Startup of the Day - Socialping

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.

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.