With the uncertain status of the stock market, more individual investors are looking for help. That specific niche is one that Portfolio Monkey could fill.

Available at PortfolioMonkey.com, this financial startup will allow users to analyze and optimize their portfolio and also generate customized stock tips based off the portfolio characteristics.

Portfolio Monkey was recently named as one of Startup 2009’s ten finalists. To learn more about this startup, I interviewed Jay Liao, the founder of Portfolio Monkey.

Portfolio Monkey (Image: PortfolioMonkey.com)

Stephen Kersey: Can you tell the StartupSpark readers a little bit more about PortfolioMonkey.com? What makes your startup better than the competition?

Jay Liao: Portfolio Monkey provides simple to use and intelligent online investment tools to help level the playing field for self-guided investors. Our consumer-focused tools help investors optimize and rebalance their portfolios, assess risk, and develop investing and trading ideas that are customized to their portfolios. Unlike many traditional providers that focus only on the asset class level, our portfolio optimization tools provides analysis at the individual stock level.

SK: What do you enjoy the most about the startup process?

JL: The creative process of brainstorming ideas and working with a team to help turn those idea into something tangible gets me most fired up about working in a startup. The startup process, itself, is a journey filled with so many up’s and down’s - experiences that you could probably never replicate in a corporate setting; I’m definitely enjoying the ride.

SK: What have been the most difficult obstacles your startup has faced?

JL: Well, one thing that has been particularly challenging for us is the timing and magnitude of the stock market meltdown, which accelerated during fall of last year, soon after we launched our alpha site. Generally speaking, during rough economic patches, the majority of people tend to shy away from investing, instead, choosing to wait for signs of a market recovery before they start to invest or make changes to their portfolio. On a macro level, obviously this has affected the usage of our product.

We’ve been fortunate, however, to attract a group of early users that believe (like we do), that a downturn is the best time to reposition their portfolios, to actively manage their downside risk, and to look for bargains in the stock market.

SK: What tips do you have for other entrepreneurs who are thinking about joining the startup world?

JL: One of the toughest parts about joining the startup world is that initial step of committing yourself. It’s so easy to make excuses and to psych ourselves out into not taking that plunge. If you can get past that and just do it, you’ll find it’s a lot more exhilarating to be swimming (or sinking) than watching others do it.

SK: What has your experience been like with Startup 2009 so far? Are you excited about your chances of winning the grand prize on June 3rd?

JL: We’re definitely excited to be named a finalist for Startup 2009. Given our location out west, it’s a good opportunity for us to reach out to a NY-based audience. We’re looking forward to getting the word out and competing for the grand prize.

SK: What are Portfolio Monkey’s short-term and long-term goals?

JL: We’re currently working on launching our beta site (scheduled for end of summer) which incorporates a lot of our initial user feedback, provides new features and added functionality as well as a slicker UI. In the longer term, we’ll continue to work on adding new features, but will be also be more partner focused. Stay tuned.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Lisa M. Maki, the President of BeliefNetworks, Inc. During the interview, she discusses the past, current and future of BeliefNetworks, Inc., the startup company that was recently named as a Top 10 finalist for Startup 2009 and also made TechJournal South’s 2009 list of the top 50 technology and biotechnology companies.

BeliefNetworks, Inc. (Image: BeliefNetworks.net)

Stephen Kersey: Can you tell the StartupSpark.com community some more about BeliefNetworks, Inc.? What makes your startup better than the competition?

Lisa M. Maki: BeliefNetworks, Inc. is a high-tech startup based in Charleston, SC. We have built a disruptive technology applying semantic intelligence and predictive analytics to provide Web Publishers with greater ad and site performance.

BeliefNetworks is a team of scientists and experienced industry veterans who have built everything from successful startups to audio and media system support for OS X and Vista. We bring startup know-how and years of innovating in the areas of real-time content optimization.

