model allows resellers to move into high-margin Managed Services very quickly and without big capital expenditure.  As a result, adoption of Streamline by the channel is rapid and results in a recurring annuity revenue stream to Communicado.

SUB: How did the idea for the company come about?

Shih: Channel partners asked SyncVoice, the previous incarnation of Communicado that sold call accounting software to Telecommunications departments, to give them a platform for managing their customers’ ever-more-complex converged and unified communications environments.  We renamed the company Communicado to reflect the broader agenda of enabling real-time person-to-person communications.  Streamline combines what we’d learned managing more than 1,000 customer sites with the know-how and requirements of strategic partners to launch Communicado with Streamline as our flagship product.

SUB: How do customers use the service?

Shih: Our Value Added Reseller customers use Streamline to become Managed Service Providers to their customers.  Streamline’s flexibility allows management responsibilities for the end-user organization’s infrastructure to be fully outsourced or shared, depending on the end user’s abilities and preferences.  Advanced end user organizations can even use Streamline’s tools and operational workflows to manage their central and remote converged network environments themselves.

SUB: Who do you consider your competition?

Shih: Streamline competes with a set of products organizations integrate to provide the same functionality.  They might combine the Managed Services enablement of N-Able with two products from NetIQ that provide the ability to assess the network before deployment and a second to manage and troubleshoot the Quality of Service issues that bedevil IP telephony, then add a product from BMC that provides the ability to manage complex interdependent application environments.

SUB: How has the company been financed to this point?  Who are your investors?

Shih: SoftBank Capital, Clearstone Venture Partners, and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners invested $11.6 million in Series B financing into Communicado.

SUB: Who are your target customers, and how many do you currently have?

Posted by startupbeat at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Kannuu offers an accurate, easy to use word completion technology for devices like MP3 players and mobile phones that enables data entry without a keyboard or number/letter pad.  The company, based in Irving, Texas, was founded in 2006 by current CTO Kevin Dinn.  StartUp Beat got the scoop on kannuu from CEO Sean-Michael Daley.

SUB: What primary need does kannuu address?

Daley: The need to be able to find exactly what you are looking for in only a matter of clicks.  No need for a keyboard.  There are large amounts of digital content and data available to us now, and kannuu empowers users with the easiest way to navigate through massive digital libraries and find precisely what is queried all in just a few clicks.  No need to know correct spelling, and it’s not frustrating T9.

SUB: How do you make money?  What is your revenue model?

Daley: Licensing the technology to online and on-device needs.

SUB: How did the idea for the service come about?

Daley: Long story short, our founder was “in the labs” at a major mobile device manufacturer looking for a more efficient way to do text-entry, and discovered—and later patented—the algorithms.

SUB: How do people use the service?

Daley: On line, on device.  Wherever there is a database and a device with four-way directional arrow keys, kannuu can be used—set-top boxes, GPS, iPhone/mobile phones, MP3 players, etc.

SUB: Who do you consider your competitor(s)?

Daley: There’s really not one, there are lots of “search/lookup” solutions out there, but none of them come close to providing the depth and breath of what kannuu offers, with such ease of use for the end-user.  I guess if I had to name one, I suppose it would be users not knowing what they are missing.  We have a saying, “People don’t know what they don’t know.”  In other words, no one has solved this look-up/finding solution until us, so people don’t know what they are missing, if they’ve never experienced the accuracy and elegance of our solutions.

SUB: How has the company been financed to this point?  Who are your investors?

Daley: We are Angel funded, currently.  However, we are gearing up to raise capital.

SUB: As a company, what have your big wins been so far (customers, partners, etc.)?

Daley: We just announced our first commercial deal with Coby Electronics, where we are powering their MP3 music player user interface and search/look-up functionality.  We recently launched our kannuu Developer Network (kDN) and we are inspiring innovators to use our SDK in their applications.  More deal announcements are coming soon.

kannuu: www.kannuu.com

Posted by startupbeat at 07:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Shopit is an e-commerce service that enables the sharing, publishing, and selling of products and information on multiple platforms online.  Products and services can be directly linked from Shopit to any web site including social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, Blogger, LiveJournal, and Xanga.

The company is based in Brentwood, California, and currently has 18 full-time staff.  It was founded in August, 2007 by entrepreneur Matt Hill.  StartUp Beat connected with James Revell, SVP of Marketing for Shopit, to find out more.

SUB:  What primary need does Shopit address?

Revell:  Shopit enables those web users who are new to e-commerce and those who have been selling online for a long time to monetize their existing network of friends on social destinations like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo at no charge to them.  With the Shopit Store App users can download the store right to their social network profile page.

SUB:  How did the idea for the service come about?

Revell:  Shopit was started out of a growing need for users of social networks to be able to conduct commerce by the simple means of showing products and services and items that they are interested in selling or buying from within their social network page.

SUB:  Was there a specific “moment” when the founder came up with the idea?

Revell:  After Shopping.com, for which Matt Hill was one of the original founding investors and employees, sold in 1999 to Compaq for $220 million, Matt saw the trend or second wave of e-commerce come in the form of shopping comparison.  He felt strongly that the third revolution in e-commerce would be peer to peer commerce outside great companies like eBay and Amazon empowering commerce in social communities and everyday communication like IM chat and email.

SUB:  How do users build their widgets?  How customizable are they?

Revell:  Shopit users can build their widget by simply downloading it.  From there, they can import an existing product set from their eBay or Yahoo Store, or import the products via a .CSV file.  It’s very easy to do.  Customization is pretty flexible in that users can change the copy, background colors, and header image.  It's been built to allow the user to play around with it, make it unique to them.

SUB:  Are users able to measure the performance of their widgets?

Revell:  Shopit currently does not have a tool for use to measure performance of the widgets, but enhanced tracking metric solutions are in the works.

SUB:  Are users able to place their widgets on any social networking service?

Revell:  Shopit’s widget is compatible with MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, Blogger, LiveJournal, Xanga, and dozens more social networks.  It's also compatible with most traditional e-commerce sites such as eBay, Craigslist, Yahoo Stores and Amazon, so users can expand the visibility of what they're already selling on eBay across their chosen social networks.

SUB:  Who do you consider your competitors?

Revell:  Others that are giving it a go that might be similar, but not exactly the same include Cartfly and Lemonade.

SUB:  How has the company been financed to this point?  Who are your investors?

Revell:  After a successful friends and family round, the company closed a series A round led by Propulsion Ventures Inc.

SUB:  How many users do you have, and what are their general demographics?

Revell:  Shopit currently has over 200,000 stores.  General demographics of our users are social network and e-commerce centric folks.

Shopit: www.shopit.com

Continue reading "Q&A with Shopit" »

Posted by startupbeat at 06:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)