The BizSpark startup of the day is Retrevo, based in the US. Below you will find an interview with Manish Rathi, Co-Founder & VP-Marketing of Retrevo. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.retrevo.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Co-Founder & VP-Marketing.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before Retrevo, I was a founding member of Extreme Networks Wi-Fi business, and before that, Extreme’s Network Mgmt team.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We are thrilled, and see it as a validation of our growth potential. The BizSpark program has provided us with tools and relationships at Microsoft, helping us accelerate our product development.

What is your company’s mission?

Retrevo (http://www.retrevo.com ) is one of the top consumer electronics review and shopping sites in the US, helping people decide what to buy, when to buy, and where to buy. Retrevo uses artificial intelligence to analyze and graphically summarize more than 50 million real-time data points from across the web to give shoppers the most comprehensive, unbiased, up-to-date product information for everything from TVs to GPS to Wireless Routers to even Cell Phone Accessories.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Consumer Electronics has become mass-market, but the process of choosing the right gadgets for one’s usage/needs is harder than ever. We wanted to make the process of buying and using electronics simple and enjoyable.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We’ve raised three rounds of funding, totaling approx $12M, and are not in need of raising any more funding at this time.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are about 20 team members, more than half are developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes, Absolutely. We are hiring. Great front-end and back-end engineers, with expertise in Java, JSP/Velocity , etc.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We run Java on a Windows based platform. Java/JSP/Velocity based front end software means it is easier to hire good talent, and a Microsoft/Windows infrastructure means that managing and scaling it has been easy. The software tools support provided by Bizspark has been a definite benefit.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

There are many tectonic shifts from our vantage point, and innovating at the intersections of such shifts allows startups to create immense value for their customers

- The ability to make meaning from the mountains of unstructured data on the web

- The ability to provide enriching experiences for end users and their social circles.

- Innovation in retail that provides superior value to consumers.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark has been great in helping us get strategic mindshare with Microsoft and its partners, and the tactical tools, software and technical expertise to get off the ground faster.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

There are many opportunities in software, some small and some large. But if you are going to start something, do something big, that significantly enriches the lives of many people. Also, the startup experience is a journey, so learn something new every day to innovate and improve your product the next day.

Who’s your role model?

At a professional level - Steve Jobs & Reid Hoffman.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

The startup journey will make you question your basic assumptions around the business, but learn something new every day, and keep your dreams big.

The BizSpark startup of the day is DashSoft, based in Egypt. Below you will find an interview with Remon Zakaria, CEO of DashSoft. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.dashsoft.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Chief Executive Officer.

What did you do before creating your company?

Consultant for the Ministry of Administrative Development.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I feel honored & glad that we’re doing something right!

What is your company’s mission?

My company mission is to position Egypt as a very good potential competitor to Outsourcing giants such as India, providing resources with very good education & experience yet with very affordable prices.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Provide offshore technical services for companies all over the world.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I got the idea of my business because I was a computer sciences student & saw firsthand the caliber we’re graduating & how competitive they can be in local market, think about a global market & how big the difference they can do!

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

I built the company from 0 money, big profit wasn’t my plan, stability was #1 & afterwards cash evolved. I am currently looking for 2 million dollars funding for a very ambitious hardware/web/mobile system idea that has proven success.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 25 employees, 22 of them are developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We’re hiring for senior positions for web, Silverlight & .NET Services positions.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

.NET platform, because it’s very flexible, a very good set of rich features with stability & global communities support.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

I think the whole market is evolving to the cloud services & mobile applications, especially with the very fast paces of mobile hardware development.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I think BizSpark is one of the best ideas that Microsoft has ever done, the idea of supporting companies & remove the big software investment at the beginning minimizes the risk of startups significantly which will increase the number of companies in the field & the development of the software business overall.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Go for your idea, first make sure that it will work by hard researching, believe in it & never give up no matter how closed doors might be in front of you, there’s always an open door.

Who’s your role model?

My role models are my mentors who helped me being in this business, they’re Patrick Hynds, Stephen Forte & Remi Caron.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Don’t be afraid to build your own company, there’d be so much support for your step by companies & communities, don’t give up on your idea to leave your fingerprint in the market & maybe history!

The BizSpark startup of the day is RelayFoods.com, based in the US. Below you will find an interview with Zach Buckner, CEO of RelayFoods.com. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.relayfoods.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the founder and CEO of RelayFoods.com, an online grocery and delivery service currently serving Richmond, VA and Charlottesville, VA communities. We offer groceries, specialty and artisanal foods, and food from over 50 grocery stores, restaurants, and local farms from the Virginia area.

What did you do before creating your company?

Prior to founding Relay, I was Vice President of Technology for Elder Research, Inc., and the inventor of a next-generation industrial sensor line at Visi-Trak Sensors, LLC. Before that, I earned a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Grateful – and very excited to see our business growing and being recognized. At Relay, we feel we have built something really special that has the potential to help bring together people, businesses, and farms around one of the most important economic and community-related issues facing society: the ability to make good tasting, healthy, and community supportive food decisions. If – as a marketplace -- we can enable businesses and farms to reach new customers and allow people to shop many different businesses at one sitting, we will be helping to support local economies even as we make headway against some of the negative 21st century global trends – less driving has got to be a good thing all the way around.

What is your company’s mission?

Relay’s mission is to make eating quality, healthy, and sustainable food simple. We will accomplish this mission by educating individuals and families about the foods they eat, creating connections between local producers, food retailers and end consumers, and bringing food to easily accessible locations.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I was out shopping with my family – my wife and three kids – and we needed to get to a number of places, which meant battling traffic, navigating stores, dealing with moody children – you know, the usual. And I began to think how this picture might be improved. Why not enable people to get things they need and strip away – or at least lessen – the pain points in the process? That was the beginning. From there, we set about building a robust ecommerce platform, narrowed our focus to food, and assembled a wide array of food vendors. We created a marketplace. And people understood immediately that they could basically follow their taste buds to great food and also patronize the kinds of community businesses and farms they always wanted to support at the same time.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

To date, we have raised $1.25M from angel investors in the Charlottesville area who have had great success investing in the grocery industry. With this we have grown our operation, created a web infrastructure, and developed the software engineering support necessary to serve two markets simultaneously.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have consolidated our Charlottesville and Richmond operation around 35 core Management, Marketing, Merchandising and Operations personnel. Currently, we have one full-time developer and two part-time developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes, we are adding to the team as growth requires.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are building around Microsoft’s Web Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, IIS 7, and SQL Server. We did an extensive survey of our options before getting started, and concluded that Microsoft’s platform offered the best ‘bang for the buck’. A more refined set of tools (like Visual Studio, Linq-to-SQL, etc) enable us to spend far less time developing, which dampens the largest single “line item” in development. And it’s more pleasant to work with better tools!

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

We’re clearly not the only one think this way, but we feel that computation-as-a-resource will be the concept that marks the coming decade in computing. Good strides have been made in this area, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I wish we’d known about it sooner! For companies like ours that have chosen to develop atop the Microsoft platform, BizSpark has proven to be fastest way to get moving. And we also see the program as a great way to connect with other high-potential startups and link with great people who can serve as support, advisors, or even investors.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I’ve kept a running list of “lessons learned” while developing this business. Three that seem especially relevant to software entrepreneurs are:

1. Don’t pick an industry that’s already over-served by other smart software entrepreneurs – like building tools for other software developers. The signal-to-noise rate is just too high in these areas, and the competition is just too plentiful. Explore beyond the 15 sexy niches that all your friends are packed within.

2. Don’t underestimate the importance of developing a marketing plan. I’ve noticed that entrepreneurs (especially engineers) frequently underestimate the sheer difficulty of getting marketing right.

3. Before picking a technology platform, gather data from other startups to get an assessment for the true cost of developing on various platforms. Ask questions like: how long did this take to build? How many developers were in place? What’s the going rate (translation: how much did you pay) for a software engineer? The true cost of software engineering is dominated by labor costs, not licensing fees.

Who’s your role model?

I most admire entrepreneurs who have been not only successful in their careers, but also fruitfully invested in their families and faith. Three individuals that immediately come to mind are Dr. John Elder (a UVA professor of mine who runs Elder Research, Inc.), Dr. Ken Elzinga (another professor of mine from UVA), and Marian Noronha (President of TurboCam International).

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

That entrepreneurship is an adventure not to be missed. It shouldn’t be tackled without the right gear (deep experience gained from working with another established business is key), but once well equipped – it’s worth the risk.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Kabbage, based in the US. Below you will find an interview with Robert Frohwein, Founder & CEO of Kabbage. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.kabbage.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Founder & CEO.

What did you do before creating your company?

Founder, MediaWheel, Founder & CEO, LAVA Group, Inc., SVP, ZapMedia, VP, Security First Network Bank, Attorney, Consultant, etc.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Extremely excited. We feel extremely fortunate to be in the BizSpark program and be a Microsoft partner. We’re also very honored to be selected because the selection really validates Microsoft’s commitment to us and their belief in what we’re doing.

What is your company’s mission?

To end the financial crisis and provide working capital to the fastest growing segment of retail in the world – online retail.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Great ideas are combinations of existing concepts with some twists. I previously was involved in a company that utilized online marketplace data to identify counterfeit and fraudulent products being sold online and also did a lot of work for financial institutions. I simply asked myself is what would eBay do if they combined these two areas and applied it to their general business and, voila, the idea came to me.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We’ve raised $2mm through angels and we’re about to commence a new investment round. In our current round, we are seeking $5mm-$10mm.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

7 employees, 3 of whom are developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We continue to seek additional developers and will really increase our development team after our next round of funding.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are building on VS 2010 ASP.Net MVC 2 because of its ease of use, the clean separations of concerns, and testability. The platform along with the new Entity framework has allowed us amazing productivity gains and much shorter development cycles.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

There are a world of opportunities. In our industry, there are lots of opportunities to provide fintech to various groups. Also, developers should look at all areas of business and technology and ask the question: how might social media applications impact these areas. This will surely help generate many great ideas.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The program has been a lifesaver for us. We continue to be amazed at the varied resources available to us. Everything we do, from project management, to development, to hosting is Microsoft based and it is all thanks to BizSpark.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

The first idea you pursue is unlikely the eureka opportunity, but it always sets in motion a path that will get you there.

Who’s your role model?

Bill Gates, of course.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Don’t be afraid to address big problems facing our world. Technology can save us in so many ways.

The BizSpark startup of the day is SiSense, based in Israel. Below you will find an interview with Elad Israeli, Co-founder and CEO of SiSense. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.sisense.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Co-founder and CEO.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before co-founding SiSense, I served as a Product Manager at global IT services firm Ness Technologies (NASDAQ: NSTC). Previously, I was a Product Manager at Anysoft and, before that, I co-founded and led technology development at BiSense, a BI technology company.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We are very excited to have SiSense named 'Startup of the Day' by Microsoft BizSpark. We bring an entirely new approach to business intelligence and it is gratifying to be acknowledged by a site such as BizSpark.

What is your company’s mission?

SiSense is leading the way to a new era of business intelligence where fast and flexible BI is available to any business user analyzing any type or amount of data. With SiSense’s do-it-yourself approach to BI, BI evaluations and evaluation and implementation projects are fast and inexpensive, requiring little or no investment in IT resources, consultants or new computer hardware.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We enable fast, easy do-it-yourself BI over any amount of data from any number of sources, with no need for data warehouse or OLAP projects.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Long and hard past experience with traditional business intelligence implementations coupled with the advances in hardware and software technology led us to believe BI can be done with a saner approach, minimal upfront investments and short implementation cycles. We designed our products along these guidelines.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We were privately funded by an angel investor until July 2010, when we received $4M in series A financing from Genesis Partners (Israel), Opus Capital (USA), and our original angel investor.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

10 / 8.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Developers, pre-sales and support staff for our Israeli office.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

C, .NET C# and ASP/Ajax.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Business intelligence software which is faster, easier, more powerful and less expensive than the traditional BI platforms.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark is fantastic for us as a startup, as it gave us access to the most advanced development platforms available at prices we could afford.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Don't belong. Never join, Think for yourself. Peace.

Who’s your role model?

A combination of Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Business Intelligence is not as challenging as it used to be. Download Prism today and find out for yourself.

The BizSpark startup of the day is BEST IT Solutions LTD (Quilink), based in Israel. Below you will find an interview with Yevgeny Safovich, CEO and Co-Founder of Quilink. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.quilink.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

My name is Yevgeny Safovich and I am the CEO and co-founder of Quilink.

What did you do before creating your company?

I have over 14 years of experience in the field, specializing in e-collaboration. In my last role before Quilink I had a pleasure of managing a group of brilliant people in Comverse. We were responsible for all Microsoft related technologies in IT department, developing large scale distributed enterprise solutions. I hold a degree of B.Sc. in electrical engineering from Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I am very happy that Microsoft has recognized the potential of Quilink, and nominated us the most promising startup of the day!

We carefully designed Quilink to perfectly integrate into the Microsoft environment and together with other Microsoft products provide a complete solution for Contacts Management. Therefore this recognition by Microsoft is an important milestone for us.

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is simplify and enhance connections between people and businesses worldwide, by keeping their contacts always at-hand and up-to-date.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Quilink brings an innovative solution for search, sharing and organization of contacts for businesses and private users worldwide.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I believe that contacts are one of the most valuable assets of any person and even more so for businesses. However in many years of our careers, both my partner Ronen Abramov and I, have seen that companies are lacking the tools to properly handle those assets.

Companies and people, even the most disciplined and punctual ones, keep losing tracks of their contacts. Employees are coming and leaving, people are constantly changing their phones and emails addresses, and connections are lost. This is how we set ourselves a mission to improve connections both for business companies and private people.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Till today Quilink was completely funded by the founders. We wanted to bring to the market a working product that will speak for itself and only then seek an investment. Now that we have a working product and customers that like our solution, we are ready for the next step – massive deployment, and are now seeking funding for this purpose. I’ll be happy to provide more details to potential investors.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 3 employees actively working for the company and a couple of subcontractors working on-demand. Up until now most of the development was done by us – two founders.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We are not hiring at the moment.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Quilink is currently based on newest Microsoft platforms, tools and technologies, such as .NET 4.0, Windows Azure Services, Visual Studio 2010. We chose those tools and platforms to take advantage of the existing R&D knowledge and to reduce time-to-market.

In fact we are currently preparing a success story together with Microsoft describing how Microsoft Windows Azure cloud helped us to rollout out our solution to the market. Looking backwards, I believe it was a good choice.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Communication and sharing of information is one of the most significant aspects in our lives. Nowadays, that people communicate via numerous channels, many have several mobile phones, emails, multiple social networks, etc., the technology has the opportunity to help us keep our connections alive and expand them. I think that one of the most important opportunities in the Software/Internet era is embracing the concept of SAAS. This model allows businesses all over the world to provide their services to practically unlimited amount of customers, making the world more connected and increasing business opportunities.

I believe that the future will bring us solutions integrating software/internet naturally into our lives and allowing people to expand their neural networks by having more and more people among their allies, partners and - most importantly - friends.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I was excited to discover that Microsoft has a program “exactly for us” - a program that helps companies in the beginning of their way. It is really a win-win initiative for all: for the start-ups – helping them to succeed, for Microsoft – growing the customer base and attracting new developers to their platforms, and for the industry as a whole – bringing new jobs, new technologies and ideas.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Let your dreams take you to the sky, but remember to bind your legs to the ground. From my experience, if you have a great dream that you are committed to achieving, there is really nothing that you can’t accomplish. However it is also important to build that dream step by step, understanding how exactly you are going to reach each stair of the ladder towards you dream.

Who’s your role model?

Patrizio Paoletti – one of the greatest educators in the world encouraging constant personal evolution.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Visit Quilink at: http://www.quilink.com

The BizSpark startup of the day is YubiTech, based in Israel. Below you will find an interview with Danny Weissberg, CEO and Co-Founder of YubiTech. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.yubitech.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the CEO and co-Founder of YubiTech. I have also established the Open University Entrepreneur Club.

What did you do before creating your company?

I have extensive experience in high-tech development and management with Check Point, Radvision and Mercury Interactive. I hold a BSc in Civil Engineering from the Technion and a BA in Computer Science from the Open University.

What is your company’s mission?

YubiTech plans to be a leader in the mobilization market, offering its breakthrough solution to port business applications to any mobile device in record time.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

YubiTech's innovative approach is based on a simple and intutitive drag & drop designer tool that enables IT managers/distributors/system-integrators to mobilize existing business applications (such as ERP/CRM and proprietary) in record time of a few days, without writing a single line of code.

How did you get the idea for your company?

It was a long trial and error process, emphasizing on getting an innovative solution for a real pain.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Yubitech was funded by the Tnufa program (Office of the Chief Scientist, MicroSeed around 50k$) and Granot Ventures - $540K. We are currently looking for additional 1M$ funding.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

6 employees, 4 developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes, UI developer

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

YubiTech plans to support the following:

   Mobile devices:

• Blackberry

• WM (Q4 2010)

• Nokia E72 (Q4 2010)

• iPhone (Q1 2011)

• Android (Q2 2011)

   Business applications:

• Microsoft Dynamics ERP

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Q1 2011)

• SAP ERP (Q3 2011)

• Oracle (Q1 2012)

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Today there is a huge demand from the market to be able to connect to business applications from your mobile. Sales persons, managers, inventory man, doctors, even your cable guy, all want to have access to their office application on their mobile whenever they are, on the road, at home, or in a business meeting. Mobile apps increase business productivity in more than 20%, and therefore Top 500 US enterprises plan to increase their investment in mobile app.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Honestly it is the greatest Start-Up supporting program I know. Since our technology is extremely Microsoft oriented, getting free software and support has helped us and is helping us tremendously.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Believe in yourself and your ability to succeed, always innovate, utilize the critics to improve the venture, and always be honest and ethical.

Who’s your role model?

Mahatma Gandhi (love and peace entrepreneur).

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

YubiTech is developing a truly unique solution for porting business application to mobile devices, and has the potential to become the market leader in this area!

The BizSpark startup of the day is erecruit, based in the US. Below you will find an interview with James Morganstern of erecruit. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.erecruit.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

My name is Jim Morganstern and I run sales, marketing and alliances at erecruit.

What did you do before creating your company?

I’ve been involved in building new companies and new business units within established companies throughout my entire career. Prior to erecruit I co-founded a real-time monitoring & analytics company, Blue Agave Software.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

With the incredible innovation and hyper-competition taking place in today’s markets, it is an honor to be selected by the Microsoft BizSpark team as ‘Startup of the Day’.

What is your company’s mission?

To improve the operating performance of the 20,000+ staffing and recruiting firms who comprise the $120B staffing industry in the United States today.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

erecruit provides a complete staffing firm management solution for both contract/temp and direct hire businesses.

