Former Microsoft Managers Create Nextio, a LinkedIn Rival

Two former Microsoft managers have set out to challenge their ex-employer’s LinkedIn service with the Thursday launch of a new professional networking site — and this one pays users to reply to recruiting messages.This networking website offers a twist on the format. Last year, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in a $26 billion deal to boost its enterprise network and data.

The Bellevue-based company was founded by Anoop Gupta and Aravind Bala. Both were former managers of Microsoft. Gupta worked as a technology assistant to Bill Gates and is a noted scientist, while Bala is a former engineer who was a manager at the company.

As a new company, Nextio currently has six employees and has raised $2.2 million from early investment rounds.

Microsoft announced last year that Gupta and Bala had left the company to focus on creating a start-up. The creation of Nextio was inspired by their time with Microsoft. As they would often recruit new engineers from networking services like LinkedIn.

Another unique feature of Nextio is its Career Insights, which gives users a deep look into others’ careers paths. The Career Insights feature uses data collected from people’s public professional profiles to show the experience and skills of people in any job.

Monetizing Members

Under the LinkedIn model, recruiters pay the company to use premium messages like the ability to send a direct message to users and gain more profile access. Gupta says under the Nextio model the payment goes to the user who is being recruited and not the network.

In other words, if users just want to connect about personal things they can, but if it is a professional need then there will be a charge. The settings menu is used to decide the level of contact.

Members choose when they want to be contacted, while they can also customize their price for replying. Gupta says people should be able to monetize their resources.

Source:The Seattle Times|WinBuzzer