SK: Are you excited about your chances of winning the grand prize on June 3rd? What has your experience been like with Startup 2009 so far?

LMM: We are psyched to represent the southeast in this year’s Startup 2009 and we think our technology, team and ability to execute—particularly in the current economic environment—makes us a great contender for the prize!

SK: What has been the most difficult obstacle to date in the startup process?

LMM: For us, the most difficult obstacle has been our location. We have had to dispel doubts that a team and company like BeliefNetworks can come from the South.

We have succeeded by consistently attracting and keeping top talent from around the country in some of the most marketable fields such as; machine learning, semantic intelligence and software engineering—and executing on our vision (as evidenced by our inclusion in the Startup 2009 Top 10!)

SK: Speaking of the startup process, what do you enjoy the most about it?

LMM: Creating something from nothing that can change the world with some of the finest professionals in the industry.

SK: For entrepreneurs who are thinking about creating a startup business, what is your best advice?

LMM: Do it now. And, if you do, never give up.

SK: What are the short-term and long-term goals for BeliefNetworks, Inc.?

LMM: Short term, we are in discussions with premium Web publishers to begin our first customer deployments. Longer term, we expect to become a forerunner over the next 3-5 years as the reference in semantic intelligence and predictive analytics for premium content and ad placement.

Good Health Advertising is a leading medical and health online advertising service company. Reaching nearly 17 million people each month, GoodHealthAdvertising.com is definitely an up-and-coming startup in the industry.

Good Health Advertising (GoodHealthAdvertising.com Screen Shot)

On June 3rd, Good Health Advertising will compete with ten other startup companies in Startup 2009. To learn more about GoodHealthAdvertising.com, I conducted an email interview with Robert Kadar, the President of Good Health Advertising Inc.

Stephen Kersey: Can you tell our readers a bit more about GoodHealthAdvertising.com?

Robert Kadar: Good Health Advertising is a top 10 online Health Advertising Network.  We represent a collection of quality sites, email lists, widgets and applications that connects health-focused advertisers with consumers, patients and medical professionals.    We launched in late 2007 and we’re already ranked by comScore as being in the top 10 among many of the established leaders in the Health category online.  With our broad reach and flexible solutions we can provided targeted online campaigns for the most conservative pharmaceutical companies who want to target patients engaged within condition-specific content as well as more direct response oriented health advertisers selling products or services online.  We work with many of the top pharmaceutical brands and CPG brands as well as many smaller, lesser known brands active in the Health category.  We’re based in New York City and are supported by a group of active Angel investors.

SK: With regard to Startup 2009, how has your experience been so far?

RK: We are honored to have been selected as a finalist in the Startup 2009 competition.  Out of over 150 applications, ten were selected to present and we’re thrilled to have made the cut.

SK: For Good Health Advertising, what have been the most difficult startup-related challenges?

RK: Attracting the right people is always a challenge.  A startup can be a very exciting place to work but it’s not for everyone.  Finding people who understand that a startup is different than a “normal” corporate job can be a challenge.

SK: What do you enjoy the most about the startup process?

RK: What I enjoy most about the startup is the ability to make things happen quickly without having to overcome a lot of typical corporate inertia.  In a startup you are rewarded for thinking fast and acting fast.  Also the process of building something from scratch is very rewarding.  After being a carpenters assistant for a long time eventually you want to try your hand at building your own house.  That’s what launching a startup is all about.

SK: What tips do you have for other startup-minded entrepreneurs?

RK: Be sure you think to carefully think through your business model and stress test it with colleagues and business leaders in your category. Make sure it’s in a category you know like the back of your hand and that your revenue model makes sense and is aligned with your financing expectations.  In the current economic environment it’s harder than ever to raise funding.  However if you can show some good initial traction attracting customers and revenue, then you are much more likely to find your prince.  But you will still need to kiss a lot of frogs!

SK: What are Good Health Advertising’s short-term and long-term goals?

