StartUp Beat

Bio: Avi Basu is the founder and CEO of Connectiva and has been responsible for creating and executing Connectiva’s strategy since its inception. Under his leadership, Connectiva has transformed itself from an early stage product company into a leading global provider of revenue and risk management solutions. Avi has grown Connectiva’s revenues at more than 100 percent annually over the last four years by securing strategic sources of capital, leading major customer acquisitions and establishing key global alliances. Avi has over 17 years of experience in the communications and software industry and has held senior leadership positions in sales and business development, operations and professional services for global companies including LHS and SEMA.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Basu: My first entrepreneurial venture was actually Connectiva Systems, which I started in 2001. Connectiva Systems is a subscriber data monetization software company. We basically provide analytics solutions that help telecom, media and utility companies in many ways such as reducing revenue leakage, minimizing fraud, lowering churn, improving operational effectiveness and increasing overall profitability.

Continue reading "Startup Narratives: Avi Basu, founder, president and CEO of Connectiva Systems" »

Posted by startupbeat at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is meant to complement StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Suren Ramasubbu is a co-founder of Mobicip.com, a leading online child safety service for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PCs, laptops and netbooks. Mobicip’s mission is to provide a safe, secure and educational Internet experience for school-age children. Mobicip’s dynamic content filtering technology helps parents protect their children in the new era of Internet hazards stemming from anytime anywhere access on personal devices. Suren is a passionate advocate of mobile learning and Internet safety, and speaks or hosts panels at conferences and seminars on these topics for parents and educators. He has also served as a consultant for educational technology projects in K-12 schools and school districts. As an active member of the community, Suren has led successful United Way volunteering and fundraising campaigns. Before launching Mobicip.com, Suren was an Operating Manager at Agilent Technologies, responsible for a division’s enterprise web strategy. At Agilent, Suren has led the quality strategy, evangelized software engineering methods, and developed software used to design IC chips for mobile devices. He holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Ramasubbu: Growing up, I had always had an inclination towards standing on my own feet. My first entrepreneurial venture was in college when I decided to take on a reseller opportunity, selling kitchen knives, of all things. I had a successful run for a while and made some pocket money at the end of it, and I learned the highs and lows of making a sale.

Continue reading "Startup Narratives: Suren Ramasubbu, founder and CEO of Mobicip.com" »

Posted by startupbeat at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is meant to complement StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: PV Kannan is the founder of 24/7 Customer. He was among the finalists for the ‘Ernst &Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award’, 2010.

PV was featured as a thought leader in the field of global sourcing in 'The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,' a book by Tom Friedman, and also in 'Outsourcing Thought Leaders: Managing Business without Borders' by Booz Allen Hamilton. Prior to founding 24/7 Customer, Inc. in 2000, PV served in various leadership roles at KANA Software, Inc.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Kannan: My first entrepreneurial venture was Business Evolution—an online customer interaction company that became one of the leading providers to one of the top online retailers. In 1999, the company was acquired by our competitor, KANA Software.

Continue reading "Startup Narratives: PV Kannan, founder of 24/7 Customer" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Bio: Mr. Bui is a consumer software veteran with over two decades of experience leading and developing technology for top consumer brands that focus on usability and mass market acceptance such as Amazon.com, Visto.com, JavaSoft, and Apple. While at Amazon.com, Hong’s division was the driver for development of their award winning consumer shopping experience used by millions each day. His division also helped develop Amazon’s platform that has been a model of worldwide scalability. Prior to Amazon.com, Hong co-founded Visto and was instrumental to creating widely accepted mobile computing technology to compete with the Blackberry. At JavaSoft, he is credited with development of the Java Servlet standard that has since been adopted industry wide. Hong spent 7 years at Apple where he led teams to develop highly regarded workgroup software solutions and networking technology that is today’s standard for consumer excellence.

