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November 8, 1999

FutureWeb:
ITsquare.com: Matchmaker For Software Developers And IT Managers

By Jennifer Mateyaschuk

At A Glance:

ITsquare.com
City: Edison, N.J.
Top executive: Havi Sachar, founder and CEO
Year founded: 1999
Employees: Not available
Amount of venture funding to date: Not available
Business: Lets IT managers post their software development requirements and get bids from prequalified services firms
olding IT positions such as VP and project manager in major banks let Harvi Sachar experience first-hand the difficulties companies face when hiring an outside consulting firm or independent IT contractors--so Sachar set out to do something about it. The result was the launch of his Web startup, ITsquare.com Inc., in July. The site acts as an intermediary for companies that want to hire consulting firms for software development work. IT managers can create a project prospectus online, detailing the project, the budget, and the time constraints.

An ITsquare.com professional will review the project's requirements and comment on them to ensure that the IT manager is posting the most accurate requirements possible. ITsquare.com will then invite the most qualified of its 750 consulting organization participants to bid on the project. Managers can look online to see their bids and accept an offer.

The company has only 10 customers so far, including Inonmedia Corp., an Internet marketing company in Kingston, Ontario. Inonmedia marketing director Kenneth Paul wanted someone to help develop games and interactive ads, a small development project that large companies might not want. "Going to the traditional vendors would take a lot of time and cost a lot of money," says Paul. He submitted the requirements to ITsquare.com, got six bids, and accepted one. Paul also likes the idea of a third-party review of his requirements posting. "There's an intermediary there, and that makes me have more confidence in my selections," he says.

Sachar says he's secured his first round of funding from an undisclosed independent investor and is in talks with other venture-capital firms. "We plan to develop our own Web-based project-management tools so managers can monitor the progress of their projects," says Sachar. He also wants to add functionality that would let managers track the IT skills within their companies.

continue on to the next company: Accompany