All his employees, himself included, are trained inhouse in dealing with clients.
Rusenko genuinely appears to care about his customers and rates customer service as essential to good business. She now sells her pretzels all over the country. He gets excited talking about the different start-ups that have used Weebly, from shops selling clothes and jewellery to Pretzel Princess – “a real story of triumph over adversity,” according to the Paris-born geek who goes on to tell the story of the 70-something woman from middle America whose husband pushed her to start a business when he found out he was terminally ill. “There’s a lot of talk about glamour and image, but at the end of the day it’s just about making a product that people want rather than a lifestyle choice,” he says. When attracting investment, Rusenko believes that it’s all about getting the basics right. If you try and fail, it doesn’t matter.”īesides Y Combinator, Weebly received funding from Sequoia, the same investors that ensured WhatsApp’s vertiginous success. There’s always someone who’s been through the same thing and can offer advice. “It’s a kind of magical ecosystem,” he says. He is also convinced that San Francisco’s SoMa district is the best place to set up a company. Having lived for 11 years in Casablanca with summers spent in Fuengirola, Rusenko is astutely aware of the importance of the world beyond the privileged West. Now, at Weebly, she says she finally feels at home. Previously, she worked in a San Francisco soup kitchen before going on to a job with Evernote in their Spanish department. In charge of Latin America is Colombian Margarita Rojas. Paulina Sevilla / Platziīesides being a predominantly masculine environment, it’s also a place that cares about diversity – one of the main challenges facing Silicon Valley. There are even washing machines and tumble dryers and dogs sleep beneath the desks of their owners. Employees are encouraged to bring friends along to enjoy its gym and bars, where breakfast, lunch and supper are on the menu. The Weebly headquarters in San Francisco is so trendy that it has turned into a local hangout. We can set up shops, provide sites for artists, authors and other kinds of services,” says Rusenko whose clients fall mostly within the 25 to 45 demographic.
You can even start just using your cell phone.” And compared to other tools popular with artesans such as Etsy? “They are selling to very specific customers. So what differentiates Weebly from other website creation tools such as Wordpress? “Weebly is easier to use,” says Rusenko. “Latinos are incredibly creative and passionate,” he says. Paulina Sevilla / PlatziĪlthough he still hasn’t adapted Weebly completely to the Spanish-speaking market, it is already taking hold and he is excited by the potential. “Particularly in Latin America.” The games area in Weebly's kitchen. Since then, Weebly has evolved into a business worth over $500 million, with the cell phone as Rusenko’s latest obsession. Initially funded like Airbnb and Dropbox by Y Combinator, the venture started to make money for Rusenko and his friends in 2009 while they were still at Penn State University. They have the idea and we make the platform for it.” “Our aim is to get their site up and running in just one day and in such a way that they don’t have to worry about anything beyond their product. “A lot of them had a good startup idea but no technical know-how,” he says.
A year later, after questioning hundreds of entrepreneurs on their needs, he developed a DIY version. “I used Dreamweaver and FrontPage,” he says. Like Facebook and Google, Weebly started out against the stimulating backdrop of student life when Rusenko was making pocket-money by building websites for friends. Working hours are flexible, but Rusenko is smart enough to know that if people are comfortable in the office, they will spend more time there and be more productive
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