Monday
InterviewsWalking Down Joseph Street, Part I
We had a chance to sit down with Joseph Gonzalez, the CEO of JosephSt.com. This site is a great way for companies that are just launching to get some well-deserved exposure.
Read on to see what Mr. Gonzalez has to say about his startup and some of the things behind it:
When did your site officially launch?
October 16th 2008
What does it offer its visitors?
JosephSt.com offers a fresh new approach to advertising. A visual web directory which is categorized into what we refer to as ‘districts’ A district is a flash based virtual mainstreet with seven storefront buildings. When the user rolls over a building, you’ll see that the lights turn on and a logo which has been embedded will zoom out. Upon clicking, our mini browser will open directly to a link that has also been embedded on the building itself. This offers a truly innovate and unique experience for the user when searching for anything from clothing stores and blogs to social networks and new products. What we do is sell these storefronts for what breaks down to about 31 cents a day renewable on an annual basis.
How did you develop the idea for your site?
Honestly, the core concept came from my mother. You’ll have to ask her where her inspiration came from. Using her decades of experience in business and my tech background, we collaborated to create a directory that was not only straight forward and easy enough for the average person to use, but was attractive enough that the user would want to keep coming back. We used an opensource utility to create our minibrowser effect because we didn’t like the idea of having to use the back button on a browser to continue searching through our site.
Did you need to look for outside investment in order to finance your project?
Having very little funds or know-how to raise capital, I went into business with my muse (my mother) She funded the project from the beginning. Though I was the key architect of the site, we hired a local web development firm to bring our vision to life in the form of flash. To this day, JosephSt.com is 100% bootstrapped.
How many people work on your team?
JosephSt.com consists of only two people.
Myself (Joseph Gonzalez) Chief Architect and CEO
My mother (Rebecca Smith) Business consultant
Tell us about any motivational activities you put into practice with your team. How do you prepare your staff in order to gain the skills required?
I must say, it takes quite a bit to motive myself!! I’ve learned that the best way to get the job done is very simple. Just do it! Sit at your desk, stop surfing, stop checking your email and do it. I didn’t always possess the skills required to do this. I’ve had to read several books on flash and html but mostly, I’ve learned through trial and error.
Post Tags: gonzalez, google, Google search, joseph, United States, Web directory, Web search engine, World Wide Web
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