Interview: Roland Osborne Co Founder Of Olark.com

I recently had the privilege of Interviewing Roland Osborne who is one of the co founders of Olark.com. Olark.com is a simple (very simple) live chat client which anyone can integrate into their website easily.  You can find it here

Tell me about Olark.

Olark.com is the easiest way to add live chat to your website (if you don’t believe me you can install our free version and try it!) for tracking leads, driving sales, and providing support.  It allows you to engage visitors on your website while they browse using your mobile device or instant messenger like Google Talk.

How did the concept of Olark come to be and who was a part of creating it?

We built Olark (which was recently rebranded from Hab.la we couldn’t secure the .com) because we hated being tied to a website whenever we wanted to talk to visitors on our website (like other live chat systems require).  What began out of a side project by Ben Congleton, Kevin Ferguson, and myself to help our hosting company became a full fledged service.  About 6 months ago we began building the company in earnest which included relocating from Michigan and Virginia to Mountain View, CA where we participated in Y-Combinator.

What are your goals for the future of Olark?

We’re going to make it even easier to add live chat to your website!  This means even more features like our “Chat Links” service, which allows you to give out a simple link that will allow the recipient to chat with you on top of any website without adding any code.  We’re also working on some top-secret technology that will drastically increase conversions on websites but you didn’t hear it from me…

Are there any new upcoming features of Olark?

We’re about to roll out MSN support and a new super-slick widget which will look AND function better.

Aside from services you provide for people using Olark, do you ever plan on working with Skype or any other messaging program so that people can chat as if they were on the phone or do you plan on just keeping it the way it is?

We’re definitely open to voice chat within the browser but click to call features will be coming in the near future.

What was your major in college and how did you get into the IT sector and since we are on the subject…Were you a good student in high school? =)

Economics at University of Virginia.  Ben Congleton, another cofounder and I ran a web hosting company called Netherweb back in high school after building web pages for friends and a few clients.  I was a decent student then, but it’s been all downhill since

For anyone wishing to get into startups and the IT sector, what is your best advice to them?

I’d give the same advice for getting into any sector, Dive In!  This is especially true with web tech because the cost of actually trying out an idea is so low.  So get in there, build your idea, make mistakes, and learn from them.  Second, and just as important, get a great mentor.

student then, but it’s been all downhill since