How did you get the idea for your company?

erecruit was founded by two owners of a staffing firm who happened to both have engineering degrees and career experience implementing large-scale accounting systems. When they sought out an integrated solution to run their own firm and discovered how incomplete most of the products were, they saw a market opportunity to develop a better solution. Many successful staffing firm owners can describe the problem, but these guys also had the engineering, process workflow and accounting expertise to pull it off.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Every entrepreneur is open to a funding discussion, as are we. We’ve been fortunate to develop our initial customer base – a testament to our value proposition given these market conditions – and a strong pipeline very quickly. That said, more working capital would help us accelerate our growth.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Ten employees today with five in engineering.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We are always interviewing for engineers and sales people. We current have two open engineering positions in Boston.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Our solution is based 100% on the Microsoft technology stack: ASP.NET; SQL Server; Windows Server; Exchange Server; integration with Dynamics. We’ve chosen this path for several reasons. First, Microsoft has incredible market penetration in our target market. Second, it eliminates the risks associated with attempting to integrate multiple technologies from multiple vendors (yes, this problem still exists!). And third, Microsoft provides fantastic support to its developer community.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

I believe there is still so much to be accomplished in the areas of personal and professional productivity. Users are required to juggle multiple devices and myriad user interfaces in their daily lives, yet they continue to be confronted with an incomplete picture of the data needed to accomplish the task at hand.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark Program provides a great balance of software, support and visibility. I think it is a fantastic program for those entrepreneurs who are considering or who have committed to develop their solution using Microsoft’s technologies.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

You can never find your first customers soon enough. You can never have too much cash. Spend more on marketing than on office furniture.

Who’s your role model?

I have to say my father, who taught me the values of hard work, treating people with respect and always being forthright when conducting business.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Microsoft has a great program for startups. And please buy our software.

Sopima, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, revolutionizes the way companies create, negotiate, and control their contracts by taking the contract management process online. Hear from Sopima Founder & CEO Jaan Apajalahti in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Sopima, based in Finland. Below you will find an interview with Riitta Raesmaa, Co-Founder of Sopima. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.sopima.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

My name is Riitta Raesmaa and I am a Partner and co-founder of Sopima. At the moment, I am working on product management, partnerships like with Microsoft and communications.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was VP, Marketing & Channel Development in a Nordic software company that developed solutions to the IT departments. Before that, I’ve had senior management positions in companies developing and marketing ERP & Business Intelligence solutions. So I love the software business, and feel at home in sales & marketing, and product & channel management.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Very happy and honored, of course. It feels great to be in such great group of energetic startups. Since we were one of the 18 chosen ones in Microsoft BizSpark Investor Summit in May 2010 in Paris, we had an opportunity to meet with interesting people from the other nominated 17 companies. Wonderful and useful experience!

What is your company’s mission?

We at Sopima will revolutionize contract and commitment management – and for that we will soon provide easy to use contract creation and management tools that are affordable for organizations of all sizes. We are building our operations to be an international success story!

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Sopima revolutionizes the way companies create, negotiate, and control their contracts by taking the contract management process online.

How did you get the idea for your company?

The idea started to develop during my time at a former company, a company that Sopima’s CEO Jaan Apajalahti founded 1999. We all have had difficult times, as business managers, when trying to negotiate and manage the daily contract of various kinds. We realized that there were no proper tools for business people to handle this challenge. Jaan got the initial idea during autumn 2008, got the ‘green light’ from our first business angel, and Sopima was founded as soon as in January 2009. We knew that creating a simple way of solving the “contract issue” as an online service could be a great opportunity, and it turned out to be just that.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

At the moment, we are fully funded. Our focus is on optimizing the product with the pilot customers, and fine-tuning our sales and marketing models. Early next year, when we start our international sales, we might consider an international funding round to boost our exponential growth rate.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We now have a team of 10 dedicated people plus an external team of software developers. On top of that, we have several close partners we are working with at the daily basis.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

As soon as we start building a larger customer support, we’ll start hiring. The location of the customer support center is on the planning desk at the moment. We are handling most of the administrative stuff via our partners.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are building on Microsoft® Azure™ which is a solid and highly efficient platform for us to build our SaaS solution. The platform choice was made after careful consideration. We valued the low initial investment cost, the familiarity of the Microsoft products and tools, and the partnership possibilities; both technological and commercial ones.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

I strongly believe in cloud computing (as a way of delivering the services) and in the software-as-a-service model as the way we are buying software services. With time the software industry will go on to that direction of software buying and developing. Another strong trend which opens new possibilities is, of course, social media. As Sopima is an online service, we are planning our operations and support to be very much ‘online’ too. I am active in social media, I am using about 35 social media services, and I see many interesting possibilities there.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Microsoft has been and is a great partner for us, not only in technology, but also in PR and sales. We are in BizSpark, Metro, and the Microsoft Partner Program. We also were at the Microsoft BizSpark Investor Summit which was a great opportunity to meet our peers and Microsoftians.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

My ABC to software startup entrepreneurs is APC; namely Attitude, Passion, Commitment. Firstly Attitude – Be brave, have a winning attitude, and at the same time don’t be scared to fail sometimes. Secondly Passion – when you do what you love, it is your best guarantee for success. Innovate, plan and execute passionately! And thirdly, commitment is important – commitment towards the company mission, strategy, your colleagues, your partners. It always pays off.

Who’s your role model?

Very difficult to name one. There are so many amazing people out there helping entrepreneurs.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Even if the cloud computing opportunities give enormous business opportunities to compete on a totally different scale, it is still the innovation and execution that counts.

sordu.com, one of the Showcase Startups from the European BizSpark Summit, is Turkey’s online destination for tutoring where students can find good and affordable tutors and courses.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is sordu.com (SELP), based in Turkey. Below you will find an interview with Zafer Gurel, CEO of SELP. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.sordu.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m the CEO of SELP, the company that created sordu.com.

What did you do before creating your company?

I co-founded Advancity which is one of the leading e-learning technology companies in Turkey. I was the project leader of the biggest academic e-learning project (10.000 e-learning students of Sakarya University). I worked for clients from banking to telecommunications sector as an e-learning consultant.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I feel happy and strongly believe that BizSpark will help us a lot to get more visible to potential investors.

What is your company’s mission?

Our vision is to create a sustainable e-learning platform for learners and tutors and help them benefit a great user experience by providing all the necessary tools.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

sordu.com is Turkey’s online destination for tutoring where students can find good and affordable tutors and courses.

How did you get the idea for your company?

The average age of the population in Turkey is 28. Internet penetration ratio is 35% and increasing very fast every year. There are 16 million students and 850.000 teachers. 4.5 million students enter high school and university entrance exams each year.

We’ve observed that there was a demand for online private tutoring. We did have the technology called Perculus which is a virtual classroom software. It’s being used by schools and universities and currently, it has more than 15.000 users. So, with this core technology in hand, we thought it would be great to provide tutors and students an online tutoring platform. So, we wrote a business plan and went to Inovent (our current investor) and told them our story. They got also excited about the project and we raised our first fund. We started in the beginning of 2010 and launched private beta at the end of March. We are going to open public beta at the end May.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

After we wrote our business plan, we went to Inovent. We were in relationship with them before. Inovent is a technology commercialization company founded by Sabanci University. Sabanci University was established by Sabanci Group which is one of the biggest groups in Turkey and is one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey. So, we believed that Inovent would add great value in terms of strategic advice and mentorship to our business if we became partners.

We got a seed fund of $170K at the beginning of this year and started the business.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

There are 3 employees. And I as a CEO also doing part-time development besides managing the company.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We’ll be hiring a few months later. We’ll be hiring a developer in Turkey.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We’re building on .NET platform and using MS SQL Server as the database solution. By using .NET and MS SQL Server, our software engineers work very efficiently and develop software more bug-free. Also, by .NET, scalability is not an issue.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

I think there are really still great opportunities in e-learning, especially in the developing countries like Turkey. As we get more connected to internet and more mobile, e-learning will always be important. Also, as the bandwidth becomes not an issue and developing scalable and robust applications on the cloud gets easier, live (synchronous) e-learning platforms will gain momentum.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I think it’s great. We’ve been accepted to the program in a few hours after we sent our company information to Microsoft Turkey. As a startup, we need to be fast and flexible. And what I see is that Microsoft is aware of that fact and responds very quickly. Also, using thousand dollars’ worth software for free is amazing.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I advise them to work hard for what they believe and focus on what creates value. Also self-motivation is crucial. I advise them to keep themselves highly motivated which will help them inspire people and make others believe their visions.

Who’s your role model?

My father is my role model. He’s also an entrepreneur. He’s running his business since ‘90s. I always learn from him although we are in different sectors.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I personally believe that one should do his best in his job. As sordu.com, we focus on creating value for students and tutors by providing a great e-learning platform and try every day to do our best.

Tooio, one of the Showcase Startups from the European BizSpark Summit, has developed a flexible platform that cleverly combines local advertising, location-based services, and access to established content brands and social networking platforms, all through a mobile handset.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Tooio, based in Spain. Below you will find an interview with Rafael Casado, Founder and CEO of Tooio. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.tooio.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am CEO and founder.

What did you do before creating your company?

General Manager of Terra Spain.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

A great opportunity to get introduced to international partners. We want to launch a new product in Germany and France soon and we need help there.

What is your company’s mission?

Local advertising and couponing on mobile phones.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We build mobile applications based on location that display local advertising.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Brainstorming…

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

So far we have invested a million. We are looking for 1-2m.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

10 employees, 6 developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

No.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

.NET, android and iPhone.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Mobile

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Great help for small startups.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

No.

Who’s your role model?

Xabi.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

We look for partners in Germany and France to launch a new project…

Denmark-based Red Carpet Software, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, enables hoteliers to spend more time with their guests, and less time with administrative systems. Hear from Asger Klimt, Director at Red Carpet Software in the video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Red Carpet Software, based in Denmark. Below you will find an interview with Flemming Eiberg, Founder and CEO of Red Carpet Software. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.redcarpetsoftware.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the founder and CEO. With a background in both the ICT and hospitality industries, my role in this initial phase is that of project manager, coordinate between our development team and beta users. Later I will dedicate more time with business development, identifying new markets and partners.

What did you do before creating your company?

Since 2001 I have helped other entrepreneurs and investors succeed as an independent consultant. Prior to that I was a successful entrepreneur within the ICT industry.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I feel great! Being an entrepreneur is often a lonely ride especially in the beginning, and being recognized by Microsoft this way means that I may not be crazy after all.

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is to enable hoteliers to offer better service to their guests by spending more time with the guest and less time with administrative systems.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Red Carpet enables hoteliers to spend more time with their guests, and less time with administrative systems.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I got the idea from working as interim sales manager at a conference hotel just outside of Copenhagen.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

I spend a full year researching my idea at my own expense before I put up the initial capital needed to register the company, and has since then received funding from a entrepreneur fund and a business angle now working full time with Red Carpet.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are two full time employees and an outsourced development team of four.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Not at the moment, but mid 2011 we will be looking for resources in service and marketing. We will outsource as much as possible to keep a slim and flexible organization.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are building on .NET, Silverlight and Azure for three reasons; (1) the platform meets our needs today, (2) we believe that Azure is the platform for the future, and (3) our association with Microsoft gives us leverage with a conservative and tech unsavvy hospitality industry.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

The transition from on-premise to on-demand based software is a no-brainer – just find a niche like us and get going.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It is the main reason we exist on a Microsoft platform.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

A part from joining the BizSpark Program? The advice I give to all entrepreneurs how ask: “Don’t start – you will never succeed”. (And when they still go ahead, I know they have what it takes to succeed)

Who’s your role model?

I admire anybody with a true passion for what they do. Sir Richard Branson is a fine example of the person I aspire to be – who said business can’t be fun?

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I hope more people would consider becoming entrepreneurs. Life is more fun when you focus on what is important to YOU, instead of what is important to your boss, mother-in-law or anybody else who has an opinion on what is possible, and what you should be doing with YOUR life.

No Excuse Accounting, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, delivers an ERP solution to Norwegian and Spanish small and medium enterprises.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is No Excuse Accounting, based in Norway and Spain. Below you will find an interview with Morten Jacobsen, CEO and Antonio Revaliente MD. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.noexcuseaccounting.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I´m a «General Ledger Visionary» happened to be the in right place at the right time. I´m the CEO and founder of «no excuse accounting» in Norway and Spain.

What did you do before creating your company?

Creating other companies within the IT and accounting market.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I feel excited about promoting our tools to the only companies in the world which can really create new jobs - startups.

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is to help the Independent Contractor stop losing time and money, by providing his loved smart-phone with an compelling new invoicing, accounting and payment experience, as a service in the Cloud.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

100 millions of independent contractors can use smart-phones as their primary computer, allowing them to invoice at the point of service.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I´ve heard the ICs scream for tools to enable them to sell more and easier. And the screams got higher and higher during the crisis. Suddenly, there was the ability to combine our financial UI «for the rest of us» with touch computing and the Cloud and an environment to do it in - BizSpark. We simply had to answer…

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We are looking for €2.5M to penetrate the Hispanic market.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are six people right now. Four of them in development.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes, smart-phone User Experience designers in Spain.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are building on Silverlight, asp.net MVC and Windows Azure. We want to be globally available and dependent on very fast processing, all without to have to pay upfront for the costs.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

I foresee that the Natural User Interaction (NUI) will open the computer to people who hasn´t been using them, and facilitating and increase the productivity for us who already use it. The combination of NUI and the Cloud, and the huge step in performance/cost will create an environment where we will see a lot of disruptive solutions.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It´s great. It has been an enabler for us. We were so happy to join BizSpark Camp NYC in January, and that has been a real driver for the company.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Don´t even think about having your own «on premise» server park. And start using the highest modeling level that you are able. If you need to store data, please consider using ASP.net MVC 2 and Entity Framework 4 to get the base laid down on Azure SQL!

Who’s your role model?

Leonardo da Vinci.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

That invoicing and accounting now can be done faster and easier than ever on a smart-phone, still being able to communicate the accounts with advisors and authorities.

Threeplicate, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, helps to automate and simplify the process of translating and localizing software, helping developers to save time, reduce workload and errors. Hear from Dario Solera, Co-Founder of Threeplicate in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Threeplicate, based in Italy. Below you will find an interview with Dario Solera, Co-Founder of Threeplicate. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.threeplicate.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am one of the three founders of the company and I work on .NET-based web applications and services.

What did you do before creating your company?

I graduated at the Politecnico di Milano in 2007 and since then I worked as a freelance developer for an Italian and then a French company. Back in 2006 I started working on ScrewTurn Wiki, which is a widely-used wiki application written in ASP.NET.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Very excited. I'm sure that it will bring more attention to our startup and will have a positive effect on our business.

What is your company’s mission?

While we have some mobile development going on, currently we focus on building software that helps people collaborating better. Our latest product, Amanuens, aims at simplifying the collaboration between software development teams and the translators that work in UI localization. You can find more information and an introductory video at amanuens.com.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I always wanted to found a software startup, I just needed an idea and a team. Back in late 2009 I had an idea for a mobile application that I thought was great. The problem is that the mobile market changes very fast and we had to adjust our plans, so we now have a broader range of projects. The original mobile application should be ready very soon, anyway.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We funded Threeplicate entirely out of our own pockets. You know, we really believe in this journey, so that was an easy step. We're still running in "cheap" mode for pretty much everything except IT equipment. For now we have all the money we need, but we might have to look for some funding when Amanuens will hopefully gain users and will need more investments.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

For now it's just the three of us. Matteo and me work as developers, while Michele works on marketing stuff.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We're not hiring this very moment, but we're evaluating to hire an intern to help on the development of ScrewTurn Wiki.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

I stared playing with .NET when I was attending university, and I never abandoned it since then. Besides, we mostly work on the .NET and Azure platform because it's a powerful technology stack and we're quite happy with it. On the other side, our mobile development efforts are focused on Apple's iPhone as it's the mobile platform that is best suited for commercial consumer apps at this moment. We're also really looking forward Windows Phone 7 Series as it seems like a great step forward.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

I believe there is little left to invent in the software industry, but there are countless things that could and should be done better than now. In a way, we can invent new ways of doing the same things we do now. Communication seems to be the area where everyone likes to work. You know, we have a myriad ways of communicating with others, yet no one can replace talking face-to-face, and that's because communication is not just plain words. I think we should focus on sharing knowledge rather than mere communication, and that's why we believe that wikis are valuable tools. Localization and internationalization is another area where a lot can be improved. After all, it's hard to find a product that is sold in only one Country. Localization is too important to be ignored or marked as boring, and it's also a great business opportunity.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I'm very glad that Microsoft has such a great attention for startups and independent software vendors. I think it's a good way to make startups' life easier. Put it simply, BizSpark allows us to save quite a lot of money.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I'm still a beginner entrepreneur myself, so I can only give one advice: do it. It's fun and it's a way to grow up. And don't forget you have to solve problems, not create new ones.

Who’s your role model?

I've been a fan of Joel Spolsky for a long time. He's a great entrepreneur and I admire him and his company. Recently Giacomo "Peldi" Guilizzoni, the founder of Balsamiq Studios, caught my attention. His startup's revenue in 2009 is simply impressive. He really looks like a very smart guy and he's Italian, so he's the perfect role model for me. I hope I'll be able to meet him in person very soon.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

It sounds more like a sales pitch, but if you're looking to improve the way you localize your applications, have a look at Amanuens.

Captain Dash, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, provides a solution that lets marketing people access all their data in a visual and interactive way. Hear from Co-Founder of Captain Dash, Gilles Babinet, in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Captain Dash, based in France. Below you will find an interview with Gilles Babinet, Co-Founder of Captain Dash. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.captaindash.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Co-Founder.

What did you do before creating your company?

Serial entrepreneur.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It is good to get recognized by a company that is a key partner for you.

What is your company’s mission?

Providing easy to use dashboard for marketers.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Captain Dash is a one stop shopping solution, in a SaaS mode, that’s aggregate anything that contributes to the purchase decision.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Talking with Bruno Walther, my business partner and one the top French marketing expert.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We seed funded the company and now we are looking for venture funding.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

3 on top of us.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We are hiring .NET developers and Silverlight expert. And we are keen on talking to anyone passionate about data.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Silverlight for the front office, .NET and SQL. Our added value are not on reinvented the wheel but in using the best integrated technologies to create new experience and bring efficiency to the marketing peoples.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

At the crossing of 3 worlds: Rich Interface application, Business Intelligence and Open Data, where we stand.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s efficient and made in a very good startup spirit.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Spend more money on marketing and experience than in pure IT.

Who’s your role model?

Bernard Liautaud, the business object founder “we had a plan and we did it”.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Try to remember that you read this interview. You’ll be proud to say that you have known us from the beginning.

protected-networks.com, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, provides holistic and standardized access rights management for IT infrastructures. Hear from CTO Christian Zander in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is protected-networks.com, based in Germany. Below you will find an interview with Christian Zander, CTO and Co-founder of protected-networks.com. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.protected-networks.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

CTO and Co-founder.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Honored! It’s great to be part of the Bizspark program. So far we received very good support and technical insights.

What is your company’s mission?

Any task you do in access rights management you can do with 8MAN within a minute (documented, structured, workflow based and easy). If you don’t use our solution “8MAN”, it’s hard to hire a good administrator.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Holistic and standardized access rights management for IT infrastructures: Visualization, analysis, recommendations, reporting and optimized administration (controlled by workflows) of access rights within different IT systems.

How did you get the idea for your company?

The market asked for it, and we’ve looked for it, and there was no solution available – so we did it.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Funded by High Tech Gruenderfonds and Investitionsbank Berlin Brandenburg (IBB) ProFit. Looking for 2 Mio €.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

14 Employees, 10 Developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Developers, Support, Sales.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

.NET Platform, it’s pretty cool. TFS, Visual Studio, MS SQL Server. With TFS we got all we need and more for developing.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

There’s a fantastic market for managing access rights inside of companies, Fileservers, Databases, SAP and in the cloud services.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Getting all the stuff for just 100$ for my development team offered us the chance to start our company very fast without spending too much money for the needed environment – we can simply focus on using the technologies – not on research looking for what tools to use.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Yes – don’t wait until someone will do something for you. Ask for it and pull it with the right charm and attitude.

