Enterprise Nation

His site may not yet be live but we just love the sound of what Dom Duhan is up to. Seeing that people wanted to trade online, but found the technology perplexing, Dom is building a platform that will make it simple as pie to set up a shop and sell online. And this simple solution is free!

What were you doing before Flog.com?

My last role was Technical Director for Three's A Crowd PLC (www.3sacrowd.com), a really upcoming and fresh events company. As well as creating events for Play.com, Plus Markets and numerous celebrity events, we also developed a Web 2.0 social network and online magazine.

Before that I was a director of Mobsoft.com (no longer going) which created some exceptional mobile applications, including one of the most advanced mobile gaming platforms. For many years however, I was a sole trader providing a one stop shop for web services, from consulting to design and implementation. Quite a change from my early career in the late 90's as a Money Market and Futures trader for Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi!

How did you come up with the idea for Flog.com?

It came about through a couple of family members, my father has been an eBay Power Seller for some time and wanted a platform that could display his products better, and allow him to create a clearer online profile, without spending money on building a website and hosting. I was also inspired by other family members who want to sell online but are daunted by the complexity of it. I saw an opportunity to create something simpler, visual and clear that would allow people to trade online.

Who is helping you bring the idea to market?

I firmly believe partnerships are key for a small business. I am very pleased to have Moneybookers.com as our official payment partner. This means we will be able to offer Flog.com to over 9 million active accounts as well as providing merchants on our site with a very good rate. I’m also in discussions with trade associations, Business Links, charities and large websites where I believe Flog.com will be valuable.

On a funding level, I raised money through private investment from friends and family and also managed to get a Small Firms Guarantee Loan through Lloyds TSB.

Why is Flog.com different to other shop builders?

Well, when I first started looking at the market, I knew there were several shop builders that do a fantastic job, there are also a number of marketplaces that perform really well. Flog.com is a mix of both, free to setup and incredibly simple to use. Once you have created your web store you are listed within the Flog.com marketplace. You can also take your web store and place it within your own site and easily edit your products and pages, with everything updated on the main Flog.com site.

We also have embraced social media, so expect to see Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Picasa to start. We do take money to survive! Our fees come from sales, so if you sell something you pay a modest scalable percentage to us.

Finally the design is intuitive and interactive with an icon based interface, no web experience required!

How will Flog.com help my small business?

Flog.com is all about small business, the entrance cost is free as I know how hard it is to setup at first. Flog.com will allow you to get online, or even reinforce your existing virtual presence, as well as immediately placing you within our marketplace.

I firmly believe small business is the backbone of an economy, I hope Flog.com can inspire new enterprises by taking away some of the startup risk.

When are you launching?

We are launching in Summer this year!

How can we keep updated with pre-launch developments?

Best to check us out on our blog, Twitter and Facebook, I'm hoping we will have an open beta programme before the full launch.

• Blog: http://www.flogface.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Flogdotcom
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/flogdotcom

Dom Duhan talks to Enterprise Nation