Monday, August 27, 2007
Interview with Charlie Parks, YourList.com
Earlier this month, Beaverton, Oregon-based YourList.com launched a new site which goes head to head against Craiglist.com for the online classifieds market. We spoke with Charlie to get more details on the company and site, and how it hopes to compete in this market.
Tell us a little bit about YourList.com – what’s the idea behind the site, and where do you fit in the online classifieds space?
Charlie Parks: YourList is a brand new job and local classifieds Web site. The idea for the company came about as a way to give small communities and towns – 945 of them, anyhow – an online option for free classifieds and an organized job section that works for both the employer and job seeker. Since both the classifieds and job classifieds were manageable on the technical end, we combined them on the site. There are people that like to browse the help wanted sections.
No question that the online classifieds space is crowded right now. A lot of companies are trying to offer a different take on the established Web sites. There is a lot attention on the industry and new sites keep coming out with different business models as they compete for market share. We’ve spent the last couple of years studying the sector and believe there is a lot more room for growth –if you pay attention to the needs of the online consumer.
It seems like you're going up against some tough competition in Craigslist. What's your strategy in getting market share from them?
Charlie Parks: Absolutely. Craigslist has a strong following. Their popularity is so completely organic that I don’t think a mere copycat site could ever be successful. YourList’s focus is to offer a lot of the same listings, but in a way that is totally geared toward making it easy for the consumer.
Take, for example, our $15 fee for employment ads. This price tag gives job seekers a better selection of jobs because it acts as barrier for those that would abuse a free employment section. But it’s cheap enough that companies will want to list with us. On top of the employment ads, we will be rolling out a free, searchable resume database with support features that will put us on par with Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs, but at a fraction of the price. Other ways that our classifieds are different from Craigslist is that registered users can set up alerts so that they get an email when items they are searching for are posted. They can also use one interface to manage their postings and we took two steps out of the posting process.
Why'd you decide to start YourList.com, and what's your background?
Charlie Parks: I’ve been in software and Internet sales for the past 9 years. I always wanted to start my own technology company but I just needed that great idea. So as I was watching the job and classified space, I had thoughts about what would be great features on them. When they didn’t happen on the big sites, I knew then that I ought to give it a shot and I finally decided to take the plunge.
What was the hardest part of taking the plunge to launch YourList, and why did you decide now was the right time?
Charlie Parks: Taking the plunge was actually the easier part. The hardest parts for me were finding the right people who not only could do the work but also embrace the idea and become excited about the project.
> How's YourList.com funded?
Charlie Parks: YourList is self-funded. We are getting ready to raise a seed round of capital before the end of the year.
Finally, what are you planning to use that seed round of capital for when you raise it?
Charlie Parks: The majority of the capital raised will be used for marketing.
Thanks!