Who’s your role model?

None – I’ve never seen a person like me.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

If you have an idea and a team, that is able to fulfill it – then do it. If you need to produce software, use BizSpark – it’s perfect – you don’t lose time evaluating other solutions.

sones, one of the Showcase Startups presenting at the European BizSpark Summit, created a database technology targeted at resolving the increasing challenge of unstructured data. Hear from sones CEO Alexander Oelling in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is sones, based in Germany. Below you will find an interview with Alexander Oelling, Founder of sones. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.sones.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Founder and Director Business Development.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was a student at the Technical University of Ilmenau.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We feel honored and excited and we think it is a great opportunity to present our company to a large audience..

What is your company’s mission?

sones transforms data into solutions. We can handle your digital universe.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

sones is a ground breaking database technology targeted at resolving the increasing challenge of unstructured data. sones aims to revolutionize the way the world discovers, stores and shares data.

How did you get the idea for your company?

The idea for the sones database technology came to life at the beginning of 2005, stemming from dissatisfaction with the existing solutions on the market. The focus of development is to make complex or unsolvable problems with unstructured data for a better data storage and data handling manageable. That is why the three founders developed an entirely new database technology from the ground up, based on individual concepts. Shortly thereafter the first functioning prototype was created in the form of a content recommendation system for a video community. The motivation was to develop a database management system that manages and structures data similarly to the human brain. sones GmbH was founded in November 2007, with the objective of marketing innovative, high-performance database technologies for online and offline software applications.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We are funded through T-Venture, the venture capital arm of the German Telekom. We are always interested in exchanging ideas with potential partners.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

There are 13 employees who are working for sones. 7 of them are developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We are strongly looking for developers and sales people. We are hiring from everywhere.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Our technology is built on .NET platform - with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server – of course. We believe that Microsoft has a good and reliable technology to build our solutions on.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

We see a great market opportunity for cloud database technology. Our architecture is especially designed to support the needs of cloud applications.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark is a great opportunity for StartUps to save costs for new software, generate awareness for their products and find last but not least new partnerships with other companies that work in the same field.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Believe in your idea, work hard, ask your Mom if she would buy your product. If yes, you are heading for the right direction. Ask everyone else what they need, change the things that are necessary, ask again… and so on… or like Steve Jobs said: stay hungry, stay foolish.

Who’s your role model?

Steve Jobs.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Try to make a difference - and communicate this difference in a simple way.

 

Siondo, one of the participating European BizSpark Summit showcase start-ups, provides managers and directors with a set of integrated software applications that enable simple and efficient management of the key business functions. Hear from Siondo CEO Christian Steiner in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Siondo, based in the UK. Below you will find an interview with Christian Steiner, CEO of Siondo. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.siondo.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

As CEO for Siondo, I am responsible for the day-to-day running of Siondo on a strategic level, board and investor liaison, and the formulation and implementation of the marketing and sales strategy. My educational background allows me to work on business process analysis and application designs for Siondo.

What did you do before creating your company?

Born in Munich, Germany, I have gained my industrial experience while working as controller and financial auditor in various companies based in the UK and Germany between 1996 and 2003. I hold a BA (Hons) in Business Economics from Kingston University, a MSc in Information System from London School of Economics and is a doctorate for Technology and Innovation Management at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Prior to Siondo, I have co-founded various businesses. I must admit, the first 2 did not work out as expected, but the last one, a consultancy business allowed us to bootstrap around $800.000 to take Siondo where it is today.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Being the “startup of the Day” per Microsoft BizSpark is a great honour for us. It's been quite the journey for the whole Siondo team and receiving this recognition makes every mile worthwhile.

What is your company’s mission?

Siondo aims to simplify the way SMBs do business by delivering high-quality and cutting edge software solutions at the best value for money. Siondo’s objective is to position itself as a global “One Stop Shop” for on demand software solutions that are fast to implement, easy to use and can grow as the company grows.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Siondo provides owner managers and directors with a set of integrated software applications that enable simple and efficient management of the key business functions.

How did you get the idea for your company?

The spark that led to Siondo came out of a combination of my PhD thesis (Technology and Innovation Management) and Jason Devenney’s early experience with the SaaS concept while he was working in the US. We could see that there had to be a better way to distribute business software world-wide while making it easy to access and use, especially for SMEs who don’t have the time or resources for large-scale systems.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Siondo has been “bootstrapped” by myself and my fellow co-founder Jason Devenney. Till date, we have invested around $800.000 and we have recently raised an additional $500.000 from angels in Germany and India. Siondo requires an additional $1.5 Mio to internalise all outsourced development operations and to build sales, support and operational teams to handle current global growth and future expansion. At present, Siondo is due diligence with various European private equity firms.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Two owner managers in the UK plus freelance staff. 15 developers in Siondo’s dedicated offshore development centre in India. 2 sales people in India funded via BizSpark UK Summit prize money.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Depending on the next funding round, we are looking for reinforcements in sales and project management.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Siondo is 100% based on the latest Microsoft technology (ASP .NET C#, SQL Server, AJAX .NET, IIS and Windows Server). Thanks to Microsoft and BizSpark we have recently completed a proof of concept study to migrate onto the Azure platform.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

With regards to the software/internet area, I see the greatest opportunities in emerging markets. Unlike saturated markets like the US and Europe, markets like China, India, Africa or South America are estimated to grow by more than 76% in the next 5 years.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark is fantastic. Siondo is the first BizSpark member in the UK and we’ve had excellent support from the whole team there, particularly Lars Lindstedt and Bindi Karia. BizSpark is a big benefit for us – the free technology is great but it’s much more than that. BizSpark opens doors. Soft benefits include being introduced to VCs, media, and many other potential partners. BizSpark events are great for networking and the credibility of being part of the Microsoft community is priceless for a start-up in our space.”

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Work hard, play hard and never give up.

Who’s your role model?

I have not found one yet but I am working on it?

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Check out www.siondo.com, one of the fastest growing providers of Internet-based business software today.

 

Acumatica, one of the Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, develops web-based ERP software designed to improve the productivity of mid-sized organizations. Hear from Acumatica CEO Ezequiel Steiner in the below video interview.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Acumatica, based in the US. Below you will find an interview with Ezequiel Steiner, the Chief Executive at Acumatica. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.acumatica.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the chief executive at Acumatica.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before Acumatica, among other things, I run server marketing and sales for IBM in Latin America, helped grow a virtualization and automation start-up to $100M+ in annual revenue and created a non-profit to standardize provisioning of software services to hosted environments.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Having partnered with Microsoft for the most part of my career, and knowing how seriously Microsoft takes these accolades, we at Acumatica feel honored to receive this recognition. Acumatica is indeed a very promising company that is changing the way midsize companies think about their ERP systems.

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is to help our customers realize all the productivity and cost-saving benefits of a cloud ERP solution.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Acumatica develops web-based ERP software designed to improve the productivity of mid-sized organizations. Using Acumatica, clients can access their business applications and documents from anywhere using any popular web-browser. Customers can purchase Acumatica as a SaaS solution or purchase a license which is designed to be hosted on-premise, at a datacenter, or on a cloud computing platform.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Acumatica is well funded and could become cash-flow positive with current funding. However, given our initial success and the size of the opportunity, we have decided to look for further funding to accelerate growth. We are expecting to go through another founding round in the first half of 2011.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

30/20.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes, we are hiring development and QA positions in Moscow and other professions in the USA.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Acumatica runs on .NET with SQL Server as the database. Also, we run on Windows and SQL Azure. The selection of the platform is aligned with our strategy to go after midsized businesses through Value Added Resellers. .Net and SQL are technologies our target customers and resellers know well and therefore it lowers their acquisition cost.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Leveraging the transition from software to cloud services.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It is a good opportunity for start-ups to start developing a relationship with a good partner like Microsoft.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Just don’t go for the canned recipes or pay much attention to general advice. A good business opportunity is usually unique and therefore good advice will be specific to the situation.

Who’s your role model?

I admire a lot of people but don’t really have a role model.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Buy Acumatica for your ERP needs!

 

Software Architects showcased their solution called ‘time cockpit’ at the European BizSpark Summit, which helps people in the services industry track billable hours and the content of their work to facilitate the billing process. Hear from Co-founder Rainer Stropek in the below video interview.

The BizSpark startup of the day is time cockpit (Software Architects), based in Austria. Below you will find an interview with Rainer Stropek, co-founder of Software Architects. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.timecockpit.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am one of the two founders of the company. At time cockpit my role is to work on the software architecture of our product time cockpit. In fact I also do a lot of the programming of the underlying framework that’s working under the hoods of our solution. Beside that I am responsible for representing our company at conferences and events like this BizSpark summit.

What did you do before creating your company?

time cockpit is the fourth venture of my colleague Karin Huber and me. Over the last 15 years we have successfully founded and led companies in the IT services area. The project time cockpit marks something of a departure from our previous ventures. In the past we have seen that consulting businesses are hard to scale. I heard a talk at a Microsoft Partner Conference about building value into the business and left convinced we had to move from consulting to products.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Great! Empower for ISV and the BizSpark program have been of great help at the time when we had nothing but an idea and a business plan. Today the product "time cockpit" has proven to be Windows 7 compatible. The company has already become Gold Certified Partner and most importantly our beta folks just fall in love with the way our product reduces their pain handling time tracking. Without BizSpark the start would have been much harder – so we are very happy about being nominated as the “Startup of the Day”.

What is your company’s mission?

Did you know that we have more than 318 million knowledge workers in Europe alone? Studies have shown that up to 40% of knowledge workers’ time gets lost because they do not track it or track it wrongly – that means more than 80 billion lost hours in Europe every single year. These folks live by selling their time. That’s why they are losing huge amounts of money and insight by not tracking lots of their billable hours.

time cockpit’s signal trackers collect and analyze digital footprints that a knowledge worker leaves on electronic devices she uses every day: Used applications, files & folder names, emails, phone calls, WLANs, appointments etc. As a cloud service our software connects all different types of electronic devices to have your consolidated data ready when you need it for creating your timesheets. Online or offline – we made time cockpit a solution that goes with you wherever you are. That's what time cockpit is really all about – recovering lost time!

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Imagine: End of the months, a day not booked, just one glimpse into time cockpit and you know when you did what for whom - that’s it.

How did you get the idea for your company?

We looked at the market for time-tracking and there were thousands of solutions so we put it aside. But we kept coming back to it. So we took a walk around a lake for hours and hours and thought how can we make this different? We realized that though there are lots of solutions it is a very fragmented market with no big players and no-one really focusing on time-tracking and there is a real space for a product that can semi-automate the process.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We have managed to receive research promotion from the Austria research promotion agency. This money helped us to finance our research work in the last two year. Additional we have been admitted to the high-tech incubator tech2b. The tech2b mentors who have been assigned to our project help us closing the knowledge gap that we still have concerning sales and marketing for small and medium businesses. We are currently looking for partners who can help us bringing the solution to a worldwide success.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Our team currently consists of the two founding partners. Additionally we have employed three professional software developers who are experts in technologies that are crucial in the development of time cockpit. Two fantastic freelancers have joined the team for UI and interaction design.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Currently we are not actively looking for people. However, we are always keeping our eyes opened for talented persons in the areas of software development as well as sales and marketing.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

Currently time cockpit has been built as a smart client solution based on Windows Presentation Foundation and the .NET Framework 4.0. A Silverlight 4 version is currently being developed. Additionally we decided to bet the farm on the Windows Azure platform. It allows us to focus on our core business, the development of the software solution “time cockpit”. We are a start-up company and therefore our resources – time and money – are limited. With Azure we do not need large investments upfront. It is a like a skin: it will grow as we grow.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Our mission is to use the latest technologies and findings to create an application that offers a level of productivity and accuracy which have been unknown in the area of time tracking. We are strong believers that the technologies that have been developed in the last few years have the potential to differentiate us and our product from the rest of the market.

Cloud computing is a big enabler for small startups like us. For us it was obvious that time cockpit has to be a software + service solution. Windows and SQL Azure give us the possibility to start without large upfront investments in data centres. If time cockpit is going to be a great success we can easily consume more resources in Azure, otherwise Azure helps us to keep costs down.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

As mentioned before BizSpark has been of great value when starting our project. With programs like BizSpark it is so easy to get your hands on the tools you need to make your ideas come true as a software developer. From all software enterprises we have ever partnered with Microsoft does the best job empowering their partners. BizSpark offered us a lot of opportunities that go far beyond just providing free software.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

If you have an idea that you believe in, go for it! Find the right people who can help you evaluating the chance to be successful with your dream and if you are still convinced about getting successful with it, stop hesitating!

Who’s your role model?

Doug Burgum, co-founder of the company that became Navision or Dynamics.NAV.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

If you are a knowledge worker and you need to know how you spent your time, you have to have time cockpit.

 

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Restopolitan, one of the participating Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, provides restaurant owners with a table management and marketing system and enables web users to make a free booking real-time. Hear from Restopolitan Founder Stephanie Pelaprat in the below video interview.

 

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Restopolitan, based in France. Below you will find an interview with Stephanie Pelaprat, Founder of Restopolitan. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.restopolitan.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m 26, Restopolitan’s Founder, and I lead daily operations with one goal in mind for Restopolitan: to become the leader of online restaurant business.

What did you do before creating your company?

I’m a self-made entrepreneur who took the big step right after graduating from business school. Previously, I had spent some time with leading Marketing, Publishing and Advertisement firms in Paris and in New York.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

The 3 cornerstones of the Restopolitan System are entirely built on Microsoft Technology. As a founding partner, choosing Microsoft was a commitment so I am as proud to be featured as I am satisfied with my initial choice.

What is your company’s mission?

Restopolitan aims to be the catalyst to restaurants transitioning into the 21st century.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Our platform provides restaurant owners with a table management & marketing system, enabling web users to make a free booking in REAL TIME through www.restopolitan.com and our partners.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Being an entrepreneur was what mattered for me, and as I am part of a century-long lineage of traditional French restaurateurs, I was particularly attached to this industry. In 2005, I lived in New York and amongst the various marvels the Big Apple has to offer, I became a fan of the online bookings of restaurants where I could check live the availability. When I returned to Paris, I discovered that on top of the practical aspects of booking online for web users, there was an incredible opportunity to bring a value added service to the restaurants.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Restopolitan was initially seeded by its founding partners. Rapidly, due to the innovative aspect of the project we were granted awards such as Défi Jeunes, Cré’Acc, Paris Entreprendre and most recently, were selected as one of the few Microsoft IDEE members. Due to its smart cashflow model, Restopolitan has had limited funding needs for its initial progressive expansion. In 2008, a first round of capital was raised, mainly from private individuals. Today, Restopolitan is looking for partners. We want Restopolitan to become the reference and our B2B and B2C growth require funding.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are a team of close to 10 today, among which 2 fulltime developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We are always on the lookout for new talents that could complement our team both on the sales side as well as on the IT.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

B2B:

   Desktop Software: .Net / Winforms / SQL Server 2005

   Web Based Software: Silverlight 4 / RIA Services, Linq To Entity, SQL Server 2008

B2C:

   Web Site: ASP.NET, Linq To Entity, SQL Server 2008

Since inception, we took the decision to build the Restopolitan solution on strong and reliable foundations. Furthermore we had benchmarked various similar solutions in other industry sectors that had been using successfully these technologies for over 10 years. You do not change a winning team!

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

The Real Time Web is at its genesis right now, especially when looking at services provided in Europe. The opportunities of growth are endless: clearly “sky is the limit” as long as it’s free, instant and accessible everywhere.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

A brilliant program. As indicated in the previous questions, we are looking for partners to grow alongside with and Microsoft is definitely a partner we want on board!

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I actually would not know where to start especially since I am a young entrepreneur myself. In this context I would only emphasize on the critical importance of choosing the right technology able to translate the market needs. You would not want to under estimate the foundations of your house?

Who’s your role model?

All my clients and partners. I learn from them on a daily basis.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Looking to book a table? www.restopolitan.com, you are just one click away!

 

Money Dashboard, one of the participating Showcase Startups at the European BizSpark Summit, helps people understand where their money is going by linking their free personal finance solution with your online banks and credit cards, and showing all of your spending in one place. Hear from Gavin Littlejohn, Founder and CEO of Money Dashboard in the below video interview.

 

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Money Dashboard, based in the UK. Below you will find an interview with Gavin Littlejohn, Founder and CEO of Money Dashboard. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.moneydashboard.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Founder & CEO.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before setting up Money Dashboard I had previously been the founder of other companies, ranging from a haulage and archive warehousing operation set up in my early 20s through to a digital compliance company for IFAs in my late 20s.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Happy and greatly encouraged by the recognition of this prestigious programme.

What is your company’s mission?

Money Dashboard is the ‘One place to manage your money’ for the UK consumer. This is the sign above the door, and is also evolving into the company’s internal mantra. We really want to make it easier for people to manage all of their financial relationships in one place.

How did you get the idea for your company?

There were two strands: Firstly, as an entrepreneur by habit, I had identified a highly disrupted market in retail finance, where a number of things could be done better. Secondly, who in that market was serving me? The answer was no one. Keeping on top of a myriad of bills and financial decisions when you are time poor is hassle for just about everyone in the mass market. Money Dashboard was built to serve me and millions of people like me. I just love using it.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We have had £1.6m in 4 rounds, most recently £1m in October 2009. We will shortly be starting a process to fund the next stage of product roll out and marketing activity.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Total Employees: 16 Developers: 4.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes we are always hiring, or so it seems. Currently we are looking for c# developers with WCF and/or Silverlight experience to join the team. As a fast young company it is the people in the team that we invest in and finding the right people is core to our business.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are building the application using a range of Microsoft technologies. For the User Interface we decided to take advantage of Silverlight's rich interface capabilities that still support our line of business requirements but also provide our users with the rich experience they are looking for. Supporting this rich user experience is a hybrid mix of private cloud (powered by hyper-v) and public cloud (Azure) infrastructures. The application framework itself is built using c# .net 4.0. As a Greenfield project we are taking advantage of the complete range of technologies to make our development efficient, cost effective and still deliver the features our users demand.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Clearly mobile apps, rich internet applications and collaborative marketing – harnessing social media – will provide a fascinating journey for entrepreneurs over the next few years.

On a more technical level, designing with flexibility and scale in mind can provide a wealth of opportunity. We have chosen to build a Service Orientated Architecture which allows us to scale, develop and monetise in a variety of ways. If you can build your application in this way, and when combined with a modular approach, you have flexibility. It’s this flexibility that allows you to adjust to changing user needs and market demands.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark program has been hugely beneficial to us. From the BizSpark team we have gained awareness and support ranging simple advice through to networking and industry contacts. From the BizSpark program we have gained access to resources that would have normally been prohibitive at this stage of our business. We have been able to build our application in the way we want, the right way, from the start and not had to compromise on substandard solutions and an inability to grow when we need too.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Going bust is easy. It only has to happen once. Make sure you manage risks, don’t press the accelerator until you know you have a product that really solves a market pain, raise money in tranches appropriate to your stage, find great people to co-own your vision and communicate constantly with your shareholders. Above all, product management is king; if Users really enjoy your software, the rest is easy.

Who’s your role model?

