BizSpark Startup of the Day - iFacturas
The BizSpark startup of the day is iFacturas, based in Norway and Spain. Below you will find an interview with Morten Jacobsen and Antonio Revaliente of iFacturas. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!
Website: www.ifacturas.com
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 «iFacturas AS» 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 self-employed professionals stop losing time and money, by providing his loved smart-phone with an compelling new invoicing and accounting as a service in the Cloud.
In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:
100 millions of self-employed professionals can use smart-phones as their primary computer, allowing them to invoice at the point of service and on the go.
How did you get the idea for your company?
I´ve heard the ICs scream and beg for tools to enable them to sell more and easier. And the screams got higher and higher during the crisis. Suddenly, I saw the opportunity to combine our financial UI «for the rest of us» with touch computing and the Cloud and an enviroment to do it in - BizSpark. We simple had to answer…
Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?
We are looking for 300.000 – 1.000.000 € to achieve all our expansion and development goals.
How many employees do you have? How many developers?
We are 7 people right now. Four of the in development area.
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. iFacturas is already running for Windows Phone 7 in Spain.
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 easing and increasing 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 BizCampNYC in January, and in the Microsoft European BizSpark Summit in Paris in May 2010, 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 modelling 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 and Luca Pacioli.
What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?
That billing and accounting now can be done faster and easier than ever on a smart-phone, still being able to comunicate the accounts with advisors and authorities.