consult with Wandell on business development—even though Oien has a full-time job as the founding CEO of ScoreStream, a startup with a mobile app for crowd-sourcing prep sports scores.
Wandell acknowledges that Craigslist represents a huge challenge, and Antengo faces lots of other startup competition from companies like Vendly, Slinggit, Zaarly, and Tradyo (along with mobile versions of Web classified startups like Oodle, Monster, and Trulia. But he maintains that no one has nailed the mobile user experience and “the space is still wide open for the taking.” As one of the first entries—Antengo refers to its team as “pioneers of mobile classifieds”—Wandell says the company is a first mover with the best plan in place to saturate the market the fastest.
“Our main role is connecting the buyer and seller,” Wandell says. “Our main difference from Craigslist is that they can’t empower the mobile seller to close the transaction, and they can’t get behind the seller in the way eBay creates power sellers.”
Antengo takes a similar approach, through a featured selling model that elevates listings for sellers who pay a nominal fee. With millions of listings, Wandell says, “Our sellers have a tougher time getting exposure because we have so much content now.”
The company also has been developing mobile payment technology that enables buyers to use PayPal or Google Wallet, or to pay for a transaction through their cellular service provider. Antengo would take a small percentage of each sale, and Wandell says that represents the larger and more long-term revenue stream.
“It’s an exciting time for us,” Wandell says. “We’ve got a good upward growth curve, and we think we’re poised for a Series A round in the first quarter of next year.”