I have two controversial business role models actually, Scots Canadian media tycoon and financier Lord Beaverbrook, and financier Sir James Goldsmith. Although not everyone’s ‘cup of tea,’ I admire their energy, vision and ability to quickly cut through the baggage of an issue to get things done. What really single out their business careers, is their finely tuned instincts for risk and decision making bravery.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I am enjoying the journey; especially working with enthusiastic and committed people to build a great service for our Users.

 

Ireland-based HR Locker, provides easy to use and low cost online HR apps for small to mid-sized companies worldwide, and was one of the 18 startups participating in the European BizSpark Summit Startup Showcase. Hear from John Dennehy, Founder and CEO of HR Locker in the video interview below.

HR Locker at the European BizSpark Summit  

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is HR Locker, based in Ireland. Below you will find an interview with John Dennehy, Founder and CEO of HR Locker. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.hrlocker.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the founder and CEO of the company.

What did you do before creating your company?

I have worked in early stage technology and media companies for the past 15 years.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to get visibility amongst other early stage companies. It’s a great short term marketing boost and of course helps with search engine optimization in the mid to long term.

What is your company’s mission?

To make managing HR easier for small to medium size businesses worldwide.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Over the past 15 years I’ve found it really annoying that I couldn’t find software to manage HR for small to mid-size companies. Because I couldn’t find it I decided to build it.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

I funded the company up to the initial beta launch. Last December I did a small seed round of €300,000. To show my commitment I contributed to this round too. I’m looking to close our next round in Q4 of this year. We’re looking to raise about €1.5 million.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have five staff including four developers. We outsource a lot of work like design and QA.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We’re currently looking for another outstanding developer to join our team. They’ll work on the latest Azure technology from our office in Cork.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We’re building on Azure because it means we can focus on our core skill – which is building great HR web apps. It also means we can operate at a very low cost because there’s almost zero startup infrastructure cost.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Software as a service is a no brainer. There are also really interesting opportunities being created because of small to mid-sized companies that are operating globally. They have unique needs that largely aren’t being served.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I think it’s the best initiative I’ve seen from Microsoft in many years. It shows genuine commitment to the startup community. I’ve been really impressed not just with the advertised offering but more importantly with the enthusiasm of the people promoting it. Their energy is infectious.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Yes, conserve your cash.

Who’s your role model?

It’s the friends and family I know that have created their own successful businesses.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

If you’ve got an idea go for it.

 

Hear from Vincent Vergonjeanne, CEO of Kobojo at the European BizSpark Summit in Paris. Kobojo was one of the two final winners of the Summit, winning the €10,000 cash prize.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Kobojo, based in the France. Below you will find an interview with Vincent Vergonjeanne, CEO of Kobojo. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.kobojo.com

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am Vincent Vergonjeanne – CEO of Kobojo.

What did you do before creating your company?

I used to work for Microsoft Research, Working on Innovation for Bing.com.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Humble & Awesome.

What is your company’s mission?

Kobojo was created in 2008 to give a social dimension to classical games. Our team admired the social anatomy of board games and wanted to carry these mechanisms over to the online world. Today Kobojo is one of the French leaders in the social gaming universe. We develop games for social networks and mobiles that facilitate and encourage the connection between players.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Kobojo is one of the French leaders in the social gaming universe. We develop games on social networks and mobiles for people to enjoy!

How did you get the idea for your company?

Back in July 2008, we were looking for a strong way to reach people without spending too much in Marketing. Our first Facebook app proved us it was the right way to go.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

It is a little early for us to answer. All I can say is that yes, we are looking at September to start the raising process.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are 11 people and 5 of them are active Developers.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Yes! We are looking for ASP.Net Developers as well as Flash Developers and Artists. Check out our Job Section here: http://wwwen.kobojo.com/jobs/.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We are working on a Full Microsoft Stack: .NET / IIS & SQL Server. This platform helped us tremendously during the scale up phase and is extremely well supported by Microsoft and numerous Communities.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

In our own point of view, ‘Social’ along as the ‘Software as a Service’ Model will be the big winners of the next years.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark program has helped us tremendously at a Technological, Business & Hiring level.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Don’t be scare to fail; it is the key to understand your weaknesses and your strength.

Who’s your role model?

Anyone crazy enough to try to change the world, while doing it with class and smile.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

If you believe social is the next big thing, and want to work with a team capable of accomplishing great products, please join the ride and contact us (contact@kobojo.com). We are looking for individual contributors as well as partnerships.

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is FinanceAcar, based in the UK. Below you will find an interview with Nadim Saad and Mark Peatey, co-founders of FinanceAcar. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.financeacar.co.uk

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Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

We are co-founders and our working day covers everything from doing deals with leading media partners, through to speaking with customers and dealing with Windows Server and MS SQL (although we are not techies!).

What did you do before creating your company?

Before meeting, Mark launched itv.com and grew it across 4 years to become one of the biggest television websites in Europe and Nadim had been a serial entrepreneur having launched several start-ups and lived and worked on four continents.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It is an honour. BizSpark is a fantastic initiative and so very helpful for thousands of companies thanks to the great team behind the scenes! To be selected amongst such an elite group makes us very proud.

What is your company’s mission?

FinanceAcar’s mission is to reinvent car shopping and change car ownership. We are planning to achieve this by creating the world’s first comparison site for all car finance products. FinanceAcar instantly advises the cheapest price for a specific car (across all dealers and funders) and matches this with the cheapest car finance available for that car.

How did you get the idea for your company?

We had been short listing business concepts for years and FinanceAcar was one that we identified when discussing opportunities in the finance industry. When the Global Credit Crisis hit we knew that a downturn would follow and so we decided on FinanceAcar because we thought it would be a business that would do well coming out of a recession. There are 1.5 million new cars that are ‘financed’ in the UK each year but there is nowhere for a car buyer to compare car finance across all of the confusing leasing, hire purchase and loan products and to obtain the best deal.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

FinanceAcar is self-funded and we are not particularly looking for additional funds, except if we can get “smart money”, ie investors who would truly add value to our business.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have a team of developers that vary between 4 and 6 at various times.

Are you hiring?  If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

We are looking at different potential roles but are in the phase of prioritising this at the moment.

Which platform are you building on?  Why?

We have built using Microsoft ASP.Net and MS SQL for many reasons not least amongst it being the flexibility, scalability and security underpinning the technology.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?

Everyone is talking about the cloud and the freedom that it grants to organizations. It is the biggest technological change of the last decade because it will change the way that most organisations will use their technology by 2015.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It is a fantastic programme that has been a huge help to FinanceAcar in the early stages of the launch. Therefore, it is also a great incentive for start-ups to use Microsoft technology and get support from the Microsoft team.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

It is a well known piece of advice but we learnt lessons on this too - be very careful with your selection of technical staff outside your ‘sphere of control’. Do not use an individual unless you have at least three very positive, independent references.

Who’s your role model?

The hard working, enormously successful, but incredibly modest and now the most charitable benefactor in history, Warren Buffet.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

We read something recently that we think applies to all entrepreneurs and we have certainly taken on board - “Whatever you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Goethe

 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Incentings, based in Chile. You will find below an interview with Pablo Daniel Palma, Chief Architect and co-founder of Incentings. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.incentings.com.

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Interview with Chief Architect and co-founder of Incentings

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Chief Architect and co-founder.

What did you do before creating your company?

I have been developing software products and creating software companies for many years, always in search of “the big thing”.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Great! This encourages us.

What is your company’s mission?

To become the leader in software for incentive compensation management - ICM - focused in the small businesses market.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Before Incentings was created, we won a bid to provide an ICM solution for the largest Chilean media company. We developed the software, learned about the type of problem, studied the market and its players, did a survey with a couple of dozens of consultants and managers and finally got convinced that there is a good business opportunity to pursue. We developed an “on premise solution” and based in the Long Tail marketing concepts, it will be followed by a multitenant version running in the Cloud, which is oriented to the small businesses market. 

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

The company was funded by us and it acquired clients and reached the break-even point in in Chile, as a proof of concept. The next development stage consists of a SaaS version and the beginning of the Latin-American expansion. This requires US$ 600.000 that we are looking for as a combination of private funds and government resources.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Six. Two of them in marketing and a support and the other four in the technical area.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Not yet. However, in the short term we will require another 6 developers to sustain the migration to the next stage as described above.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Full Microsoft stack: Windows, .NET, SQL Server, Azure, Visual Studio, Team Foundation Server. Our decision was certainly influenced by both, the BizSpark program and productivity considerations.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I look thru my experience in the enterprise applications area. Cloud computing is reshaping the economy of system operations. Mobility plus new form factors introduced by smart phones and tablet computers are redefining human-computer interaction. New tools, processes and technologies are improving software development productivity. All these together will have a deep impact in currently most popular solutions, probably deeper than the one triggered by the adoption of the graphic user interfaces. These will make it possible to solve implementation burdens that so adversely impact software products adoption. It will be feasible to make money by massively selling many different software products, easily customizable to multiple and different requirements.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It is a very key factor, no doubt. For stat-ups, it makes a big difference. BizSpark deeply influenced our initial technology definitions. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Change constantly is becoming faster and faster. Software is only limited by your intellectual assets: the constraints are no longer the equipment, neither materials, nor the installations. You have the opportunity to influence the world with the handcraft of your ingenious, to have fun in the work and to secure a decent life style for your families and for the families of your collaborators.

Who’s your role model?

Lord Kelvin. As an entrepreneur he was involved in the first transatlantic telegraph cable operations. Knighted by Queen Victoria, he was the first scientist appointed to the House of Lords. Rich and famous, he said: "I have been a student of the University of Glasgow fifty-five years to-day, and I hope to continue a student of the University as long as I live."

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

That small Chilean company is capable of being a driver of its destiny.

The BizSpark startup of the day is kinkon, based in Germany. You will find below an interview with Peter K. Sanner, Co-Founder and CEO of kinkon. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.kinkon.de.

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Interview with Peter K. Sanner, Co-Founder and CEO of kinkon

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of kinkon and responsible for Product Development, Strategy and Marketing.

What did you do before creating your company?

When I turned 18 I started being self-employed and after nine years I decided to work in the industry as business developer in the enterprise search products field. Those two decades taught me a lot about being an entrepreneur, employee, on how to manage teams and customers, and to find “my way” for doing business. Sind 1986, I am a hypertext addict after reading an article about Ted Nelsons “Project Xanadu” – interesting times we had since then.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It´s fantastic and a great honor not only to be part of the Microsoft supported start-up community but also to be able to present our company at such a prominent level. We are more than surprised about the pragmatic approach of the German BizSpark team, and their ongoing support at all levels. Not only concerning technical issues, but furthermore in promoting our business, getting the word out, and being an advocate for us wherever possible.

What is your company’s mission?

To protect and guide children on the Internet and give families value added services in order to make this experience not only comfortable for them, but also fun.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I have a daughter who told me two years ago that she also wants a computer. Confronted with that challenge I could not find any satisfactory kiddy internet protection in the market, so I came up with a web based, easy to install and easy to use, social bookmarking and social community based solution.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We got our seed funding from a public VC in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate and a pool of private investors. Our hosting partner SHE NET AG (MS certified partner) also did a strategic investment.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We currently have six full-time employees; three of them are developers, one designer, one business developer and one assistant.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Currently, we are not hiring for the next six months. But in 2011, we plan to adapt the staff number according to the company’s development.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We build on MS-SQL as the core database and PHP. It is very nice to see those two worlds work together seamlessly.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

We see a clear opportunity in delivering value added services for the broad basis of end users. The web 2.0 environment is in a phase of maturity and now goes mainstream. With kinkon we focus on delivering such services to the target market: families.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It´s a great opportunity for startups to keep software licenses costs low, to receive valuable advice from experts and to be able to network online but also offline with other startups under the Microsoft umbrella.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Plan, execute, check, react & adjust plan. It can be very dangerous to stick to an original plan if the environment of your company or market changes. Do this on a biweekly basis, and be disciplined! 

Who’s your role model?

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. They both influenced the IT industry with not only their companies, but their personality and vision. They stayed authentic all the way!

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Keep going, stick to your vision, but be flexible enough to adjust to new opportunities and market changes!

The BizSpark startup of the day is Keepcon, based in Argentina. You will find below an interview with Abel Matías Rozenfarb, CEO and co-founder of Keepcon. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.keepcon.com.

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Interview with Abel Matías Rozenfarb, CEO and co-founder of Keepcon

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the CEO and co-founder of the company.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was responsible for a software and QA factory area.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We are really excited because it is recognition mainly because we are a cutting edge technology entrepreneurship.

What is your company’s mission?

To be the world´s leader in automatic content moderation for UCG communities. 

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We offer comprehensive moderation services for Web 2.0 sites leveraging our moderation process with Semantic Technology.

How did you get the idea for your company?

We had the opportunity to meet a moderator who had been working 8 hours a day by manually moderating a French digital newspaper. At that moment, we thought that a growing community with hundreds of thousands or millions of user generated content needs an automated moderation process rather than a human moderation cover just because a manual moderation doesn’t scale.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We are not looking for an investment because we already received our first round.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

12 employees, 9 of them are involved in the development team.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes, we are looking for experts on natural language processing and digital image processing.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Java open source.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

We foresee huge opportunities on the semantic technologies applied to many different internet community needs.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s excellent and we are really taking advantage on many of the licenses you are providing us, for example we built all our Business Intelligence on Dynamics.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Yes, try to create a profitable and innovative idea and don’t be shy and push everything with a strong conviction.

Who’s your role model?

Emiliano Kargieman and Eric Acher.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

That everything is possible, mainly in this incredible talented country which is Argentina. Just gather a good team and believe in your dreams.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Zeeyoo, based in Switzerland. You will find below an interview with Roger Gygli, founder and CEO of Zeeyoo. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.zeeyoo.com.

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Interview with Roger Gygli, founder and CEO of Zeeyoo

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the founder and CEO of Zeeyoo.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was an executive at the public traffic authority in Zurich.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s definitely a great honor for me and for my team, a reward for the hard work of the last 18 months and a motivation for the challenges ahead.

What is your company’s mission?

Manage meeting madness. We want to become the leading online tool for online scheduling and meeting efficiency. We position ourselves between very simple scheduling tools and very complex online collaboration solutions. Based on extensive and often painful past experiences of our team, we know that this position is a sweet spot where companies can save a lot of money by accelerating the process of meeting coordination and, most importantly, driving teams to more efficient meetings. Zeeyoo integrates with most calendar systems. Our latest release aims at corporate customers and offers a seamless integration with Microsoft Exchange.

How did you get the idea for your company?

In 2008, the European soccer championships (EURO2008) were held in Switzerland and Austria. Zurich was one of the host cities and I was in charge of the project that made sure that traffic would not break down in the city and the region during the tournament. The project was very demanding. I had to coordinate well over 1’000 people, most of which never had to work together before. I do not know how many meetings I had to organize and manage – but I realized that it took by far too much time and effort. So I decided to quit my job in the public service, become a startup entrepreneur and build a solution that would help other people to “manage meeting madness”.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We had a successful seed round in the summer of 2009. We plan to have an additional round around September this year.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Currently, we are a core team of 4 people, two of which focus on platform development. Additionally, we rely on a wide network of excellent freelancers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are looking for additional developers to work for our Zurich office. Additionally, we are looking for channel partners around the world who would like to offer our corporate solution to their customers.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Zeeyoo is a pure Microsoft .Net 3.5 application. We use XHtml and Javascript (mainly jQuery) on the client and .Net 3.5 as Server technology. Zeeyoo runs within an IIS 7 on a virtualized Windows 2008 R2 Core Server. We use SQL Server 2008 as database engine and a series of .Net based Services to do asynchronous jobs. The platform runs on IBM Blades and uses a highly redundant SAN for data storage. This decision was mainly based on three factors: 1. Our development team has a lot of knowledge in C# and the .Net Framework. 2. Visual Studio and SQL Server are very powerful and yet easy to use. 3. The tight integration of .Net, Visual Studio, SQL-Server and IIS lets us focus on the development itself instead of having to setup a working environment - for production as well as for development.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

This space still offers vast opportunities as more and more users are not only moving online but also mobile. Users are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of applications that are available. We therefore believe that the biggest opportunity comes from bundling services and making them easier to use.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

We liked the BizSpark Program from the beginning. Microsoft offers a lot to startups and is very open in granting access to the program. It certainly made our technology decision easier.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

My most important advice to Software entrepreneurs would be: Make sure to find the right balance between utility and usability. Software engineers tend to focus too much on functionality and pay less attention to the fact that tools have to be easy to use – or else the functionality will never reach the user.

Who’s your role model?

I am still looking for a very successful entrepreneur that started his career as a civil engineer in the public service.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Obviously, I would like to invite everybody to give Zeeyoo.com a try – because it makes the live of a knowledge worker that has several meetings every week much easier.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Whaboo, based in Netherlands. You will find below an interview with Jorge Martins, founder of Whaboo. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.whaboo.com.

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Interview with Jorge Martins, founder of Whaboo

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

My name is Jorge Martins, founder of Whaboo. With my fellow partners, I developed the concept, and have been responsible for building and promoting Whaboo, obtaining funding and much more since we started in late 2008.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was working as a manager at an IT consultancy firm, involved in projects for a number of major companies such as France Telecom, Orange, Orascom and T-Mobile.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s an honour. Kind of like "That's one small step for Microsoft, a giant leap for Whaboo". Except I’m not wearing a spacesuit…

What is your company’s mission?

We want to put some of “real life’s” challenges back into our online lives through social gaming. There’s so much information out there, and so many new ways of interacting with people online, but so often our online relationships can be shallow and unrewarding. We want to make the social web more exciting and enjoyable by encouraging people to play and interact on a deeper, emotional level.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Whaboo is a social and emotional game. A place where you can have nothing but a box. A very special box. Full of your favorite things. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

We wanted to recreate the experience of learning about someone; helping people to build stronger relationships and discover new things. So many times I’ve heard some music or saw something really cool and thought: “my friends would love this, if only they’d take the time to discover it”. Of course there are many ways to share the things you love on the internet, but Whaboo does this through play, rewarding users as they learn.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We bootstrapped for more than 1 year whilst we got the idea off the ground. We are now in discussions with several venture capital firms and working with international groups in presale partnerships.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are 4 guys with a little extra help here and there. 

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes. We are currently looking for people in and around Amsterdam. We will also be hiring a Community Manager who will be picked from our beta users.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Whaboo is wrapped in Flash and is pushing it to its limits. On the server side everything is built using Microsoft technologies. The choice to use Microsoft was not difficult as Whaboo’s implementation requires features that can only be found in Microsoft SQL Server 2008. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I see the two most fascinating and active online markets at the moment as being Social Media and Gaming. Whaboo seeks to take full advantage of both these exciting opportunities.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark has continuously given Whaboo support, well beyond our expectations. We’ve had so much help and advice from the enthusiastic and generous team at Microsoft, who has been genuinely interested in seeing Whaboo succeed. Thanks guys!

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Aim high, put in the effort, and enjoy every success at each step, as if that step were the goal itself. In the words of Emmett "Doc" Brown, "If you put your mind into it, you can accomplish anything".

Who’s your role model?

Why not the Doc himself? I've put my heart and mind into creating Whaboo, and, as he also says: "I finally invented something that works!"

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Welcome to Whaboo.

The BizSpark startup of the day is CodeVine Software Company, based in Turkey. You will find below an interview with Ersin Ateş, Co-Founder and General Manager of CodeVine Software. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.CodeVine.net.

