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The euphoria over technology firm stocks and IPOs, which has the outsized appearance of what looks like a bubble-in-the making, dropped a few seedlings on the Gulf Coast.
Walter Kostiuk hopes to capitalize on the trend. Kostiuk's firm, Sarasota-based MobileBits, provides answers and targeted ads on mobile phones for user's search questions — a souped up Google for smartphones. “There's no question there's been a lot of interest in mobile-social media,” says Kostiuk, citing heavy demand from investors for a slew of globally known firms, from Facebook to Foursquare.
MobileBits's step was to merge with Los Angeles-based Pringo, a social-media software firm with a focus on small and mid-size businesses. “It was a perfect fit because they needed to add more features,” Kostiuk says. “We either had to build (the software) or buy it.”
The merger sets up MobileBits as a parent company, with Pringo and a MobileBits division as subsidiaries. The company will maintain offices in Sarasota and L.A., which Kostiuk says will be a “huge advantage.”
The merger will also translate to new jobs, Kostiuk says. The company's sales and marketing units will remain in Sarasota, where Kostiuk expects to hire at least five people over the next few moths. That could bring the local employee base to 30 people.
Plus, Kostiuk is confident there are ample opportunities for the right companies to grow, even if it's a bubble. “We still see a real bullish market for the next few years,” Kostiuk tells Coffee Talk. “This is a real disruptive time for the industry.”
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