Continue reading "Startup Narratives: Hong Bui, founder of Visto and Memeo" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Paul King, founder, president, and board director, Hercules Networks/GoCharge—maker of a self-service mobile device charging kiosk that contains multiple charging tips for a convenient, powerful and safe charge for cell phones, blackberries, iPhones and other mobile devices. Mr. King is the founder of Hercules Networks and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, Magna Cum Laude. He was the founder of International Sales Team Realty generating more than $40 million in annual sales. He developed Chase Mortgage and New Wave Title Company in Sunny Isles Florida prior to commencing with Hercules. He was named in the top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25 by Business Week magazine 2009.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

King: I started a tennis camp when I was 18. It was a lot of fun. I got 20-25 kids per week for 6 weeks. We picked them up and dropped them off every day and worked with them from 10am-4pm. I was hooked after that experience.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Paul King, GoCharge] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Nick started his career as a webcasting executive in 1998 when he founded NextVenue Inc., TalkPoint’s predecessor company. NextVenue was created as an off-shoot of CNBC/ Dow Jones Desktop Video (a joint venture amongst Microsoft, NBC, and Dow Jones). Nick has previously served as an executive within Williams Communications Inc.’s Vyvx Broadband Media division. He served as president of Enterprise Services at IBeam Broadcasting and was a member of the company’s board. He holds an MBA from the Rutgers Graduate School of Management.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Balletta: My first startup venture was called Voyager Data Networks, which I started with a few friends in 1996. We had the idea that we could build a technology “hotel” for web servers. I was working for MFS communications as a sales rep at the time, and I pitched the idea to MFS. They were not receptive, so I parted ways with the company and started Voyager.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Nick Balletta, TalkPoint] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Zephrin Lasker is the co-founder and CEO of Pontiflex. A serial entrepreneur, Zephrin successfully launched two start-ups prior to Pontiflex: The North Road Group, an interactive agency, and Beautility, an e-commerce company. He also worked as Vice President of Business Development at i33 Communications and at Commerce One Global Services, managing Sprint’s new web initiatives. He has helped clients such as Cendant, EarthLink and eFax start relationships with more than 8 million customers.

Back in the day: Zephrin has a finance background, and worked for Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in mergers and acquisitions. He began his career as an Equity Analyst at Creditanstalt in Prague.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Lasker: I launched two start-ups prior to Pontiflex: The North Road Group, an interactive agency, and Beautility.com, an e-commerce company.

SUB: What prompted you to start Pontiflex? What was the inspiration behind the venture?

Lasker: Roshan Bangera, Geoff Grauer and I founded Pontiflex in 2008 because we wanted to start a technology company that helps make advertising relevant and useful, not intrusive and annoying. The initial idea was almost like PayPal for user data. Most online ads just take you to an advertisers’ site once you click on an ad. Those are what we call redirect ads. DoubleClick built a pipe for redirect ads. That is a well-understood, defined space with a solid infrastructure.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Zephrin Lasker, Pontiflex] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skimlinks co-founder and CEO Alicia Navarro is one of the few female tech entrepreneurs in London, having launched Skimbit.com in Australia before heading over to Europe to immerse herself in the world of tech startups, where she adapted her business quickly to launch Skimlinks.com.

Alicia's vision for Skimlinks is to see online publishers rewarded for the role they play in informing purchase decisions, by removing the technical and administrative complexities that hamper would-be affiliates. This, she believes, will help evolve affiliate marketing into a mainstream ubiquitous revenue model.