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Interview with Ersin Ateş, Co-Founder and General Manager of CodeVine Software

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m one of the co-founders of CodeVine Software and work as general manager.

What did you do before creating your company?

Worked as software developer and IT specialist for some private companies, had several self business opportunities, especially experienced in Microsoft CRM and Silverlight. My partners too had worked as software developers for prestigious companies and also they were members of Imagine Cup 2008 Turkey Winner Team, Lorientalis.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s always fine to see appreciated for what we did or we are still doing, also gives us courage to rise up the abilities a bit more which we are capable of.

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is to create wise and agile software solutions for our valuable costumers and try to run closer with the newest technologies ahead. With the help of this idea, CodeVine Software already found its place on the areas of Finance and Stocks. Our “Vob Client” product is one of the most speed-wised, secure and user-friendly Stock Market software, in use for some prestigious Investment Companies and Commercial Banks.

Also we progressed on developing CRM based solution for Insurance Experts, waiting for final tests to take in to market. Beside all for a dream of enviro-conscious and responsive society, we are building a unique, social platform for people to donate for lot of different environmental campaigns such as planting trees, protecting endangered species etc. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

Considering with my partners, we all had individual experiences on different aspects of software, such as CRM, ERP, SharePoint and Silverlight etc. We knew it was a “must” for us to collect those experiences and bring new perspectives, fresh solutions and stronger products. So that the idea of “must”, we decided to take our shot when the right time was up.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Funding? Who doesn’t need funding though? But actually for the entire lifetime of CodeVine, we did what we did without any special funding. Unlucky though for all of us, we couldn’t see what CodeVine could have scored with the right investors to come.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Two partners with me, co-founder, co-owner and developers all three.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Not yet, but surely we have plans to hire people very soon to enlarge the company.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, a unique tool to develop stronger software solutions, making it so easy.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Web based software solutions have more value than ever nowadays and social entertainment platforms will still find players to join. Reaching mass of internet users creates the value and we are aware of that. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I must admit that I’m so glad to be a member of BizSpark Program. We are happy to have chance to experience valuable organizations, to attend well-required seminars and to be entitled to use the latest software products and platforms of Microsoft Family.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Being so proud to be one of them, I want all talented young entrepreneurs to do their bests of their own. Very first courage made us to take the road and surely it will lead us. (Be strong and straight to get paid what you deserve of course).

Who’s your role model?

Personally, there are some local heroes that guide us, but besides we admire Microsoft and Google.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

CodeVine Software is a young, talented software company, already has many satisfied customer references with well answered expectations and I strongly believe we can be so much more than we are.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Money Dashboard, based in the UK. You will find below an interview with Gavin Littlejohn, Founder & CEO of Money Dashboard. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.moneydashboard.com.

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Interview with Gavin Littlejohn, Founder & CEO of Money Dashboard

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Founder & CEO.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before setting up Money Dashboard I had previously been the founder of other companies, ranging from a haulage and archive warehousing operation set up in my early 20s through to a digital compliance company for IFAs in my late 20s.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Happy and greatly encouraged by the recognition of this prestigious programme.

What is your company’s mission?

Money Dashboard is the ‘One place to manage your money’ for the UK consumer. This is the sign above the door, and is also evolving into the company’s internal mantra. We really want to make it easier for people to manage all of their financial relationships in one place.

How did you get the idea for your company?

There were two strands: Firstly, as an entrepreneur by habit, I had identified a highly disrupted market in retail finance, where a number of things could be done better. Secondly, who in that market was serving me? The answer was no one. Keeping on top of a myriad of bills and financial decisions when you are time poor is hassle for just about everyone in the mass market. Money Dashboard was built to serve me and millions of people like me. I just love using it.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We have had £1.6m in 4 rounds, most recently £1m in October 2009. We will shortly be starting a process to fund the next stage of product roll out and marketing activity.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Total Employees: 16 Developers: 4.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes we are always hiring, or so it seems. Currently we are looking for c# developers with WCF and/or Silverlight experience to join the team. As a fast young company it is the people in the team that we invest in and finding the right people is core to our business.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We are building the application using a range of Microsoft technologies. For the User Interface we decided to take advantage of Silverlight's rich interface capabilities that still support our line of business requirements but also provide our users with the rich experience they are looking for. Supporting this rich user experience is a hybrid mix of private cloud (powered by hyper-v) and public cloud (Azure) infrastructures. The application framework itself is built using C# .NET 4.0. As a Greenfield project we are taking advantage of the complete range of technologies to make our development efficient, cost effective and still deliver the features our users demand.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Clearly mobile apps, rich internet applications and collaborative marketing – harnessing social media – will provide a fascinating journey for entrepreneurs over the next few years.

On a more technical level, designing with flexibility and scale in mind can provide a wealth of opportunity. We have chosen to build a Service Orientated Architecture which allows us to scale, develop and monetise in a variety of ways. If you can build your application in this way, and when combined with a modular approach, you have flexibility. It’s this flexibility that allows you to adjust to changing user needs and market demands.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark program has been hugely beneficial to us. From the BizSpark team we have gained awareness and support ranging simple advice through to networking and industry contacts. From the BizSpark program we have gained access to resources that would have normally been prohibitive at this stage of our business. We have been able to build our application in the way we want, the right way, from the start and not had to compromise on substandard solutions and an inability to grow when we need too. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Going bust is easy. It only has to happen once. Make sure you manage risks, don’t press the accelerator until you know you have a product that really solves a market pain, raise money in tranches appropriate to your stage, find great people to co-own your vision and communicate constantly with your shareholders. Above all, product management is king; if Users really enjoy your software, the rest is easy.

Who’s your role model?

I have two controversial business role models actually, Scots Canadian media tycoon and financier Lord Beaverbrook, and financier Sir James Goldsmith. Although not everyone’s ‘cup of tea,’ I admire their energy, vision and ability to quickly cut through the baggage of an issue to get things done. What really single out their business careers, is their finely tuned instincts for risk and decision making bravery.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I am enjoying the journey; especially working with enthusiastic and committed people to build a great service for our Users.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Socialwok, based in Singapore. You will find below an interview with Ming Yong, Founder and CEO of Socialwok. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.socialwok.com.

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Interview with Ming Yong, Founder and CEO of Socialwok

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Ming Yong is Founder and CEO of Socialwok (http://socialwok.com), one of the most popular business social productivity service on the web for group collaboration and enterprise microblogging. Ming previously founded Druid, a popular open source project on Unified Communications for small medium businesses. 

What did you do before creating your company?

Ming previously founded Druid, a popular open source project on Unified Communications for small medium businesses. 

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It's been quite the journey for the whole Socialwok team of Vikram Rangnekar, Navin Kumar and myself. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to see the service we created used by tens of thousands of businesses.

What is your company’s mission?

My company Socialwok (http://socialwok.com/tour) is a business social networking service that helps tens of thousands of businesses daily to share ideas, files through Google Apps (Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Spreadsheets) and the Outlook Social Connector 

How did you get the idea for your company?

We are big fans of Facebook and how friends kept in contact using passive sharing. Personally, I was sending out over 20 emails each to my co-workers. There had to be better ways.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

3 co-founders of which 2 are developers

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes. Developers in Singapore (Java, .Net) with experience in web technologies.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Google AppEngine, .Net (Socialwok Outlook Social Connector), Silverlight (Desktop).

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Cloud, software as a service & social.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Been very helpful in providing access to development tools like Visual Studio .NET.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Keep trying and persevere.

Who’s your role model?

Co-founder & CEO of Voiceroute Pte Ltd (Socialwok).

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Check out Socialwok (http://socialwok.com) the fastest growing business social collaboration and productivity service on the web

The BizSpark startup of the day is Exceedra, based in England. You will find below an interview with Dan Zywicki, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Exceedra. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.exceedra.com.

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Interview with Dan Zywicki, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Exceedra

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Managing Director and Co-Founder.

What did you do before creating your company?

I worked for a number of the large consultancies specializing in Business Intelligence for consumer goods and entertainment sectors.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s great to be recognized by Microsoft for the work we have been doing over the last year.

What is your company’s mission?

We provide a product suite that uses advanced demand intelligence to drive better forecasting and insight for our clients. Our mission is to ensure that we always deliver value for our clients.

How did you get the idea for your company?

We have worked in the Consumer Goods market for over the past 10 years, witnessing the lost opportunity caused by sales and supply teams not being as consumer driven as their data could allow. The only companies to bridge the gap successfully had done so via large scale multi-year bespoke implementations. We saw no reason why that should be the case so we created Exceedra to provide software specifically to enable consumer driven processes to be implemented quickly driving increases in customer services, sales and margin.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We were initially funded entirely by the founders but a number of VCs have approached recently and we are currently looking at two offers which provide significant opportunities for Exceedra and its clients.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We are currently 10 employees with half of them providing development.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are currently looking for an experienced marketing manager to drive our branding across Europe and another C# / Silverlight developer. We have two locations across the south of England which options to work from either.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

To date our solutions use SQL Server 2008, SharePoint and .NET applications. However we are currently co-developing an Azure version with Microsoft which we see as our long term platform.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

At the moment we’re still seeing technology produce more and more amounts of data. I believe the many opportunities exist for companies that can consume this data from both a commercial and personal security aspect.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark programme provides startup companies with a fantastic opportunity, we were able to work directly with the Microsoft programme teams to ensure our software utilised the best available technology. We were also introduced to our potential investors through a number of events hosted by Bindi and the UK BizSpark team.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I’m not sure I have any real advice but I do feel that technology should always be about the process it solves and business value it generates and never about the technology itself. I see far too many developments projects consumed by the development rather than the end goal.

Who’s your role model?

I don’t follow any one role model but I aim to emulate those who treat people fairly and with respect.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I would want readers with forecasting and demand management issues to come knock on my door.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Wibiya, based in Israel. You will find below an interview with Dror Ceder, CEO and Co-Founder of Wibiya. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.wibiya.com.

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Interview with Dror Ceder, CEO and Co-Founder of Wibiya

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

CEO and co-founder.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before Wibiya I founded another company in the field of Vertical Search together with Daniel Tal and Avi Smila (co founders of Wibiya).

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We are delighted to be the Startup of the day of Microsoft’s BizSpark especially after all the help we got from this program during the past year.

What is your company’s mission?

Our company’s mission is to help Websites of all types to easily integrate applications and features into their websites without the need of writing any code. Websites will always be able to easily add features according to the benefit they are looking for, from increasing page views and distributing content to minimizing their bounce rate to other networks. This will allow each website to concentrate on their core business and manage everything else with Wibiya. 

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

Wibiya is a platform for websites to create custom web-based toolbars using an application marketplace. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

While still working on our previous product we understood that it is a big pain for content websites and blogs to add different types of applications into their sites and track their performance. After doing some research and talking to multiple publishers, we decided that there is a big opportunity in this market and founded Wibiya.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We raised funding from Dr. Yossi Vardi and other private investors from the USA and Israel.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

The company has fourteen employees, ten out of them are developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

At the moment we are not hiring.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We use a variety of platforms such as LAMP, Windows Server 2008, MSSQL 2008. We use each platform/setup according to the task, for example we use MSSQL for high volume DB which provides the power of large scale queries/hits.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I think that there are a lot of opportunities in personalizing the way we consume content today on the web. In the past few years we have seen a big shift from something I call the “anonymous web” where users surfed the web anonymously without leaving identifiable footprints to the “open identity web” where users are more open to using their real profile. Personally I think that there is a lot to be done in this space and the technology to move things forward is out there.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I think that it’s an excellent program that really helps young companies move forward. I would really be happy to see more programs like this that encourage entrepreneurs to step forward and give their innovative ideas a chance.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Don’t spend too much time in characterizing and building the big vision of your product, try to build the shell of your idea as fast as possible and test it. You will be amazed how many things shift in your mind. Also, measure everything, whatever you don’t track doesn’t exist as you won’t be able to make any conclusion from it.

Who’s your role model?

Shai Agassi – Founder and CEO of Better Place. 

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Innovation is a key factor of success in everything we do from building your own companies to our daily life routine, give your ideas a chance, they might just surprise you.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Curse, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Hubert Thieblot, Founder and CEO of Curse. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.curse.com.

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Interview with Hubert Thieblot, Founder and CEO of Curse

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the founder and CEO of Curse, Inc and am focused on strategy and business development. 

What did you do before creating your company?

Before founding Curse I never had a full-time job. I was playing a lot of MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games including World of Warcraft. As the guild master of one of the largest guilds in Europe, I was keenly aware of the needs of the MMO community which inspired Curse's beginning.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I feel very happy about it. We are very excited to have Microsoft as a partner to help us in our growth from a small company to a large one. In addition, we are passionate about what we do here and want to share that passion with others.

What is your company’s mission?

Simply put, we are here to help gamers succeed in online worlds. Curse is an integral part of the MMO experience, providing the tools and expertise core gamers need to take their gaming to the next level.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I was frustrated by the fact that you had to go to so many different locations to download add-ons for World of Warcraft. So, I put them all together, first on an FTP server, and then a website. After two months we already had more than 400,000 people visiting the website. It was great! Our growth has continued exponentially and we now reach more than 6.7 million unique visitors worldwide.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

No, we are not currently looking for funding. We secured $11M in two rounds of financing. In the first round we raised $5M from AGF Private Equity, a private equity firm owned by the German financial company Allianz. The second round was lead by VenTech Capital in Paris. It was a $6M round and included current investors along with Jeff Clavier from SoftTech VC, a well-know investor in Silicon Valley.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 30 employees, 10 of which are developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are constantly looking for high quality talent who are a good fit for any of our departments; both in San Francisco, California and Huntsville, Alabama.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Curse.com, the Curse Client and all of our upcoming projects are developed entirely on Microsoft technology. We utilize Visual Studio 2008 and 2010 for our development tools, and we rely on Windows 2008 Server, IIS7, and SQL Server 2008 for our hosting environment. Prior to our migration to the Microsoft platform, we had a very large LAMP server cluster. Despite the number of servers, we experienced constant site outages and we were unable to remain online under the heavy load of World of Warcraft patch days. In April 2008 work began on a new version of Curse.com, using ASP.NET web forms. By August we had a beta completed, and in late September we launched. Since the .NET version of Curse.com replaced the LAMP version, we have not had a single site outage and we have met every single World of Warcraft patch with confidence. We now utilize less than 1/3 of the server hardware, and have over three-times the amount of scalability.

In 2010, we'll be continuing to use Microsoft technology exclusively. We've recently completed a next-generation version of the Curse Client, which was developed using Windows Presentation Foundation on the frontend and Windows Communication Foundation on the backend. We also have a guild-hosting service launching in Q2 of this year, which is being developed in ASP.NET MVC. Our decision to rely on Microsoft technology has had a profound impact on our business; allowing us to scale to incredible levels with little hardware investment, and a relatively small development team. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I think there are a lot of opportunities in consumer websites that save people time or help them discover new things in new ways. Services which make your life easier or help you manage your life better are always in demand.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s a great program and very helpful for young start-ups. Getting access to Microsoft Technologies without upfront costs is amazing. We are excited to show the world how you can use these technologies to grow your business and take over the world.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

One thing I learned in 5 years is, if you have a useful service it doesn’t need to be perfect. People are going to be using it even if it is not perfect. Make sure you always stay ahead of the curve when you release your software. If you have a good idea, make sure it is released quickly and you get the word out fast. Being the first to market is always important.

Who’s your role model?

I know it has been said before, but, as a businessman, Bill Gates is super smart. He made a lot of right decisions as a visionary.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I think what has been great with Curse is I was able to build a business out of a passion. And if you can be passionate about what you are working on it makes your life happier and more rewarding. And, your enthusiasm is infectious. Getting people excited about what you are doing in the company is important.

The BizSpark startup of the day is IP-Tech, based in Tunisia. You will find below an interview with Fateh Bel Hadj Ali, CEO and Co-Founder of IP-Tech. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.iptech-offshore.com.

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Interview with Fateh Bel Hadj Ali, CEO and Co-Founder of IP-Tech

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Fateh Bel Hadj Ali, CEO and co-founder. IP-Tech’s vision statement is mainly providing high quality, reliable and globally-recognized offshore ITO services. Therefore, my role is a mix of a three missions: Talent management, corporate organization and customer satisfaction assurance.

What did you do before creating your company?

I joined IBM just after graduating from Tunisia Polytechnic School. Two years later, I moved to Paris – France, where I worked as an IT Specialist for three years. After that, I have been providing consulting services for five years to top asset management corporations (Société Générale AM and BNP Paribas AM) to better manage their offshore IT teams.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s actually a very pleasant surprise. It’s also amazing since it comes just few days after being elected by Microsoft as Tunisia’s best startup during Microsoft BizSpark Camp opening ceremony. It's also a great recognition of the huge efforts of IP-Tech’s engineers. They are working very hard to achieve technical challenges and to be up to date with latest Microsoft technologies.

What is your company’s mission?

As stated above, IP-Tech is meant to be a high quality and reliable offshore software provider. Our engineers are defining everyday complex software architectures and implementing market standards into our customers’ information systems. We are aiming to be the privileged offshore/nearshore destination for software producers and consulting firms looking for highly qualified and result oriented professionals. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

After working for several years in the French software industry and developing multiple skills related to distributed software development teams, I have found it appropriate to consider my own IT outsourcing company in Tunisia and remotely export consulting to European firms.

I had several and long discussions that time with Mohamed OUEDERNI, a friend and a school mate at the Polytechnic School who also moved to Paris and followed a software R&D path. We shared the same ambition to build a technological center that exports advanced software development to quality-concerned companies. M. OUEDERNI is currently my partner and IP-Tech’s CTO. 

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

IP-Tech is completely self-funded until this point. Its business model relies on durable partnerships and healthy growth. Therefore, no funding schemes are currently in sight.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

IP-Tech has currently 29 full time employees, 25 among them are developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes, we are hiring experienced and less experienced software developers of different backgrounds to work on our Tunis-based offices.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

The platform on which we develop depend most of the cases on our customers’ existing components. But when it comes to define a Microsoft-based new architecture, we definitely recommend the Microsoft Application Platform. It allows our customers to streamline their IT and business processes and to optimize their infrastructure.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I got through IP-Tech the opportunity to work with companies of different sizes, their IT infrastructures and visions are very different. Therefore, a significant opportunity is to scale-up and down business solutions to make products that fit companies of different sizes. This could be a valuable cross-selling offer.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Along with different other Microsoft resources, BizSpark Program incredibly fosters excellence at IP-Tech. It allows our technology specialists to have access to all required software and tools to boost their skills and be up to date with Microsoft’s latest innovations. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I think that any young Software entrepreneur must persevere and always try to find distinctive factors. It’s very important also to build a highly skilled team when targeting business growth.

Who’s your role model?

Actually I do not have a specific model. During my professional, and more generally human experience, I have known people of exceptional qualities. I also saw a lot of practices with which I disagreed. So I’m always trying to make my own path and to avoid others’ mistakes. My mistakes will by themselves contribute in the success of others.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

IP-Tech is a young company which is proud of its staff: They are ambitious, able to overcome all the technical challenges they face and to fulfill IP-Tech customers’ satisfaction.

The BizSpark startup of the day is OneBe, based in Japan. You will find below an interview with Takashi Kato, CEO of OneBe. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.onebe.co.jp.

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Interview with Takashi Kato, CEO of OneBe

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

CEO.

What did you do before creating your company?

Product Manager in Trendmicro.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

This is very good opportunity for OneBe to present our security products to many people we have never been able to reach in the past. 

