With the uncertain status of the stock market, more individual investors are looking for help. That specific niche is one that Portfolio Monkey could fill.
Available at PortfolioMonkey.com, this financial startup will allow users to analyze and optimize their portfolio and also generate customized stock tips based off the portfolio characteristics.
Portfolio Monkey was recently named as one of Startup 2009’s ten finalists. To learn more about this startup, I interviewed Jay Liao, the founder of Portfolio Monkey.
Stephen Kersey: Can you tell the StartupSpark readers a little bit more about PortfolioMonkey.com? What makes your startup better than the competition?
Jay Liao: Portfolio Monkey …read more

Recently, I was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Lisa M. Maki, the President of BeliefNetworks, Inc. During the interview, she discusses the past, current and future of BeliefNetworks, Inc., the startup company that was recently named as a Top 10 finalist for Startup 2009 and also made TechJournal South’s 2009 list of the top 50 technology and biotechnology companies.
Stephen Kersey: Can you tell the StartupSpark.com community some more about BeliefNetworks, Inc.? What makes your startup better than the competition?
Lisa M. Maki: BeliefNetworks, Inc. is a high-tech startup based in Charleston, SC. We have built a disruptive technology applying …read more

Good Health Advertising is a leading medical and health online advertising service company. Reaching nearly 17 million people each month, GoodHealthAdvertising.com is definitely an up-and-coming startup in the industry.
On June 3rd, Good Health Advertising will compete with ten other startup companies in Startup 2009. To learn more about GoodHealthAdvertising.com, I conducted an email interview with Robert Kadar, the President of Good Health Advertising Inc.
Stephen Kersey: Can you tell our readers a bit more about GoodHealthAdvertising.com?
Robert Kadar: Good Health Advertising is a top 10 online Health Advertising Network.  We represent a collection of quality sites, email lists, widgets and applications that …read more

A few days ago, we highlighted StartUpHire.com, a website where you can find a job with a venture capital backed startup company. If you want to enter the startup world, this is a fantastic resource.
For venture capital backed startups, StartUpHire.com makes posting a job easy. By posting the jobs to such a niche job search website, the results are sure to be better than a traditional option.
To learn more about StartUpHire.com, I interviewed co-founder Steve Fredrick, who is also a General Partner at Grotech Ventures.
Stephen Kersey: Can you tell us a little bit about StartUpHire.com? What types of jobs are …read more

Micronotes.com is definitely a startup company to keep your eye on. Utilizing innovative technology, Micronotes plans to further incentivize the online bill paying process for both consumer brands and the online bill payers. On one end of the transaction, bill payers will be given an opportunity to save money. On the other end, consumer brands will be able to communicate with online users at the most opportune moment possible. With more and more people looking to save money, their technology could be a hit for all parties involved.
About a week ago, Micronotes was named one of the Top 10 finalists …read more

Is there anything more annoying than filing an expense report? Especially if you have a ton of tiny charges that you have to keep track of along the way, the process can be painstaking, annoying and, quite frankly, a waste of your time.
An online startup that is trying to make the expense report process much easier is Expensify.com. This startup, which has been named as one of the ten finalists for Startup 2009, could be a godsend to anyone who files expense reports on a regular basis.
With Expensify, you can import information from your existing credit cards, receive a dedicated …read more

Better Bowls is a startup company that claims to offer better and healthier puddings and gelatins. Their products are made with natural flavors and don’t use any synthetic colors. Reviews have called Better Bowls great tasting, great looking, convenient and very filling. Additionally, the nutritional information doesn’t hold any surprises — their products are very healthy.
I had a chance to interview Dr. Malathy Nair, the founder of Better Bowls.
Stephen Kersey: How did you get the idea for your startup business?
Dr. Malathy Nair: Saw a need for functional, healthy and convenient foods, especially in the pudding and gelatin category. I started …read more

If you have an online startup company that relies on any type of software or customized coding, the most important person in your online startup is your head programmer.
Such a startup in the online world simply can’t survive without programmers who know what they are doing. Even if you are successful for a little bit, it’s just a matter of time before a competitor comes along with a better set of programmers and your customers follow.
How do you ensure you get a quality programmer? It’s difficult, especially if you don’t know much about programming, but here are a few …read more

Earlier this month, we profiled Free Fashion Tees, a website that offers free t-shirts to its members. Simply complete the registration at FreeFashionTees.com and they will match you with an advertiser and send you a fashionable yet free t-shirt — with no shipping or hidden charges!
To learn more about FreeFashionTees.com, we conducted an exclusive interview with Diana Braun, the co-founder of Free Fashion Tees.
Stephen Kersey: How did you get the idea for Free Fashion Tees?
Diana Braun: My business partner and I came up with the idea for Free Fashion Tees because we noticed a simple fact that all the promotional …read more

Earlier today I got a chance to interview Fabrice Grinda, the co-founder and co-CEO of OLX. For those who are unfamiliar with OLX, it’s a free classifieds website that has an online presence in more than 80 countries and in more than 30 languages. Each month, OLX generates over 400 million page views and is hugely popular in countries such as Spain, Portugal, India, China and many countries in South America.
Founded in early 2006, OLX has received nearly $30 million in funding and now boasts 125 employees. It’s estimated that more than 1.5 million new classified postings are added on …read more