Interview with John Londono, Founder of radiusIM

RadiusIM is a Social IM website with location specific features. RadiusIM users can see where there friends are and who else is around them, in terms of location. We also support the big IM networks such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber, and Google Talk.

We’re really trying to create a unique user experience, moving IM to the next level. I think location is going to be a big game changer in the online experience.

My partner and I have worked together in the past having started a company called CallStreet in 2001 and selling it in 2004. In 2005 we decided to get together and began brainstorming consumer products.

We were really excited about the trends that were happening online: how large social platforms had become and especially the innovation available with AJAX powered websites.

We really felt that what was missing from the online experience was the ability to incorporate physical location. Integrating location based services with IM was a natural fit. The combination of presence and location are very powerful.

There are two main usage patterns that we see. The one that’s most exciting for us is we’re seeing users come onto Radius and using location functionality in a really unique way. They’re using it to surf for people using our map feature. There aren’t too many places on the web letting you do that right now.

I’ll give you an example. An NYU student, here, in New York, will be able to log on to Radius, in a library or coffee shop, and be able to see what other students are around at that exact moment in time, and reach out and IM them. At the same time, they can take that map, drag it to any area across the country and see who else is online at any time. It’s a really unique user experience.

We’re a big fan of open source. It’s such a departure from our first startup, where open source wasn’t as big. We’re taking advantage of the open-source solutions that are available. It’s something that’s enabled us to grow very quickly, and get to the market much faster than we normally would have.

We started the company in late ’05, when we began creating code. We went live with the alpha site in late ’06, around September. So we’ve been in the market for about six or seven months now.

There is definitely a large opportunity for advertising. Mainly, we see the big opportunity in having the location element: if we know where a user is, we’re going to be able to serve ads that are much more relevant to them.

Again, that example of that student in the coffee shop at NYU: we can serve up ads for establishments that are right in that area.

In addition to that, there’s definitely an opportunity for developing premium services. There’s an opportunity for us to give our users the ability to reach out to a broad base of users with a unique premium offering.

We really think there’s going to be a great opportunity to attack the mobile space. There are a number of services that are gaining traction charging fees on the mobile for a unique user experience. A lighter version of Radius on the mobile phone itself could be very successful.

We’re really fortunate, in that we launched about seven months ago and our growth has been completely organic and viral, which I think is very difficult to do. It helps to put out an application that is both fun and exciting, it can begin to grow on its own.

That said, there is going to be a challenge to get that big next level, the mass-audience offering.. We’re going to leverage our existing user base and be aggressive about getting out into the marketplace and speaking with companies and organizations like nPost to get the word out.

We’re extremely excited about that. One of the reasons why we decided to go on the web with our first offering was that we think that there appears to be a maturity curve that progresses over time in the mobile space and it’s still a little early.

GPS enabled phones in the mass market are getting closer and closer to being a reality. We’re excited about that. Our products are going to be hitting that space and they are going to be GPS enabled and will work seamlessly with our website. Our users will be onlineusing location based communications at all times. That’s something that’s going to be very revolutionary.

That’s a very good question. Web IM is still in its infancy but beginning to mature. What we’re trying to do is to go after something that’s probably a little bit different than your classic web IM where many users are just looking to get past a firewall. We are creating a social platform that truly incorporates location functionality. By doing that we can create a proprietary network of users sharing their location in a social way. It’s going to be very different from a website that just has pure IM functionality. Creating that proprietary network based upon location helps us create that classic barrier to entry.

Of course. It’s a growing space and it’s so very new. Web IM is basically a year old at this point, so it is still very much evolving and maturing.

I think that there is certainly an element of discipline that is key to building a sustainable business. Our first start up was generating revenue from day one. We were very cautious about how much we took from investors and we were extremely cautious with how we spent our money.

Grow the business in a slow and steady pace. People are saying that web 2.0 is a lot of hype, but I see how they are being much more disciplined with how they spend money and their approach to their business.

If people were to ask me what’s the most important thing to learn about building a start up it’s, again, maintaining discipline. Don’t grow too quickly. And just be prudent about hiring and building the business.

For me it’s simply the excitement of building something. At our last startup we built it to over 30 employees in New York City and many more offshore. I just loved the notion that we were able to build something and provide jobs for everybody. We were able to create something that hadn’t existed before. For me that’s extremely exciting.

That is definitely something that I plan on continuing.

That’s a great question. Hiring is always a challenge for start ups. Interesting, since it is something that is such an important key for growth in any company.

You need someone who believes in your vision, who is excited about what they are doing and who really wants to be a part of the team. That kind of a personality type – it’s a little different than somebody who wants to go out there and work for a big company and take on a secure role. We’re looking for passion.

Without a doubt. That said, I think there might be people out there who might be working in that big company capacity who may not really even know that they’re a startup person at heart. I think you have to experience it to really catch the bug and figure out that it’s for them. But generally speaking, I do think that there are certain people who have the appetite for the risk and reward of a startup.

We’re big believers in location and we think that it’s going to change the online experience in a very fundamental way. We want RadiusIM to be an entrance point in bringing location into the online experience. We really think it’s going to change things dramatically. We want to be the location player out there.

Absolutely true. Think about what location means to you and me and everybody. How it defines us in a very fundamental way, like what that means to who we are and where we live. The fact that it hasn’t hit in a very significant way on the Web is mind-blowing to me. That’s something that we’re excited to go after.