RK: Our short term and long term goals are aligned now – grow the reach of the network, innovative on the technology and ad targeting side, grow the team and grow the business!

A few days ago, we highlighted StartUpHire.com, a website where you can find a job with a venture capital backed startup company. If you want to enter the startup world, this is a fantastic resource.

For venture capital backed startups, StartUpHire.com makes posting a job easy. By posting the jobs to such a niche job search website, the results are sure to be better than a traditional option.

To learn more about StartUpHire.com, I interviewed co-founder Steve Fredrick, who is also a General Partner at Grotech Ventures.

Stephen Kersey: Can you tell us a little bit about StartUpHire.com? What types of jobs are available for those who want to enter the startup world?

Steve Fredrick: The StartUpHire mission is to connect talented individuals to exciting career opportunities at venture backed companies and to accelerate the team building process for these companies and their investors. These are tremendously exciting opportunities, but they historically have been difficult to identify. Professionals can now leverage StartUpHire to search thousands of opportunities at thousands of venture backed companies and can elect to be notified by email of new jobs matching a user-defined criteria. The underlying job descriptions indicate that skill levels for these new jobs span the entire spectrum from machinist to nursing to sales to engineering to cancer research, etc. It is really quite impressive.

SK: What would you tell someone who is worried about joining a startup? What are the pros and cons compared to a non-startup job?

SF: Startup companies are often demanding in terms of time and work required, but now might be the best time to consider one – as any startup that can survive and thrive in recessionary times has a good chance of success once the economy recovers. And startups, more than established companies, offer opportunities for employees to make serious money in the long term through stock options. Employment at a venture backed startups is every bit as stable as that of large companies in this climate. They don’t all make it, but you at least see it coming…

SK: StartUpHire.com launched the search engine a few months ago. Are you happy with this addition to the website?

SF: The reception and response has been tremendous. StartUpHire has clearly filled a long standing void, and we look forward to serving the entrepreneurial community.

SK: For a startup company that wants to post a job listing on StartUpHire.com, can you explain the process? What are the requirements?

SF: Posting jobs on StartUpHire is currently restricted to venture capital backed companies. Companies sign-up at StartUpHire.com. We verify their venture backed status, and they then receive access to a set of Employer tabs. Posting a job is quick and simple, perhaps 2-3 minutes. Companies can also deploy a free StartUpHire widget on their own website to display these same jobs in that setting if they do not already.

SK: Going forward, what are the long-term goals for StartUpHire.com?

SF: This initiative was established to serve a defined community of emerging growth companies, the investors who fund them, and the professionals who seek them out for employment. We’ll look to continue enhancing the platform to serve this constituency and will ultimately measure our success by how well we do so.

Find a Job (Image: StartUpHire.com)

Micronotes.com is definitely a startup company to keep your eye on. Utilizing innovative technology, Micronotes plans to further incentivize the online bill paying process for both consumer brands and the online bill payers. On one end of the transaction, bill payers will be given an opportunity to save money. On the other end, consumer brands will be able to communicate with online users at the most opportune moment possible. With more and more people looking to save money, their technology could be a hit for all parties involved.

About a week ago, Micronotes was named one of the Top 10 finalists for Startup 2009. I interviewed Merritt Mayher, the COO of Micronotes, to learn more about this exciting startup.

Stephen Kersey: Can you explain the Micronotes.com service to our readers?

Merritt Mayher: At Micronotes, consumer brands pay cash savings that get applied directly in the online bill-pay session in exchange for sustained communications and the opportunity to make customized offers to online bill payers. Our patent-pending SaaS technology enables us to access online bill-payers through bank partnerships and to generate bank revenue for online bill-pay platforms. We create value for full opt-in online consumer interactions between banks, brands and consumers. We connect the consumer’s desire to save with the most relevant consumer brands to their lifestyles in a collaborative, uncluttered communication opportunity where savings matter: the moment of bill payment.

