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KickoffLabs Blog:

Inspired by his family Vertioso founder discusses how to marketplace


By Josh Ledgard

Aug 31st, 2011


Today we’re featuring Vertioso. People often ask me what other ideas Scott and I were discussing before landing on KickoffLabs and this is pretty close. Check out what Joshua Cook had to say about his “how to” marketplace that’s coming soon.

1. Tell us about Vertioso.

imageVertioso was born out of a sense of frustration with the way IT knowledge is packaged and learned. I’ve been working in IT for over a decade now, and I kept running into the same issue. Often in IT you are given a project, with a timeline that’s strict, and no real idea of how to do what it is you’ve been asked to do. There’s the traditional methods of learning.. a training class, the huge 800 page book, or searching the Internet for help. And once you figure it out, you usually are made to document it as a step by step guide.

But all those methods take a lot of time up, if you can do it at all. Training classes? Great.. if they fit the budget, and the timeline, which they almost always don’t. The huge 800 page books? Full of great information, but what you actually need to know is spread over 9 chapters, and mixed in with a lot of overview and ‘history of the product’ filler. Searching the net? Great.. using question and answer sites, but you can often spend days waiting for a response, if you are even asking the right question. And since at the end of all that you need to turn around the distill it all into a step by step guide for the next time this comes up, why not start from there? Why waste all that time looking for help? From the employer’s side, why waste what is a valuable asset’s time? IT staff are valuable, do you really want that asset trying to track down help, and wasting billing hours, when you can just go buy the step by step guide that’s peer rated and reviewed?

Vertioso will be a marketplace to buy and sell “How To” guides. While we plan on focusing on the IT industry at first, there are other area’s that a marketplace for step by step technical guides are of good use. The site will allow users to rate and review guides, so that guides that are complete, clear and well written will rise to the top, and get more sales for the author.

2.) Who or what inspires you and why?

Vertioso was inspired by frustration with how things work in IT. I’m personally inspired by my family, and those who give me advice. My wife has an uncle who has started and sold 2 web based companies in the past, and he’s given me great advice when I’ve asked him for it.

3.) What other advice do you have for other people just getting started?

Talk to anyone and everyone who will listen. Get every scrap of input you can, even if its input that you don’t like. It’s very easy when you have what you think is the “greatest idea ever” and someone gives you less than glowing feedback to throw up the defenses and not to listen to what they are actually saying. Listen to everyone, take notes, and follow along. Understanding what flaws might be there is highly important.

The other part is to fully utilize the resources available to you. The Vertioso logo? A fiverr.com purchase. The background for my kickoff labs page? I used free credits at fotolia that I had gotten with my web hosting. There is a lot of good resources out there, use them. For a minimum of cost you can really create some amazing things these days.

4.) What do you like most about KickoffLabs?

I really liked how easy it was to get started. I’m still currently working my day job as an I.T. Manager. So my work time on Vertioso is done at night and via email/text during the day. So anything that makes it able for me to get things done, with little time investment is great!

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