What is your company’s mission?

We are specialized in R&D, Marketing and Sales of computer security products, especially remote data delete product.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Back in 2006, we realized data leak from missing laptop was still issue for many of Japanese enterprises. Encryption or password lock type of security products were already out there, so we started to think different way. If we can delete data in missing PC remotely just like spy movie, we can reduce data leakage problem (and it sounds cool too). It was challenge for us to bring this idea to real products, but we talked to many people to understand their working habits and set the features to meet their demands as much as we could. We are still working on to improve our product.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We were established in 2006 with 100% own fund. Now we are not looking for fund from outside.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

6 people in all, 3 people in developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are not now. However we will soon hire more in tech support position due to business growth. 

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Client side, our TrustDelete works on Windows XP, Vista, 7. We also have Windows Mobile 6.X version of Trust Delete. Server side, it supports Windows Server 2008 and R2. And we proudly announce that the system is already running on Windows Azure. We think Azure is very effective in both cost saving and ease to maintenance, these are always big issue for small company like us.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Japanese enterprise market for now. As you know, there are many excellent laptop manufactures in Japan. So we would like to work with them to introduce remote data delete solution. We are looking at worldwide market as well in near future.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Well managed, helpful for the company in our size. The program regularly brings us the opportunity to meet people. It also provides enough references and materials and many of Microsoft products in affordable price. This will help for us to try new idea or creation over the Microsoft platform. Without BizSpark Program, I don’t think we could finish Windows Azure support in short time we did.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Keep on changing and try new. Good product is something helps your customers, not what you want to develop. 

Who’s your role model?

Mr. Steve Chang, founder of TrendMicro. We have learned so many things from him.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Remote data delete is still new idea, and many of laptop users are still not aware of this type of security solution. I think we can deploy our Trust Delete into your products or services to serve your customers better. Not just combined with encryption or other security products, may be good idea to co-work with data back up or synch system. Please let us know your thought.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Ninite, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Patrick Swieskowski and Sascha Kuzins, Co-Founders of Ninite. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.ninite.com.

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Interview with atrick Swieskowski and Sascha Kuzins, Co-Founders of Ninite

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

We’re the co-founders of Ninite, an easy way to install multiple apps at once automatically.

What did you do before creating your company?

Patrick was writing jokes in LA and Sascha was in graduate school at Oxford.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s an honor and a great opportunity to reach out to the Microsoft community.

What is your company’s mission?

We make software installation easy.

How did you get the idea for your company?

After setting up many PCs as a test platform for our old product we realized that software installation was extremely tedious. Ninite is our attempt to fix that.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We did Y Combinator in 2008 and highly recommend it to anyone interested in starting a company. Afterwards we raised a small angel round. We’re not currently looking for funding.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Ninite is just the two of us and we both write code for it.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are not hiring, but we’re based in San Franscisco.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We built the Ninite client in C++ using the win32 APIs for maximum compatibility. This is particularly important since we aim to be the first thing users run after installing a bare OS.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Everything is too complicated. Making computers work well for normal people is a gigantic opportunity.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s a fantastic way for small startups to interface with Microsoft. We’re just two programmers trying to fix a problem and BizSpark lets us easily leverage Microsoft’s support.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Ship a solution to a small problem first; your solution can always get more complicated or comprehensive later. If you can make a small thing that people use you can let their feedback guide further development.

Who’s your role model?

Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator and Viaweb.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Ninite is the best way to set up PCs.

The BizSpark startup of the day is TweetPhoto, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Daniel Marashlian, CTO of TweetPhoto. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.tweetphoto.com.

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Interview with Daniel Marashlian, CTO of TweetPhoto

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m Daniel Marashlian, the CTO of the company. I came on board with TweetPhoto six months after they launched. At which point they had 5 million unique visitors a month! Though our servers weren’t able to keep up with all of the traffic. Something drastic had to be done. We decided to rebuild the database from MySQL to MSSQL, we redid the WCF API layer for the new database schema, and we built tweetphoto.com 100% off of the API in CAKEPHP. The reason why we built the entire website off of the API was to test ourselves and to show the public the power of our open API and what you can do with it.

What did you do before creating your company?

As I said, I came on board six months after the launch of tweetphoto.com. Though before TweetPhoto, I was/am the CTO of Pelotonics (www.pelotonics.com); another BizSpark startup. With the help of my development team, we built one of the best project collaboration tools on the market. Also, I was the lead tech behind ncaa.com and the database lead for one of the world’s leading online educational institutions, Rio Salado College.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I feel AMAZING! We get to positively impact almost 10 million people’s lives every day by giving them the ability to instantly share their photos with their friends and family.

What is your company’s mission?

To become the most widely used photo sharing service on the real-time web by focusing on developing the best technology available and through building solid relationships with the developer community and corporate enterprises. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

Our founder Sean Callahan saw the “explosion of awesomeness” around Twitter (you can quote me on that), though the solution for sharing photos was sub-par. Photos are meant to be shared and passed through the multiple tiers of these social networks. Even the bigger photo hubs, like Photobucket and Flickr don’t “get twitter”. We’re aiming to be THE hub of instantaneous photo sharing on the internet.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

So far we’ve bootstrapped the entire project. Recently we’ve partnered with Kodak (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/17/kodak-tweetphoto/) which has helped pay some bills, though more importantly securing the idea that photos are important to people’s everyday lives. Though for the past 3 months we’ve been talking to some venture capital firms in California and New York. We’re looking to raise 4-6 million in Series-A funding.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

9 employees, 3 developers (me being one of them).

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

YES! We’re looking for:

• 2 front end developers (one experienced and one entry level)

• 1 expert API developer (must know WCF)

• And a community manager/customer service lead

Sean (the founder) and I believe in providing the BEST customer service in the industry. Unlike most web companies today, we don't hide behind our support email address. Anyone can call us directly on our "Bat Phone" at 760.230.5579 

Which platform are you building on? Why?

The whole backend of TweetPhoto is in Microsoft technologies. My background is with Microsoft as well as our lead API developer. Though our architect is an expert on the LAMP stack; which is one of the reasons why tweetphoto.com is built in CAKEPHP. Our API is Tweetphoto. I personally believe the WCF team at Microsoft has the right idea when it comes to building an Application Programming Interface, “providing a unified programming model for rapidly building service-oriented applications that communicate across the web and the enterprise.”

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Foursquare is suppose to be one of the biggest websites of 2010, thus we’ve invested the time and effort to be one of their first meaningful integrations. Foursquare developers can already use TweetPhoto as their photo sharing source for their Foursquare apps.

In my experience, I’ve noticed people don’t like change. Thus, we want to seamlessly provide our users the ability to use the tools/logins they already use every day. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Etc.

Though the bigger opportunity all revolves around the word “instant”. That’s the TweetPhoto word of the year. How do we instantaneously allow users to share their photo they just took through a mobile application, their mobile phone, or digital camera? 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I think Microsoft made a very smart move in investing money/resources with the startup community. The time to go from concept to production is a lot faster on Microsoft technologies. Though the problem was always cost. Now if a company is making a million dollars a year, they can afford to be using Microsoft technologies which will just aid Microsoft in research and development with future tools for businesses to succeed.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Don’t be a hippie, make money! Either charge for your product, or if your service is free, you better have a business plan to take your free product and make money from it somehow.

Have a working application before seeking funding.

Join the BizSpark program! 

Who’s your role model?

The Google founders are high on my list. They changed the way people find information. That’s a pretty radical movement. For 1000’s of years information was taught from teacher to student. Now information is searched for from person to community.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

A Photo is worth a thousand words, though Tweets are limited to just 140 characters. By using TweetPhoto you’ll be able to easily and instantly share those thousand words one photo at a time.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Keystroke IT, based in Australia. You will find below an interview with Minas Casiou, owner of Keystroke IT. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.keystroke.com.au.

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Interview with Minas Casiou, owner of Keystroke IT

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the business owner. I am looking to establish the business into one that delivers community-oriented business solutions. 

What did you do before creating your company?

I am an IT Solution Architect. I’ve largely worked in the finance sector for the majority of my professional career (over the past 17 years), covering Banking, Insurance, Government and Big 4 consulting. I’ve also done my time in research – both in official and unofficial capacities during this time.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

BLOODY AWESOME! I’m honored to be selected as a Microsoft BizSpark “Startup of the Day”. Apart from being an absolute honor, I’m hoping this will result in some good exposure for Keystroke IT and garner some momentum around its key initiatives such as

o ESB.NET – www.codeplex.com/KeystrokeEsbNet

   and

o BizPlex solutions 

What is your company’s mission?

o To provide profitable community & multi-party business solutions in areas where automation is usually cost-prohibitive.

• Solutions built on the platform would all be sources of revenue, usually via subscriptions to the solution for the services it provides.

• Implementing & customizing architecture to larger organizations would also provide consulting revenue.

• A common, well/widely understood abstraction (effectively a DSL) over technology that further narrows the divide between Business & IT would permeate through the IT landscape. It would allow new capabilities to be introduced & made available to deliver common business requirements. It would be transparently delivered through multiple hosting capabilities such as self-hosting & cloud. 

o To provide a sound reference architecture for delivering software services to general business requirements, backed with a framework that supports implementing that architecture.

o To make this architecture widely understood and have it become a de facto standard in the industry. The framework to support it would be accessible to all with a low barrier to entry, and a marketplace to foster value-add to the platform.

o To also be able to leverage the above to help communities that need help most. 

The diagram below shows an overview of the planned business model.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I've been involved in large, complex projects including CRM, BPM & large scale integration. I've constantly battled trade-offs between general business requirements and good architecture in this space (it's generally the same patterns at this level), vs. the constantly evolving technology, off-the-shelf packages, changing toolsets and technologies etc. So, I set out to develop a reference architecture, and a framework that would help establish simple governance and adherence to this architecture. The idea is that businesses who adopt this approach have :

o A proven model that works, scales over time/complexity/performance/versioning/, and,

o Delivers basic information required for troubleshooting, auditing, service metering and billing, decisioning & planning. 

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

This business is a startup, in which I work on part-time. Funding has been a major issue, often slowing down or sometimes even holding back initiatives. I am currently looking for funding to:

Status	Phase ID	Funding	Phase name	Description
Complete	D0	Self	Build vision, platform & revenue models
Pending	D1	Awaiting funding ($500k over 6 months)	Initiation & Solution Development
Complete	M0	Self	Generate interest in the relevant communities (Weddings/functions, Conveyancing and Building industries).	Sales & marketing
Queued	M1	Awaiting funding ($100k over 3 months)	Market solutions to relevant industries & get an initial user base	Crack the respective markets & prove/pilot the business model in production.
Queued	O0		Operate	Begin to realize return on investments

 

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We currently only have 1 part-time technologist, and two part-time business analysts (Weddings/functions and Conveyancing industries). We will need 1 more developer to begin with, and down the line another 1-2 BA’s that would also have the skills to act in a sales/evangelist capacity to effectively promote the solutions.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

At the moment, further hiring is based upon securing investments. 

o As such, we’re currently looking at a freelance developer to join the venture as we cannot afford salaries at this point.

o We’re also looking for a business analyst or domain expert in the building industry to join the venture. It’s important they’re well connected in the industry. Our Business hinges on our business analysts practicing and being in touch with their respective domains, looking for emerging opportunities to make the processes in their respective industries more efficient, and to continue to add tangible value to the customers we provide the solutions for. They would use the solution themselves and be advocates of it. 

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We’re building atop ESB.NET, the Microsoft Azure hosting platform, and Microsoft technologies. These are proven platforms, used very widely, and hence pose very low risk to the business. Their TCO is also second to none, and as such, won’t eat into the bottom line of the business. We also support self-hosting of the solutions if customers choose to do so for a particular segment. The technologies are very flexible here architecturally, and the cost of hosting these technologies is very affordable. Many organizations will already have most or the entire required underlying infrastructure in place. Depending upon industry (eg. The Wedding/functions industry), self hosting may be a viable option, and we’re considering it for that industry. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Both self-hosting and cloud hosting are truly viable options, and depend on the industry as well as certain agility requirements. We’re considering hybrid solutions where we self-host & cloud-host. Based upon customer segment, dynamic throughput metrics and availability of services and networks, we’ll route traffic through local or cloud hosted infrastructure for services, trying to get the best user experience in terms of availability and system responsiveness. This domain of responsibility lies with ESB.NET. ESB.NET will run on the web/app servers to do its thing. Anywhere any type of services/integration is required, ESB.NET will be employed to make it happen.

We’ll be using the cloud for the Conveyancing industry, using self-hosting for initial pilots & development only. Main driver here is that there are many parties involved and the cloud acts as a middle-ground in terms of who runs the show. For the wedding/functions industry, there aren’t that many key players, and so self-hosting is also viable. Likewise for the building industry are current thoughts. The underlying technology allows us to change this fairly easily, so switching services is not a big deal. The main web application endpoints are slightly trickier, but this too can be handled with some simple server-side magic. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The Microsoft BizSpark Program is great! I hope Microsoft keep it up & extend it over time.

o Simply put, it allows me to establish my business, and help me quickly get to the point that I’m making a profit & can sustain the costs related to subsequent development and hosting.

• It gets me access to the Microsoft technology tools and resources I need to get the business up & running.

• It helps get my small business exposed in ways I would otherwise not be able to.

• It also gives me confidence that Microsoft is looking to grow its customer base by way of lowering the barrier to entry to the MS platform.

• Without BizSpark, we’d have to look to completely open source alternatives. In the case of my business, I simply would not be able to get up & running as I don’t have the capacity to get all those disparate and badly (in comparison to MS support across the entire technical platform) unsupported tools & technologies working together. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Well, other than spend quality time with your family/be good to your mother type advice… not too much really. My only bit of advice – which is more of a “this is what I do as I’m risk averse…” – is to establish your business model and build it up whilst you have an alternative sustainable income. As with all businesses, getting started is a risky proposition, one that requires some investment up front to get going. Just as important is having mitigation strategies in place during this critical period to help endure any delays. 

Who’s your role model?

Probably very typical – Bill gates. He was great at software, great at business and now is looking at how he can use his fortune to make lives of the unfortunate more …well…fortunate. Outside of my own personal life, I have always wanted to do that in my professional career. I’m a big fan of getting profitable business out of charity work, as it’s then self-sustaining. Challenge is in getting it established in the first place.

I’m hoping that these community/multi-party related initiatives can make the lives of people dealing with them more pleasant. After all, they’re all supposed to be exciting ventures, but ask anyone buying/selling/building or getting married/hosting a big function, at what headaches they go through to get it all done. For the day to day users (involved organizations), they should realize improved efficiencies as the solutions will be cross-organizations. As such, the usual inefficiencies of human communication will be removed.

I’m hoping that with the above initiative in place, I’d have the foundations in place to not only sustain my own family income & that of employees, but to have a platform & funds in reserve for which we can provide charitable solutions to those that really need it. 

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Microsoft BizSpark is a great opportunity to those looking to start up a new business. Make the most of the opportunity whilst it’s there! It’s not often you win the lottery!

The BizSpark startup of the day is Taglyn, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Michael Johnstone, President of Taglyn. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

 

Website: www.taglyn.com.

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Interview with Michael Johnstone, President of Taglyn

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I serve as president of Taglyn and I’m playing an integral role in two critical areas: growing our GPS tracking market share and integrating our tracking services with other applications.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was and still am president of eLocomotive, a small software and web development company focused on web based software and business process automation.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I’m excited that Taglyn was selected at the most promising “Startup of the Day”. It’s early validation of our fleet tracking services and the software approach we’re taking.

What is your company’s mission?

Taglyn provides next generation asset tracking services for fleets, autos, equipment, and people. We’re taking the basic GPS tracking services many companies provide and adding value through integration with other platforms, customization for specific use cases, and a more robust software implementation.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I got my first exposure to the fleet tracking industry through eLocomotive. I built some IP there working with hardware vendors including Enfora, Geometris, and Sannav. Once I saw what most providers were offering, I knew the software was ripe for improvement.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We’re bootstrapped and completely self funded at this point. Our current customer base combined with help from BizSpark is making it possible for us to operate without outside investment. Once we’ve proved several marketing channels, we may look for funding later this year to speed our growth in the GPS tracking industry.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Currently we have 2 developers and myself playing several roles.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Currently we are not hiring, although we may be later this year. We are talking with several potential sales reps.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our current system uses Microsoft SQL 2005, C#, and Flex for the front end. Development on the backend is focused on C# and Microsoft SQL 2008. Our next front end will come in multiple flavors including a desktop gadget, .NET application, and mobile apps based on jQuery. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Besides asset tracking, I see opportunities all around but that’s my background. Social integrations seem pretty popular these days but my favorite solutions revolve integrate desperate software or simplify business operations. The internet and shift to SaaS solutions make integrations much easier and that adds measurable value.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark Program is a tremendous help. Between the development tools, the server licensing, and Rackspace as our hosting partner we’re able to focus that capital on growth in these early years. For the same reason, we’ll be able to stay current on software while we grow. Without the BizSpark program, we’d be left to make decisions between software upgrades and marketing activities.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Yes. Three things come to mind: 1. Spend wisely and always pursue profitability. Investment is great but being cash flow positive is better. 2. Make sure you understand what will motivate your customers to buy. Don’t just ask if they like the idea. 3. Most importantly, seek out advisors with different areas of expertise who can answer a question for you and use them. 

Who’s your role model?

If I had to pick one, I’d say Benjamin Franklin. I appreciate is work ethic, his sensible approach, and his willingness to approach things differently. Every entrepreneur should read his autobiography.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I’d like readers to remember that Taglyn is combining GPS tracking and asset tracking with software and web services. The next year will be a very exciting time for the company as we build out socially for consumers (wordpress, Facebook and twitter integration) and integrate with line of business applications for companies.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Gestone, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Andy Harjanto, founder of Gestone. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.tweetdone.com.

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Interview with Andy Harjanto, founder of Gestone

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m the founder of this company. 

What did you do before creating your company?

I was a Microsoft Employee for 14 years. 

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We’re happy to be part of BizSpark program. We’re taking advantage of Microsoft technologies, ranging from Azure, Silverlight, and upcoming products, such as Windows Phone 7. It is an honor for us for being a Startup of the Day, It definitely adds our admiration toward this program and company who goes extra miles for a very tiny company, like ours. 

What is your company’s mission?

Simply, Getting Stuff Done. Boost information worker productivity in unconventional ways. We view rapid changes in technologies as opportunities, not challenges. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

After decades of running small, large software projects, I started an idea of POT (Progress Ownership Transparency). This is all based on my experience, identifying 3 critical behaviors in group collaboration. Back in October, I posted a presentation to slideshare.net http://www.slideshare.net/Guppers/3-simple-habits-of-a-highly-effective-team; It was voted as Presentation of The Day on slideshare.net, and received a lot of positive feedback. I was surprised that people are still thirsty and looking for the right solution in managing their projects. The way we work has changed tremendously, while the tools and process we use today are still stuck in 1990s era. 

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

At this point, we’re not looking for any funding. We want to reach Product-to-Fit market phase first. 

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

I’m currently the sole developer/tester/sales. 

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

No. But I’m looking for a partner who knows start-up marketing very well. Particularly, s/he has gone thru 1-2 product cycles. 

Which platform are you building on? Why?