Our product addresses the ever present tradeoff between reach and relevance for marketers.  Unlike current interactive and print direct marketing tools, including direct mail and email, which are all interruption-based, we deliver permission based communications tailored by the consumer through their answers to segmenting questions.  Our proprietary technology transforms the time consumers spend paying their bills online into cash savings on their bills while delivering cost savings and direct marketing ROI to consumer brands. Micronotes allows consumer brands to compare, listen and measure what consumers say with what they actually do.

SK: Congrats on being named one of the ten finalists for the Startup 2009 grand prize. Are you excited about your chances?

MM: We’re delighted to be a finalist in the Startup 2009 competition, the Business Insider team has made our experience very smooth.  We’re confident that our idea, team, and presentation will be a strong contender for the grand prize.

SK: All startups have obstacles they have to overcome. What obstacles has Micronotes faced?

MM: Like most startups, we’ve been evolving our business model at a pace that rivals the life cycle of fruit flies.  Some days are very frustrating when a solution or strategy doesn’t turn out as you’d hoped.  Fortunately we have a great team and when we hit  a wall we can boost each other over it.

SK: Many people love the challenges and excitement of the startup process. What aspects do you enjoy the most?

MM: The pace is exhilarating.  Much of my previous work experience has been in very long tenured enterprises, to be working on an untouched canvas is terrific.

SK: As part of a startup that appears to be well on its way to success, what tips do you have for would-be entrepreneurs who are considering taking the plunge?

MM: Focus on your team. The idea can and will change; but the team has to have the resilience and diversity of background to handle the twists and turns.  Take care of yourselves, a startup is a marathon run at  a sprint pace.  Eat right, exercise and keep some life outside of work.  Perspective is critical.

SK: What are Micronotes.com’s short-term goals? Long-term goals?

MM: We’re focused on our upcoming field trial, which will further validate key data about customer acquisition costs and consumer acceptance.  Our longer-term goal is to launch our product with a strategic bank partner in early 2010.

Micronotes Screen Shot

Is there anything more annoying than filing an expense report? Especially if you have a ton of tiny charges that you have to keep track of along the way, the process can be painstaking, annoying and, quite frankly, a waste of your time.

An online startup that is trying to make the expense report process much easier is Expensify.com. This startup, which has been named as one of the ten finalists for Startup 2009, could be a godsend to anyone who files expense reports on a regular basis.

With Expensify, you can import information from your existing credit cards, receive a dedicated corporate card for free, manage receipts electronically and submit expense reports with one click. Additionally, the service makes getting reimbursed a breeze for everyone involved.

Recently, I had a chance to conduct an email interview David Barrett, the CEO of Expensify, to learn a little bit more about the service available at Expensify.com.

Stephen Kersey: Can you tell the StartupSpark readers a little bit more about Expensify.com? What makes your startup better than the competition?

David Barrett: The key: we have a *way* cooler name.

But seriously, Expensify doesn’t have a lot of real competition.  There are the “Big Guys” like Concur, but we don’t really compete with them: they have really advanced functionality targeted to Fortune 500 CFOs — and huge price tags to match.  And there are hosted accounting packages, essentially competitors to QuickBooks Online, but they don’t import credit cards nor reimburse real dollars to real bank accounts.  So again, we don’t really compete with them either.

Ultimately, I’d say we’re better than the competition because we’re the only real option for our userbase.  If your company has less than 100 employees — or *especially* less than 20 — and if you want to import credit cards and reimburse online, there is simply no choice but Expensify.  Not that you’d *want* any other choices, naturally…

SK: What has your experience been like with Startup 2009 so far? Are you excited about your chances of winning the grand prize on June 3rd?

DB: Yes, we’re very much looking forward to it.  As for our chances, I feel they’re better now than ever as the past year has really focused attention on the importance of maximizing productivity and saving money: two things Expensify does really great.