Alicia worked for over 10 years in internet applications, designing and launching mobile and internet-based applications in Australia and the UK. She has a Bachelor of Information Technology and the University Medal for Computing Sciences from the University of Technology, Sydney.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Navarro: My first entrepreneurial venture involved a foray into the beauty industry, manufacturing and selling lip gloss! In Australia, where I grew up, there’s an initiative called Young Achievers, where high school students get together and go through a life cycle of a business. We came up with the idea for a lip gloss range for men and women, and I became the managing director of Pout Lip Gloss. Within six months, we’d made a 320 percent profit, and we won Venture of the Year in the program. I was hooked.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Alicia Navarro, Skimlinks] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Tony is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur. In his role as CEO, Tony oversees all aspects of their rapidly growing business and plays a central role in developing and driving the company’s vision. Tony has over 20 years experience in developing successful startup technology companies. Prior to his involvement with mediaFORGE, Tony co-founded and served as CEO of ezADit.com, an online aggregator of offline college media—acquired by Y2M, a subsidiary of MTV Networks. Tony was also President and co-founder of Precision Data Link—which was acquired by The Profit Recovery Group (NASDAQ: PRGX) in 1998. In his role at PRG, Tony held a key position as Senior Vice President where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations, strategy and growth of the Logistics Management Division and was tasked with identifying, managing and integrating five additional acquisitions. Tony is an active member of the Utah Technology Council and is passionate about technology and marketing. Tony is an accomplished musician, enjoys outdoor sports, and spending time with his family.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Zito: I played in a band in high school. We wanted to make a CD and none of us had money to pay for it, so we developed a plan to raise money through live performances and by collecting small investments from friends and family. We successfully raised the money needed to make our CD, which generated enough sales revenue to fund a second album. It was a great experience in fund raising, marketing, budgeting, etc.

The budding entrepreneurial spirit I felt as a teenager was realized professionally when I started a telesales company in 1992 that sold household products to consumers with door-to-door delivery. During the two years I ran the company, we grew from one lone office to seven offices across the Rocky Mountain region and employed as many as 60 people when I sold the company.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Tony Zito, mediaFORGE] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Adam founded Model Metrics in an effort to accelerate the adoption of Cloud Computing within enterprise organizations, with the goal of bringing these companies all the value of the technology, from rapid implementation to ease of use, enhanced analytics, and tremendous ROI. Adam earned his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a board member of the Illinois Technology Association and a member of the Kellogg School Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Caplan: This is my first.

SUB: What prompted you to start Model Metrics in the first place?

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Adam Caplan, Model Metrics] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Skiddy von Stade, co-founder, Chairman & CEO, OneWire

Skiddy was founder and served as President of F.S. von Stade & Associates from 1995 to 2007, which was voluntarily dissolved upon founding of OneWire. Prior F.S. von Stade & Associates, Mr. von Stade was Head of the New York office of The Oxbridge Group, an executive search firm specializing in the financial services industry. Before becoming an executive search specialist, Mr. von Stade rose through the ranks from Junior Associate to Vice President at Alexander and Alexander, an international insurance brokerage firm. His excellent performance was rewarded as he became the youngest employee invited to join the Summit Club, a membership he held during the last three years with the firm. Mr. von Stade graduated from the University of Vermont. An outdoorsman and conservationist, he serves as an advisor to the Board of Trustees of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Brin McCagg, co-founder, President & COO, OneWire

Brin has more than 20 years of entrepreneurial executive management experience. Between 2003 and 2007 Brin served on an Executive team managing the turnaround of two companies owed by the private equity firms ABS Capital Partners and Monitor Clipper Partners. From 1998 to 2001, Brin founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of TradeOut Inc., an internet based liquidator of excess business inventory. TradeOut was funded and partnered with GE, Goldman Sachs, eBay and Chase Bank. The company filed to go public in 2000 but was ultimately sold. In 1991 Brin co-founded and managed Full Circle, Inc, a hazardous waste recycling company, and served as President. In 1995 he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer when the company merged with Environmental Technologies, Inc., a NASDAQ listed company, which he managed through mid 1997. Brin started his career as an investment banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Brin received his MBA from The Wharton School.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

von Stade: In 1995, I founded and managed a successful executive search firm that was focused on financial services recruiting.