• Azure for running a Web Role and Worker Role. We love the scalability
• SQL Azure storing account information and messages. While Azure Blob for files.
• WCF for communication between Silverlight and Web Service.
• REST/.NET on Azure to communicate to Twitter.
• Silverlight for rich user experience. It also offloads some work on the servers too. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

This area has huge opportunities. We just touch the surface. In 2-3 years, Cloud Computing will be pervasive; plenty of data will be exposed online as well as mobile. I can’t even imagine the size of Mobile markets when all the infrastructures and application developments are at the peak. Today, it’s already at 4.6 billion subscriptions, it’s mind boggling. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

Great program! For a startup to have access to all Microsoft software and an Azure subscription is a big deal to many of us. I really like the direction of BizSpark of moving toward more building community among startups. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Actually, I do. Three months ago, during the holiday, I wrote a presentation on exactly this topic - http://www.slideshare.net/Guppers/have-yourself-a-happy-little-startup.  

Who’s your role model?

There are a few in different phase of my life. Resiliency is a very important trait in running startup. I learned this from my parents and grandparents; even when they didn’t have much, they persisted, and still be generous to others. When I was at Microsoft, it was a privilege to work with very smart people. One person in particular, was Kim Cameron. He is, now, Microsoft Chief Identity. He’s not only smart, but he has a great sense of business. More importantly, he treats everybody the same; regardless of your title and seniority. He listens to any ideas, always give great advice. Now, I’m a founder of a startup, I met many interesting people. I don’t have someone work closely with me as a mentor/adviser at this point; but I follow closely Mark Suster’s blog (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com) He has a lot of great advice for entrepreneur. That would be great if I can meet him personally one day, and talk about wide range of startup topics. 

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

I love to connect to entrepreneurs all over the world. I also love to connect to businesses who don’t mind to use startup product/services, even during alpha, beta development. In fact, if I could bring them together, I would be very pleased. This is one of major struggles that I found with many startups. If I have time, I would love to develop a free service/non-profit for just that. And you bet, it will run on Azure. 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Fortressware, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Ann C. Ting, Founder and Chairperson of Fortressware. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.fortressw.com.

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Interview with Ann C. Ting, Founder and Chairperson of Fortressware

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the founder and chairperson of the company and I am responsible for strategy and strategic business development.

What did you do before creating your company?

Fortressware is the second company I founded. The first one was a healthcare business process platform company which is now part of Lawson (NASDAQ: lwsn: It provides software and service solutions to 4,500 customers in the healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, maintenance and service sector.)

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I think Microsoft BizSpark had done a lot toward the goal of innovation and providing advanced tools that allow companies like Fortressware to innovate and bring creative solutions to market. As such, BizSpark is a very elite community that everyone wants to join. So being chosen as the most promising Startup of the Day is a great honor.

What is your company’s mission?

With the market growth around sharing of information, our mission is to provide ways for people to be able to enjoy these new conveniences with whomever they want. And in expanding these sharing boundaries they can continue to feel confident in knowing that their information is secure.

How did you get the idea for your company?

When globalization of data and the need to share information started to become reality it became obvious to us that the need to manage the security or sensitivity of information needed to change. More specifically, we realized the old ways of only securing information behind the business’ firewalls was insufficient as these walls were expanding or becoming blurred. We found no solution that was practical and usable to control the propagation of a piece of information when there is a need to share that information in the first place.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We have raised an initial round of financing from VC and angels, and are currently looking for the next round of $5m for continued development and the expansion of sales and marketing.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 15 employees and 7 developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes, we are always looking for talented people with passion and ambition to solve problems that will make everyone’s life better.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our software is built and can be used on Microsoft Windows and Server platforms. They are the most popular platforms for our target customers.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

It will continue to be in the area of how to let people take advantage of the new ways to connect or to do business with those people whom you never had a way to reach to in the past.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It is a fantastically helpful program for the start-ups to have all the resources they need to get their project started, and connecting them with a community of people where they can share business concepts and experiences and even do business with. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Just enjoy the fun while trying to realize your personal dream.

Who’s your role model?

My dad, who became an entrepreneur after he was 60. He raised a fund to create a non-profit organization providing training for people who wanted to learn new skills that can help them get better jobs but could not afford to. There were not only political issues but labor union issues that he had to conquer. It was a huge and a very meaningful accomplishment and I was very much influenced by him.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

We all have our dreams, with MS BizSpark, we have a great partner to help us realize our dreams.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Socialping, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Joel Strellner, CEO of Socialping. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.socialping.com.

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Interview with Joel Strellner, CEO of Socialping

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the CEO and manage day-to-day operations as well as plan future initiatives.

What did you do before creating your company?

I ran another Twitter focus startup called Twitturly and did consulting.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It feels awesome. I like that Microsoft has created Bizspark and is truly embracing and working with the companies involved, and to be selected as a promising company is an honor.

What is your company’s mission?

To offer the tools needed for businesses and individuals to efficiently manage and engage with people talking about their brand on Twitter, in as near real-time as possible.

How did you get the idea for your company?

When I was running Twitturly there were a number of other people and businesses that were starting to create similar websites to ours. I wanted to be able to see what was being said about those companies and see what they were saying to their users. At the time there really weren’t any solutions available for monitoring brands on Twitter and there definitely wasn’t any way to easily pull reports that showed how things were trending for that brand. That’s when I decided to write the first version of Socialping.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We have not received any funding yet, but to be honest, we haven’t looked all that much either. Until now we’ve been focused on building the best product possible. Now that we’ve got Socialping ready to the point that we’re about to go into public beta we are starting to reach out to our network for introductions to angels and vc’s focus on early investments. We are looking for $200k.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

There are 4 of us in total, and if you include me, 3 of us are classified as developers. The non-developer is a User Interface and Experience guy, and so I guess in a way, he’s a developer too. So, 3.5?

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are not explicitly looking to hire right now, but if a person who has lots of experience scaling things came along, we might consider it.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our back-end is on a traditional LAMP stack, but we are also developing for Windows Mobile, iPhone and are currently evaluating Silverlight for a desktop based version of our offering.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Everywhere. But more specifically, I think there are huge opportunities in the real-time analytical and interaction areas, which is exactly where Socialping is focused, so I may be biased.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I think it’s great to see a company as big as Microsoft to have created something that’s truly useful for startups, and it’s especially refreshing to find out that it’s not just a ploy – they really do want to help startups succeed. The program helps startups from all angles, and I think that’s what the best part is, you get to use all the software you need, get advice, network with other people and get much needed marketing while doing it.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Start now. Don’t wait until you’ve finished college, or this or that. Just get out there and start doing it if you’ve got an idea.

Who’s your role model?

Wow, that’s a thinker…. I’m not sure I could single anyone out as there are so many admirable people that have given me inspiration.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

That BizSpark and Socialping are awesome things to be involved with and that they should go to each of our respective websites and signup now.

The BizSpark startup of the day is YourCause, based in the US. You will find below an interview with Matthew Combs, Founder and CEO of YourCause. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.yourcause.com.

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Interview with Matthew Combs, Founder and CEO of YourCause

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the Founder and CEO of YourCause.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was the founder of an online health and wellness company that is now a part of the online health network Qualityhealth.com. From there, I partnered with two others from Dallas to form Blastoff Ventures, a business incubator with ambitions of starting several startups over the coming years. 

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Promising can be measured in so many ways. At YourCause, I like to measure our ‘promise’ by our ability to have a positive impact on others- be them our users, clients, other companies, non-profit organizations, events, etc.. The fact that BizSpark feels we have promise only helps to validate the founding hypothesis of our company that we can create a sustainable business model from doing good – all the time. 

What is your company’s mission?

To connect people, companies, and non-profit organizations – through the use of technology – and empower each to further their respective cause efforts in making the world a better place. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

I watched a 10-year old boy from Uganda, on Dateline NBC, recount the night he was kidnapped by the LRA, forced to become a child soldier, and then ordered to kill his parents, or kill himself. I then learned that some 55,000 children in Uganda have gone through the same thing – and I wanted to help. I wanted to use my skills for building web applications to make a difference, and realized that there were so many people out there that had passion and drive, yet did not have a technical platform to express themselves. That is when YourCause was born. 

Today, YourCause has morphed to provide private label closed and open communities for major corporations that allow them to empower their employees to take action for their cause. Brands like Aveda are using our platform for the upcoming Earth Month (www.AvedaEarthMonth.org), while others like AT&T use the platform to empower their employees to impact their community. We have grown to provide volunteer management, payroll deduction services, grant & matching gift management, donation processing, and other cause related social networking features.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Thus far, we have been self-funded and are looking at breaking even in the next two quarters. We have recently considered raising some capital to grow into new business areas, expand internationally, and perhaps even acquire an asset or two. If we were to raise capital, we would seek between $2-4 million. 

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We currently have 9 employees / 4 developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are currently hiring for a development team, and for our sales team- both positions are located in Dallas. 

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We just migrated to .Net 3.5. It was the most logical progression for us from .Net 2.0. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Content management tools between the web and the mobile device. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

We are a recent entrant to the program, so my knowledge is admittedly limited. Thus far, I have been extremely impressed with the actual interaction with the program. Its not just a marketing ploy, rather, I sense that people are actually there to help us. A bit odd in today’s world, though COMPLETELY welcomed. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

The hardest area of starting a new business that you will ever face, is the very once that you will receive the least amount of advice, education, or training on: managing people. Do everything you can to learn from other, more experience people who have managed teams, companies, etc.. and really try to put their advice to work. Be patient, and understand that your ‘baby,’ if built correctly, will (one day) no longer be in your control and will grow up right in front of your eyes. It will then be your job to support their growth in every way you can. Don’t try to control it – you will fail every time. 

Who’s your role model?

Norman Bourlaug.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Starting a new venture is not easy. Creating a sustainable business is not easy. Starting a new venture that does good and is sustainable is really difficult. The reward of doing what you are passionate about and doing something that has purpose beyond the technology – makes everything completely worth it...without question. 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Ormetis, based in France. You will find below an interview with Franck Jeannin, Founder and CEO of Ormetis. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.ormetis.com.

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Interview with Franck Jeannin, Founder and CEO of Ormetis

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Founder and CEO.

What did you do before creating your company?

Created video games for UBI Soft, enjoyed being part of the Business Objects success story, founded LinkGuard to rid the web of broken links.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We feel very privileged to be part of such a vibrant ecosystem. 

What is your company’s mission?

Empowering business users to deal with their data.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Watching smart people doing far too much Copy/Paste in Excel.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Self-funded, close to being profitable. Open to the idea of external funding is there is a good fit and it serves a purpose.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

3 including 2 in R&D.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Growing organically means we are hiring but slowly.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

.NET (WPF and Silverlight). One of the best technology stack around and certainly the one that is progressing the most rapidly.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Everywhere, barriers to entry are low and new niches appear every day. Be yourself, be original. Don’t follow the crowd by reinventing the last next best thing. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s a fantastic counter-part to the open-source model (not completely altruist from Microsoft though). Open-source development tools are free, well, Microsoft ones are free too (if you are a startup). By the time you have to pay for it, you are either bust or successful so it doesn’t matter either way.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Go for it!

Who’s your role model?

It’s a bit of a cliché but Bill Gates is not a bad one.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Power is shifting toward the users. Software should be easy to use period. No excuse for clumsy user interfaces.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Codility, based in the UK. You will find below an interview with Greg Jakacki, CTO of Codility. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.codility.com.

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Interview with Greg Jakacki, CTO of Codility

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am Greg, CTO of Codility.com. My role is to make sure that the product is engineered in a sound way and that it delivers value to customers, so I also wear Product Manager’s hat.

What did you do before creating your company?

I used to hack compilers for electronic design automation industry in US and China at Synopsys and HED, then moved to Exoweb to work on distributed Web applications. In the meantime I translated the “The Art of Computer Programing” into Polish. In 2007 I founded my own software consulting company, again taking on compiler projects. I was also involved in development of OpenC++, front-end meta-compiler of C++.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It is really cool to be recognized as the most promising “Startup of the Day”! Also - we are excited to be exposed to our target (tech) community, which we believe uses Microsoft BizSpark a lot!

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is to improve the quality of software by helping sotware talent recruiters to weed out underqualified candidates early. 

How did you get the idea for your company?

In 2005 I started to work at Exoweb, Beijing-based software company, which just started a large hiring campaign to expand a team of software developers. Interviewing hundreds of job candidates I figured out that most of them make fundamental programing mistakes. I figured out an automated way to filter them out to save time of senior engineers. Surprisingly, we found that with no doubt we can reject 90% of candidates without wasting a minute to talk to them. The idea got perfect validation, so I made it into a product!

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Initially bootstrapped with own funding, and after winning Seedcamp 2009 in London we got funded by Seedcamp and are currently looking for angel/VC investors, who will help us scale globally, beginning with US and UK.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 3 full-time employees, 2 of them are developers, and 2 developers working part-time.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are currently looking for 2 interns in London - community manager and business developer, and 1 intern in Warsaw - software developer with strong computer science background.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our service is SaaS, hosted in the cloud, using bits and pieces of different technologies (our proprietary secret magic formula) to handle submissions in 10 programming languages - C, C#, C++, Java, Javascript (beta), Pascal, Perl (beta), PHP, Python and Ruby (beta).

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I think there is a lot of technology in place that just waits to be applied in mainstream home automation. I am surprised how long the idea of smart home was around and how few smart homes I see.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It is definitely helping start-ups exploring the Microsoft technologies. Such low barrier or entry is crucial in the early days of a new venture. The BizSpark support in the area of of business development and media buzz generation is also very useful and appreciated!

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Become ramen-profitable as soon as possible!

Who’s your role model?

Edison Design Group, a tiny company of three developers. For many years they are constantly delivering top-quality software product and cater to giants like AT&T, Fujitsu or HP.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Never hire programmers without checking their coding skills first!

The BizSpark startup of the day is Threeplicate, based in Italy. You will find below an interview with Dario Solera, co-founder of Threeplicate. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.threeplicate.com.

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Interview with Dario Solera, co-founder of Threeplicate

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am one of the three founders of the company and I work on .NET-based web applications and services.

What did you do before creating your company?

I graduated at the Politecnico di Milano in 2007 and since then I worked as a freelance developer for an Italian and then a French company. Back in 2006 I started working on ScrewTurn Wiki, which is a widely-used wiki application written in ASP.NET.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Very excited. I'm sure that it will bring more attention to our startup and will have a positive effect on our business.

What is your company’s mission?

While we have some mobile development going on, currently we focus on building software that helps people collaborating better. Our latest product, Amanuens, aims at simplifying the collaboration between software development teams and the translators that work in UI localization. You can find more information and an introductory video at amanuens.com.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I always wanted to found a software startup, I just needed an idea and a team. Back in late 2009 I had an idea for a mobile application that I thought was great. The problem is that the mobile market changes very fast and we had to adjust our plans, so we now have a broader range of projects. The original mobile application should be ready very soon, anyway.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We funded Threeplicate entirely out of our own pockets. You know, we really believe in this journey, so that was an easy step. We're still running in "cheap" mode for pretty much everything except IT equipment. For now we have all the money we need, but we might have to look for some funding when Amanuens will hopefully gain users and will need more investments.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

For now it's just the three of us. Matteo and me work as developers, while Michele works on marketing stuff.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We're not hiring this very moment, but we're evaluating to hire an intern to help on the development of ScrewTurn Wiki.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

I stared playing with .NET when I was attending university, and I never abandoned it since then. Besides, we mostly work on the .NET and Azure platform because it's a powerful technology stack and we're quite happy with it. On the other side, our mobile development efforts are focused on Apple's iPhone as it's the mobile platform that is best suited for commercial consumer apps at this moment. We're also really looking forward Windows Phone 7 Series as it seems like a great step forward.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I believe there is little left to invent in the software industry, but there are countless things that could and should be done better than now. In a way, we can invent new ways of doing the same things we do now. Communication seems to be the area where everyone likes to work. You know, we have a myriad ways of communicating with others, yet no one can replace talking face-to-face, and that's because communication is not just plain words. I think we should focus on sharing knowledge rather than mere communication, and that's why we believe that wikis are valuable tools. Localization and internationalization is another area where a lot can be improved. After all, it's hard to find a product that is sold in only one Country. Localization is too important to be ignored or marked as boring, and it's also a great business opportunity.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

I'm very glad that Microsoft has such a great attention for startups and independent software vendors. I think it's a good way to make startups' life easier. Put it simply, BizSpark allows us to save quite a lot of money.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

I'm still a beginner entrepreneur myself, so I can only give one advice: do it. It's fun and it's a way to grow up. And don't forget you have to solve problems, not create new ones.

Who’s your role model?

I've been a fan of Joel Spolsky for a long time. He's a great entrepreneur and I admire him and his company. Recently Giacomo "Peldi" Guilizzoni, the founder of Balsamiq Studios, caught my attention. His startup's revenue in 2009 is simply impressive. He really looks like a very smart guy and he's Italian, so he's the perfect role model for me. I hope I'll be able to meet him in person very soon.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

It sounds more like a sales pitch, but if you're looking to improve the way you localize your applications, have a look at Amanuens.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Envault Corporation, based in Finland. You will find below an interview with Tuukka Autio, Product Manager of Envault Corporation. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.envaultcorp.com.

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Interview with Tuukka Autio, Product Manager of Envault Corporation

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m Tuukka Autio, Product Manager of Envault Corporation; my role is to oversee that our product delivers all the right qualities that our customers expect, and to manage our technology roadmap together with the rest of our management team. I’m also responsible for the creation of Envault marketing materials.

What did you do before creating your company?

Just before joining Envault in August 2007, I worked for the Networking Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology, researching the techno-economics of new broadcasting networks. Prior to that, my employers have been large organizations such as Nokia and KONE Corporation, so I would say that I had some knowledge about how technology and enterprise IT is managed, but it’s still a steep learning curve each day!

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We are very excited about the recognition! We are building something completely different in the enterprise encryption market and to be noticed by a key player like Microsoft is both an honor and an encouragement for us.

What is your company’s mission?

Envault’s simple mission is to commercialize the envaulting technology -- in other words, to offer ultra-simple and easy to use data protection products that anyone can use and which eliminate the need for passwords in your daily life. We are in the business of helping our enterprise and government customers to protect their information assets against accidental or deliberate data leaks.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I’m not one of the original founders, although when I joined the company it had only existed a couple of months and actually changed its focus to enterprise security at the time I started – and you could say that I have had a large stake in building the company into what it is today. The original founders had the idea of using Envault technology to protect commercial mobile television broadcasts, kind of like DRM – but it was soon clear that there is much more potential for the technology in the enterprise encryption market. The idea of using our technology to protect enterprise data on the move was born when one of our founders discussed it with a large airline. The airline had plans to provide their desktop environment on a USB stick – but none of the existing solutions would provide the needed security.. and that’s where it all began.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Since 2007, we have raised the needed funding from business angels. Currently we are not planning to raise further money, as our internal income is expected to support us from 2010 onwards.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have roundabout 20 employees, of which 50% are developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes we are in fact – we are looking for technical staff locally here in Helsinki region. Open positions range from junior and senior developers to test and support engineers, please check our website for all current and future job openings!

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Windows, Linux, Mac OS X – we build on all major platforms as our customers have heterogeneous environments.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

Cloud computing is creating new data loss risks for organizations -- and opportunities for security related software – but still the traditional endpoint security such as laptop protection is inadequately answered by traditional technologies and there is big demand for an enterprise-oriented approach such as Envaulting. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s a great way for us to adopt Microsoft products in our daily work and to get assistance in integrating our product with the Microsoft enterprise systems. Definitely worth joining for any startup.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Talk with potential customers to understand what their needs are and what they see as valuable.