SK: What have been the most difficult obstacles your startup has faced?

DB: Getting the word out.  Ultimately we’ve found the most reliable method is to just make a good product and ask your users and fans for help.  As such, to anybody reading this article who thinks we’re on to something good, please do me a huge favor: Tweet this article to your friends!

SK: What do you enjoy the most about the startup process?

DB: Working in small teams.  It’s just so much more fun, rewarding, and productive to have everyone around the same table, working on the same thing at the same time.

SK: What are your startup’s short-term and long-term goals?

DB: Alas, I’ll need to stay mum on this question.  Needless to say, we’ve got a lot going on, and even more planned!

SK: What tips do you have for other entrepreneurs who are thinking about joining the startup world?

DB: There’s that old statement “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” — that is definitely true in the startup world.  There are tons and tons of people who will happily lecture you about the right way to do anything.  But despite their best intentions, if they’re not actually doing it — right now — odds are their experience and advice is obsolete.  So stop asking and start doing.  It’s so much faster, easier, and funner to learn how to build wheels by reinventing them from scratch, than by trying to find someone to teach you.  Because when you’re done, you’ve learned not only how to make wheels, but how to make *anything*.

Expensify Demo (Expensify.com)

Better Bowls is a startup company that claims to offer better and healthier puddings and gelatins. Their products are made with natural flavors and don’t use any synthetic colors. Reviews have called Better Bowls great tasting, great looking, convenient and very filling. Additionally, the nutritional information doesn’t hold any surprises — their products are very healthy.

I had a chance to interview Dr. Malathy Nair, the founder of Better Bowls.

Stephen Kersey: How did you get the idea for your startup business?
Dr. Malathy Nair: Saw a need for functional, healthy and convenient foods, especially in the pudding and gelatin category. I started developing the initial line of Better Bowls products after my mother suffered a major heart attack that resulted in a drastic change in her diet. I found that products that my mother’s doctor recommended, such as pudding, for easy digestibility, greatly exceeded desired sodium content for a heart-healthy diet.

Better Bowls (BetterBowls.com)

Stephen Kersey: What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome early on in the startup process?
Dr. Malathy Nair: It’s challenging to be an entrepreneur after working in a corporate environment for many years, taking risks during the time of an economic slowdown can be daunting, but it’s also very exciting!

Stephen Kersey: What do you like the most about the startup process?
Dr. Malathy Nair: I love the work and the ability to make quick decisions.

Stephen Kersey: What aspects of your business do you think potential customers should know about?
Dr. Malathy Nair: We are trying to develop great tasting, healthy, convenient foods for consumers – and we want to make them better than what is currently available. All of our partners bring more then 30 years of experience from the food industry, which provides us a position of strength. We are excited about the potential of our business.

Stephen Kersey: How has the reception been for your products/services?
Dr. Malathy Nair: Great. We are in distribution at Giant stores in central PA and hope to gain broader distribution soon and on Amazon Grocery.

Stephen Kersey: What do you hope for in the rest of 2009?
Dr. Malathy Nair: Gain more distribution, get consumers excited about our products.

If you have an online startup company that relies on any type of software or customized coding, the most important person in your online startup is your head programmer.

Such a startup in the online world simply can’t survive without programmers who know what they are doing. Even if you are successful for a little bit, it’s just a matter of time before a competitor comes along with a better set of programmers and your customers follow.

How do you ensure you get a quality programmer? It’s difficult, especially if you don’t know much about programming, but here are a few tips:

1) Personal recommendations. This is the best idea when hire a programmer. If someone you know has dealt with a quality programmer in the past, that is better than any resume you can see on paper.

2) Hire away from successful companies. If you have the funding, don’t be afraid to hire away programmers from other successful companies. A quality programmer is worth his weight in gold for an online startup business.

3) Hire a consultant. I’m not a big believer in consultants, but this case is one of the exceptions. If you don’t know to look for in a quality programmer, pay someone know does.