McCagg: I am a serial entrepreneur.  In 1983, while in college, I started a company that imported Aborigine art from Australia. In 1991, I co-founded and managed Full Circle, Inc., a hazardous waste recycling company. In addition, I founded and served as chief executive officer of TradeOut, Inc., an Internet based liquidator of excess business inventory. OneWire is my fourth entrepreneurial venture.

SUB: What prompted you to start OneWire?

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Skiddy von Stade and Brin McCagg, OneWire] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Siamak Taghaddos is the co-founder and CEO of Grasshopper, a company which has empowered over 100,000 entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses with a Virtual Phone System. A lifelong student of marketing, Siamak is one of the youngest CEOs to be named to Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies and is the founding supporter of National Entrepreneurs Day. Find Siamak on Twitter - @siamak.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Taghaddos: I had a few random ones growing up including computer repair “firm” in middle school but my first real venture was PagerWholesale.com. After someone difficulty finding a cheap pager on a high school kid’s budget I found a cheap distributor in California, setup a website, and resold pagers throughout the US to kids and small businesses. A few years later I sold the site to the distributors and founded Grasshopper.

SUB: What prompted you to start Grasshopper in the first place?

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Siamak Taghaddos, Grasshopper] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Robert Jordan has been launching and growing companies and helping other entrepreneurs do the same for the past 20 years. He is author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America (RedFlash Press), a collection of interviews from 45 leading founders who created $41 billion from scratch. His first startup, Online Access, landed on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies. Jordan’s newest endeavors are RedFlash project implementation team, and interimCEOinterimCFO, a worldwide network of interim, contract and project executives. He blogs for Huffington Post, and has appeared on Good Morning America Money and ABC News, and been interviewed and quoted in such print and online media as Bloomberg Business Week, Forbes.com, Crain’s Chicago Business, and USA Today. Find out more at www.HowTheyDidIt.com.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

Jordan: I started Online Access, the first Internet coverage magazine, midway through business school; I dropped out of school as soon as the business plan was done. That was my first full-time company with investors and employees. Before that I dabbled. I started a coupon book in high school, kind of like a competitor to the Entertainment Coupon Book, just for companies around Chicago. And then when I started in B-school, the Chicago Cubs made it into the playoffs, and we created a version of the Trivial Pursuit board game, called Cubs Mania. Even though the Cubs lost in the 5th game (of course), we sold tens of thousands of games and that paid my tuition bills.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Robert Jordan, Online Access] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Editor’s Note: This is a new Q&A series from StartUp Beat that features entrepreneurs who have successfully guided their startups (or multiple startups) to maturity. It is a complement to StartUp Beat’s coverage of new, early-stage startups and an effort to provide further insight into the fascinating experiences of tech entrepreneurs.

Bio: Bob La Loggia is CEO of Appointment-Plus, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based provider of online scheduling solutions for small and large businesses, Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, government agencies and other organizations. He has over 20 years of experience in the technology arena. Bob began his career at Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, where he gained valuable experience in systems development methodology and business operations. This experience prepared him for independent consulting roles with several Fortune 500 companies, including American Express and Honeywell. Bob started his first company in 1993, and has since been involved in four startups. As CEO, he has grown Appointment-Plus into the leading cloud-based scheduling software application used to book over 1.5 million appointments each month and over 65 million appointments since its inception. Bob graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems. He earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix.

SUB: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

La Loggia: In 1993, after being on the road for five years, I quit Accenture to start my first venture. I had always had an interest in health and fitness, so I developed a daily fitness planner called The Pocket Personal Trainer. It was like a DayTimer, but included meal and workout planning and tracking.

Although I had learned a lot about business while with Accenture, I really had no idea how to start and grow a company. But, true to my nature, I dove in headfirst. After numerous failed attempts to get the product picked up by large retailers, I settled on mail order as the primary distribution channel.

Continue reading "Entrepreneur Narratives: How [Bob La Loggia, founder of Appointment-Plus] Did It" »

Posted by startupbeat at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)