Who’s your role model?

I would say anyone who has the guts to become an entrepreneur and build something new that helps others in their business or daily life.. And especially the people who can create a healthy balance between work and family and friends. 

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Forget passwords and user-based security decisions – choose Envault to protect your company data! Cheers.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Covertix, based in Israel. You will find below an interview with Tzach Kaufmann, co-founder and CTO of Covertix. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.covertix.com.

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Interview with Tzach Kaufmann, co-founder and CTO of Covertix

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I love technology and innovation, worked in start-ups and enterprises focusing on networking, security and large IT projects. Prior to Covertix, I was a product manager at Radware (NSDQ: RDWR). Before Radware I was working as a Professional Services Manager at Kavado, a web application firewall vendor. 

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

We were very excited to find out that we were chosen to be Startup of the day. Covertix went a long way from an idea on a piece of paper to a live and kicking innovative enterprise security product recognized by leading analysts. 

What is your company’s mission?

Very simple, secure organization’s critical information, anytime, anywhere. Our vision is to become the de facto standard for securing enterprise sensitive documents and files within and outside the boundaries of the organization. Allowing companies to “own” their data regardless of where it is.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

By protecting the data itself, Covertix "smart file" technology enables to track, control and secure files & documents ANYTIME, ANYWHERE!

How did you get the idea for your company?

As a professional services manager for a software security company, I was often asked by the customers for a solution for information protection which goes beyond the perimeter, business needs required information to flow and so a different approach was needed which goes beyond firewall.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Covertix has raised close to $1m from the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel, the Iris Ventures technology incubator and private investors. Covertix is in the midst of closing a subsequent round in the region of $1m to help us expand market reach to other territories.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Covertix is still young with fewer than 10 employees, most in development. 

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We are looking for killers in QA & Sales areas. 

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our platform is Windows, with most of the product written in unmanaged C++. We chose to use unmanaged C++ mainly because we are doing a lot of low level system programming.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

In recent years, the landscape of security threats expanded to include attacks on the information itself. At the same time, numerous regulations (PCI-DSS, CA-1386, most recently, HITECH act) require better protection of data. However, threats come in many forms, internal threat, industrial espionage or organized crime harvesting of PII information. To help tackle these security issues, a new breed of security products is required as current solutions were not planned to handle these scenarios. Consequently, IRM, information-centric solutions are positioned to capitalize on the growing need. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

We were delighted when we discovered Microsoft Bizspark program. Startup companies in the first few years have no income (or very small amount) and the plan helped us expedite the development of our flagship product Cx-Sense.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

The best advice I can think of is to be patient and not give up on your dreams. The road to a successful startup is long with many ups and downs along the way, so make sure you enjoy the ride. 

Who’s your role model?

Stephen Hawking is a role model of mine showing how one can overcome difficulties and achieve ones goals. 

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Don’t be afraid to dream and try new ideas. 

The BizSpark startup of the day is Lymbix, based in Canada. You will find below an interview with Matt Eldridge, Founder and CEO of Lymbix. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.lymbix.com.

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Interview with Matt Eldridge, Founder and CEO of Lymbix

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m Matt Eldridge, Founder and CEO of Lymbix. I am focused mostly on partnership development and sales, the acquisition of capital and key hires/growth. I steer the ship and basically surround myself with brilliant people that make me look good. 

What did you do before creating your company?

My background is in sales and franchise development. I was Director of Franchising for a disruptive dot com real estate company and in fact, is where and why Lymbix was created. I wanted to solve a problem I was facing with my email communication and couldn’t find a solution. I have been a life long “grinder” (hockey term) and am not a guy who has had many ‘jobs’. 

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s terrific! We’ve had tremendous support from the team at Microsoft since day one. This is another great testament to your support of what we’re doing. Going from “startup of the day” to “success story of the day” is my ultimate goal!

What is your company’s mission?

To become the world’s leading provider of connotative communication solutions, and to be recognized as the thought-leader in enhanced awareness and control over text-based connotation… The Tone AuthorityTM. 

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

We design and build solutions to analyze, interpret, and measure tone in text-based communication. In short: think “emotional spell check”.

How did you get the idea for your company?

In sales, conveying the right message is critically important. I’d always had a great deal of success selling face-to-face or over the phone, however I came to the realization that e-mail messages weren’t always as easy to interpret.

Correspondence meant to share genuine passion and energy for the business opportunity was somehow being received as overly aggressive, and was beginning to affect sales. I found myself constantly reviewing and editing each email I wrote to ensure it fit within my intended emotional tone and how the end reader would perceive it.

I thought to myself: “There’s a spell check and grammar check…there must be a tone check”. I searched, and there wasn’t, and from there the idea behind Lymbix was formed. 

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

I initially seeded the company with everything I had and we then went on to officially complete our first $500,000 friends and family round on February 1/2010. We’re currently in the process of a second $500,000 round and from there will be looking for a larger more significant venture capital infusion. 

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We currently have 10 employees. 6 developers going hard at it and 4 working on the business. Our Market acquisition phase is starting, so more sales people will be hired shortly. 

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

We’re always looking for great people who fit within the culture we’ve established, however at the present time we have a need for additional developers and sales people. A dedicated sales force is essential and although will be mobile, will be based out of our Moncton, NB office.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our first go-to-market solution (ToneCheck for MS Outlook) is built on Microsoft .net, and we use Ruby on Rails for our backend. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

There are statistics that indicate that over the course of the next 5 years, text will be the primary form of communication, period. With that kind of upswing, it is going to become increasingly important to give people tools to maximize productivity, filter intent, analyze sentiment/connotation and ultimately understand language better. Our company, and our ToneCheck add-in for MS Outlook were designed to do all of those things in an effort to help improve the clarity of communication and as a result: understanding.

People-powered models will continue to grow in momentum, which is why we designed ToneADay.com, a rating platform where users are paid to contribute their opinions on how words and phrases make them feel. It gives us a better understanding of the emotion behind true human language: something a dictionary’s definition can’t provide.

Reputation systems will also see tremendous growth, as corporations realize they no longer have control of their reputation online and that “being great” is quickly becoming the most effective form of ‘marketing.’ 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The BizSpark program is a tremendous asset for us and a terrific platform to build smart solutions from. Early support from the BizSpark program when leveraged correctly can catapult your business. We appreciate everyone involved.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

My advice to everyone is “do what you love.” I know it’s cliché but the fact is, why would you do anything but? Life is good and you need to appreciate every day! Whether you’re a software entrepreneur or a goat herder, you need to grind hard, never stop and have fun! 

Who’s your role model?

I wouldn’t say that I necessarily have a “role model” but I definitely like Alexander Ovechkin’s vibe from the Washington Capitals- the guy has wicked skills, he grind’s hard, hits hard, scores and absolutely loves his life and what he is doing. He’s a rock star, is totally himself and doesn’t try to be anything he is not. You can see that every time he is on the ice he is looking to make an impact (and he always does). (I think Richard Branson is a pretty cool cat too)

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Good things come to people who love what they do!

The BizSpark startup of the day is Cerebrata Software, based in India. You will find below an interview with Gaurav Mantri, founder of Cerebrata Software. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.cerebrata.com.

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Interview with Gaurav Mantri, founder of Cerebrata Software

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am Gaurav and I am founder of Cerebrata Software. I deal with every aspect of the company from product planning, development, marketing and customer support.

What did you do before creating your company?

I was working in United States for a company called Active Network. I was the Director of Development for one of their product units.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It certainly feels great. 

What is your company’s mission?

To develop utilities which will help developers do their job in more efficient way.

How did you get the idea for your company?

We looked at Cloud Computing especially Windows Azure and realized that there is a huge gap (and thus great opportunity) as far as tooling is concerned. That’s why we focused on building tools for Windows Azure platform. Our products include Cloud Storage Studio, a rich desktop client to manage Windows Azure Storage and Hosted Applications; Azure Diagnostics Manager, a rich desktop client to manage Windows Azure Diagnostics; and Cloud Storage Studio/e, a rich Internet application to manage Windows Azure Storage.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Currently we’re self funded and not looking for any funding. However we are looking to create an advisory board.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

In all we are a team of 7 people and all 7 are developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes. We’re looking out for great .Net developers who are willing to work on WPF, Silverlight and Windows Azure. All these positions are in our Udaipur office.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We are currently building for Windows Azure. We see a great opportunity in the field of Cloud Computing and Windows Azure in particular. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

We see a lot of opportunities in Cloud Computing especially Windows Azure. The idea of PAAS is really a fascinating one and is really hard to ignore.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark is a great program for startups like us as we don’t have to shell out money upfront to get the necessary tools to build products. Plus the visibility a startup can get through BizSpark program is invaluable.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Work hard. Know what you’re doing. 

Who’s your role model?

Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

It’s a great time to be in software development. There are a lot of untapped opportunities. All you need to do is look around and find the gaps.

The BizSpark startup of the day is eBabel, based in the UK. You will find below an interview with Nadjib Amar, founder and main web developer of eBabel. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.ebabel.eu.

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Interview with Nadjib Amar, founder and main web developer of eBabel

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I’m the founder and main web developer of eBabel. I work mostly on programming eBabel web applications, using the latest Microsoft technologies. I’m a big fan of ASP.Net MVC and Windows Azure. I also work with SQL Azure and Azure Storage. I believe cloud computing is the way forward for the web industry.

What did you do before creating your company?

I’ve been developing web applications since 2001. I’ve worked in Brighton and London for web consultancies and digital publishers. I had been thinking about starting my own company for some years. The ideas I’m putting into eBabel are based on my observations of what works and what can be improved when developing websites and web applications.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

It’s brilliant. BizSpark is an excellent program for startups and being featured on ‘Startup of the Day’ will help raise eBabel’s profile. I’m delighted to be selected so early on in the development of my company.

What is your company’s mission?

I want to make it easier and more affordable for everyone to manage their information on the web. I intend to develop several web applications, of which the eBabel multilingual website maker is the first. Next, I will launch an off-the-shelf eLearning system, to create training sites quickly and easily.

How did you get the idea for your company?

I noticed the web agencies I worked for would spend a lot of time and energy to create custom websites. This process is rather time consuming and expensive. I realized it would be so much better to have a system that is already running and generic enough to create any off-the-shelf website. Instead of developing a single design for each customer, I decided to offer a range of ready to use designs.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

Depending on how my business develops, it may become a necessity to seek funding, but until then I won’t try to obtain any. To be quite frank, I believe startups should try to stay independent for as long as possible. I will try very hard to keep my business self-funded.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

There are only two of us at the moment, both developers, and I’m the only one who works on the business full-time. My partner helps out in his spare time and I’ve enlisted some of my friends and family to give me a hand now and then. eBabel is very much a family business.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

I’m not currently hiring, but once the business has grown enough to justify hiring staff, I would love to hire a sales person and possibly a designer. I do love to code and I intend to keep on doing it. I won’t outsource the programming to third parties and I won’t leave the coding to someone else. When eBabel requires a business manager, I’d rather hire one than move away from what I love doing.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

I build on ASP.Net, MVC and Azure. I’m passionate about MVC; it’s a much better way to develop web applications. I started with Classic ASP and then moved to ASP.Net Web Forms. MVC is a much cleaner, more controlled way to develop web applications. Hosting my web applications on Azure makes more sense than classic hosting: buying more than I need from the start and being stuck in a given hardware specification and service is not desirable. The flexibility afforded by Azure cloud computing is so much better. Server administration is a complex area that is often neglected by web agencies. The scalability of Azure means that I can confidently grow my server capacity as and when my business needs it.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

I see three key opportunities: Firstly, many web applications are only in English but businesses often have multilingual requirements. Secondly, non-technical staffs need to build attractive websites with a simple, visual interface. ASP.Net MVC is great product to develop these web applications with jQuery. Finally, packaged based eLearning will take off in the near future.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

It’s an amazing opportunity to be in the BizSpark Program. I was overjoyed when Microsoft accepted my request to join the program and I’ve been taking full advantage of all the great tools Microsoft has created to make the lives of web developers easier and more productive.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Take your time to think it through, make sure your product will be useful to your market, focus on the quality of the product first, plan your delivery, review it weekly and make sure you’ve saved enough money before launching your business.

Who’s your role model?

Scott Hanselman from Microsoft. I have been listening to his podcast for some time and almost feel like I know him, even though I’ve never met him in person.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

Building a business is hard but incredibly exciting. If that’s what you want to do, go for it.

The BizSpark startup of the day is Cerebiz, based in Australia. You will find below an interview with Jayantha Ekenayake, CEO and a co-founder of Cerebiz. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.cerebiz.com.

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Interview with Jayantha Ekenayake, CEO and a co-founder of Cerebiz

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am the Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder (the other is Peter Vroom) of Cerebiz on-demand. My focus is on Business development, Product Strategy and development and Operations. 

What did you do before creating your company?

I am working at Kandysoft Global as President where we specialize in designing and developing Cloud and Mobile applications. 

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

I’m very pleased and excited to be a part of such a select group. I think the timing is very good for Cerebiz in that the product is one hundred percent Microsoft technology based and ready for the Cloud.

What is your company’s mission?

Our mission is to bring enterprise grade Business Intelligence and collaboration tools that are easy to use by Small to Medium Enterprises end users and are available at affordable cost. Microsoft has provided a very good stack of technologies that we build upon, but we are determined to hide the complexities and technology from the end user and deliver a solution that can be used effectively without any technical training.

How did you get the idea for your company?

It all started with a conversation I had with well-known Australian IT industry figure Peter Kazacos in which Peter said, ‘if someone can come up with a low cost simple to use BI in the Cloud it would really suit the SME market’. And so the idea for Cerebiz was born. By drawing on the background of its founders in the Business Intelligence (BI) Industry with products such as ProClarity, Microsoft Performance Point and their own Business Intelligence application the company was able to quickly identify the need for a strong, but easy to use BI offering to support the many MYOB users in Australia. The result is Cerebiz-on-Demand, which is built on Microsoft Windows Server environment, using SharePoint, SQL Server, .Net 3.5 and Silverlight technologies to provide customers a quick, powerful, low cost and easy to use solution. Cerebiz-on-Demand empowers SME companies to gain low cost subscription based access to Business Intelligence & Collaboration tools via the Cloud. 

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

The seed money for Cerebiz has been contributed by the founders. This has provided the proof of concept with a complete working system for the MYOB customer base, proven with trial customers, as well as providing the methodology to work with other SME business systems to expand our market reach. For our initial market push we are currently open to an investment of up to $1mill.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 8 technical / support staff and 2 in marketing, sales and business management

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

As part of the market push we’re particularly looking for inside sales people and sales support people.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

Our whole application infrastructure is on Microsoft technologies and Dot net Framework. The reason is to bring the product to market quickly and follow-up with new functionality with speed to market. Combining Silverlight, Dot net , SQL, and SharePoint we believe brings better user experience at a reasonable cost to the user. 

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

We believe our Cloud and browser based applications that require no training on the part of SMEs customers and which are made available on an affordable subscription basis is our biggest and best opportunity ahead. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

The Bizspark program connected us up with other start up companies in the Bizspark DB. Other immediate benefits of Bizspark have been the access to MS software and tools, and a consequent subsidizing of development costs.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Get the product into customers hands for their feedback as quickly as possible and have paying customers as soon as possible. 

Who’s your role model?

Ray Ozzie the New Chief Architect at the helm of Microsoft. I came across Ray when he was at Lotus and at that time even Bill Gates said “Ray Ozzie is the best windows Programmer”. The product he created at Lotus (Lotus Notes) was very much ahead of the time. Currently Microsoft technologies have provided so much better and superior technologies to Notes. i.e. dot Net, SQL, Windows server, SharePoint and Silverlight. In fact I see the latest SharePoint version as “Lotus Notes on Steroids”. 

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

The most important message I want to give readers is to absorb all advice you can get but follow your instinct. It’s your baby, do what it takes to get where you want to go.

The BizSpark startup of the day is ONOFFMIX, based in South Korea. You will find below an interview with JoonCheol Yang, CEO of ONOFFMIX. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.onoffmix.com.

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Interview with JoonCheol Yang, CEO of ONOFFMIX

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

I am CEO of ONOFFMIX in charge of management, operation, and strategy and my journey to work in IT industry was started at age 7. It was a time to learn computer with MSX-II for the first time. After interested in computer and enjoying myself, I put an effort to become better professional developer by becoming system engineer, web developer, and web planner. Without this meaningful career, I would not have been able to spur myself to found the business.

What did you do before creating your company?

Before establishing ONOFFMIX, I have had experiences to start small businesses. From 2001 to 2003, I founded a web agency ‘T2DN’ that provided web hosting and website development. After ending up the company, I decided to rebuild a new business called ‘SR Entertainment’ which performed R&D projects for 3D online shopping mall technology. Despite of vivid experiences to run the business, I realized the necessity of practical opportunity to learn the business step by step and decided to join local web services companies including local IT companies ‘Daum’ and ‘Neowiz’ from 2004 to 2009.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

To me, it is an honorable opportunity to promote the business. I am expecting to acquire the change to arrange the business relationship or partnership with global venture capital. 

What is your company’s mission?

Our company focuses how to make the personal life and the society more happy and meaningful with IT as a company mission. Thus, it motivated to run ONOFFMIX in order to drive an opportunity for better business opportunity among developers, consumers, and distributors by letting them join a variety of social meetings and events.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:

ONOFFMIX, mainly operated by the head company 'Fun & Meaningful Life Lab.(FM2L)', is a services that arranges and promotes a variety of offline/online events from casual event to exclusive seminar and conference.

How did you get the idea for your company?

Personally interested in making friends and attending parties and events, I realized that organizing a social meeting or event had a number of requirements and arrangements to complete from RSVP to venue research and it might bring an inconvenience for organizer to come up with. Therefore, I decided to run ONOFFMIX to let people open the event with an ease through the internet.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We have been invested by several venture awards organized by local organizations or Microsoft BizSpark Program cooperatively promoted by the government. Or I joined some RIA, website projects suggested by other IT companies and received the salary as a part of the business fund. Currently, ONOFFMIX is expecting to receive investment approximately from USD 5 to 8 million on next year. 

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

We have 6 staffs working with ONOFFMIX and 2 of them are developers.

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring and where?

Yes, we are. We are looking forward to hiring more developers and planners.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

We operate the combination of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and ASP.NET. The reason we chose this form was to make opportunities – receiving supports from Microsoft partnership – though the Korean market does not show high proportion of Microsoft platform usage.

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/internet area?

ONOFFMIX has a potential to become a service integrating both e-Commerce and Social Network Services(SNS) that connects to the mobile devices. Thus, we believe the business may create a new form of SNS which others has had never done before.

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

BizSpark is a meaningful program to support startups, especially for those who adapt Windows Platform. In order to motivate businesses to run Microsoft products as their major IT system, there should be more opportunities bestowed by Microsoft BizSpark to help them how to use.

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

It is all up to your decision whether your business will drive better impact to your society or not. Motivate yourself to get advices from people to people to expand your horizon and clarify your decision. 

Who’s your role model?

Bill Gates as CEO and Steve Jobs as entrepreneur. I understand it may be odd to be interested two persons with a different style and perspective. However, I would like to get lessons from them and make my new potential to become better global business leader.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?

The world will lead you to be happy and succeed if your service leads the world happy. Join ONOFFMIX if you are a happiness seeker just like me! webmaster@onoffmix.com