4) Take a long look at the resume. A resume for a programmer should be a last resort but if that’s what it has come to, be sure you see a lot of experience on the resume. Examples of previous work is also extremely important.

5) Take on a freshly graduated programmer. A good idea is to hire programmers who are fresh out of school. You can rest assured that their knowledge is up to date and that their wage will be discounted.

Programmer hard at work (Image: Flickr)

Earlier this month, we profiled Free Fashion Tees, a website that offers free t-shirts to its members. Simply complete the registration at FreeFashionTees.com and they will match you with an advertiser and send you a fashionable yet free t-shirt — with no shipping or hidden charges!

To learn more about FreeFashionTees.com, we conducted an exclusive interview with Diana Braun, the co-founder of Free Fashion Tees.

Stephen Kersey: How did you get the idea for Free Fashion Tees?

Diana Braun: My business partner and I came up with the idea for Free Fashion Tees because we noticed a simple fact that all the promotional t-shirts we had were unattractive and taking up space in our closets. Sure you might wear one to the gym, but never consider wearing one of those shirts out in public, especially in a social setting. Companies were basically printing their name on any one-size-fits-all shirt and distributing it anyway they could. We thought that there must be a better way.

We were also amazed at the rising popularity of expensive designer t-shirts. We thought why not design trendy promotional t-shirts with an advertiser’s message on it? People would be more likely to wear a promotional shirt if it didn’t look like a promotional shirt. It would benefit both the advertiser and the t-shirt recipient. We also developed our idea further and thought it would be useful for the advertiser to specifically target their t-shirt recipients — that way they would have more control over their distribution process.

SK: What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome early on in the startup process?

DB: The most difficult aspect of launching our company was managing our time and resources. There are only 24 hours in a day and sometimes our workload can be overwhelming, especially with a small team. We overcome these obstacles by prioritizing our tasks and creating detailed timelines to help keep us on track.

SK: What do you like the most about the startup process?

DB:We enjoy the fact that our company is starting with a blank slate. We can go in virtually any direction with our ideas and run with it. Often times we sit down and simply brainstorm ideas that will help differentiate our business from the competition and improve our service.

SK: What aspects of your business do you think potential clients should know about?

DB:Our potential clients should know how our service is unique among the promotional items industry. Not only do we design distinctive high quality trendy promotional t-shirts, we also specifically target and distribute the shirts to members of our website that match our client’s target market. Our customizable advertising campaigns also include email marketing campaigns and online ads.

SK: How has the reception been for your Free Fashion Tees service?

DB:We have received a tremendous amount of support from our website members and we have been lucky enough to earn the respect from various online news sources and blogs who have written about us all over the world.

SK: Do you utilize any Web 2.0 technologies in your marketing?

DB:Yes, we have created Twitter and MySpace accounts. Fans of our site can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/freefashiontees and MySpace at www.myspace.com/freefashiontees. We are also developing a Facebook application that will allow users to “give a free fashion tee” to friends.

SK: How has the global economic recession affected your startup?

DB:We believe these economic times have actually helped our company because everyday people and companies are looking for ways to cut spending and increase savings. Our service offers our members a chance to save on clothing expenses while offering an economic way for advertisers to spread their brand awareness.

SK: What do you hope for in the rest of 2009?

DB:Our plan for 2009 is to continue to grow our community of website members and to have the opportunity to work with large advertisers.

SK: Where do you hope your startup is five years from now?

DB:Within 5 years we would like to expand our service overseas because we have received numerous emails from people in Europe, South America and Asia inquiring when Free Fashion Tees will be available outside the United States.

SK: What advice would you offer to others who are considering creating a startup business?

DB:We just got started ourselves, but our advice to any entrepreneur is to first research your idea to see if it is feasible with your current resources, develop your plan, then get to work!

Fashionable Free T-Shirts (FreeFashionTees Screen Capture)

Earlier today I got a chance to interview Fabrice Grinda, the co-founder and co-CEO of OLX. For those who are unfamiliar with OLX, it’s a free classifieds website that has an online presence in more than 80 countries and in more than 30 languages. Each month, OLX generates over 400 million page views and is hugely popular in countries such as Spain, Portugal, India, China and many countries in South America.

Founded in early 2006, OLX has received nearly $30 million in funding and now boasts 125 employees. It’s estimated that more than 1.5 million new classified postings are added on a monthly basis.

Fabrice Grinda is a name that all online entrepreneurs should know. Prior to OLX, he co-founded Aucland S.A. (a popular auction website in Europe) in 1998. Later, Fabrice Grinda founded Zingy Inc., a company that deals in wireless media. In 2004, he sold Zingy Inc. for a reported $80 million. His blog, Musings of an Entrepreneur, is required reading for anyone in the startup business world.

Without further ado, here is the interview with OLX’s Fabrice Grinda.

Stephen Kersey: During the startup phase of OLX, what were the biggest challenges you faced?

Fabrice Grinda: The biggest difficulty we faced – and still face when we launch new countries – is to attract enough people who post listings and who reply to listings.

Given the benefits if transactions happen we can usually convince car dealers, real estate brokers and head hunters to post on the site, but it takes a lot of effort to reach out to them and make them aware we exist. Fortunately, once the virtuous cycle gets started ever more posts attract ever more replies and the site takes off organically.

SK: Many people have compared OLX to Craigslist on steroids. What do see as the most important advantages of OLX?

FG: Craigslist works fundamentally well and there is no one big feature missing. It’s more the sum total of small improvements that make a step change in the user experience. Those include:

• Having a fantastic mobile site where users can do everything they can do on the web (http://m.olx.com)
• WYSIWYG Ajax editor for users to generate colorful rich listings without knowing HTML
• Direct support for pictures and videos
• Improved search in key categories – especially real estate, cars and personals with nice Ajax sliders
• The ability to search within a certain distance from your zip code, including in all categories on a national level
• Pictures on the listing and search results pages

The list is endless

SK: OLX is popular in many countries around the world. Going forward, what additional countries do you hope for OLX to tackle?

FG: We are already present in 87 countries so we are not missing many countries. We are currently working on launching Bangladesh, El Salvador, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Malta and Egypt.

We are considering launching in Africa and the rest of the Middle East but not taken a final decision yet.

SK: For the long-term success of OLX, do you believe that you need to make a significant dent in the American market?

FG: Our success does not depend on succeeding in the US market – there are many large markets which can sustain us. However, we believe we can become a relevant player in the US market.

SK: OLX has an amazing amount of Web 2.0, social media and mobile functionality. How much of your company’s quick growth do you attribute to those three aspects?

FG: It’s hard to make a direct attribution, but my instinct is that the improved functionality is the only reason people are willing to give us a chance at the beginning so it’s very significant.

SK: On a personal level, you’re already a very successful entrepreneur. Have you always been drawn to entrepreneurship or is it something you have learned to love?

FG: I was definitely drawn to entrepreneurship from a very young age. As a kid, I grew up playing with computers and saw Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as role models. I was lucky to see that my youthful passion could actually be turned into a job I love!

SK: What is one piece of advice you’d give to others who are considering creating an online startup company?

FG: Just do it!

Many people will tell you your idea will never work. You may fear that competitors will steal your idea. The reality is that no one really knows what will work or won’t work. As for competitive threats, they pale in comparison to the difficulties of executing on an idea.

These days, the costs of launching a startup have never been lower. If you want to try something, just launch it and see what happens. You will learn a lot and adjust accordingly. You can never launch early enough! Worse comes to worse you will have had a fun learning experience.

Check out the free classifieds OLX website and leave a comment to tell us what you think!

Free Classifieds at OLX