The singing tech entrepreneur: Interview

FOR someone who is launching an ambitious online service across the country at the moment, Caleb Storkey might seem an unlikely entrepreneur.
For one thing, the classically trained musician admits he knows nothing about technology.
So just how did the singing Moss Sider come to launch a directory service with a difference across the UK?
“I used to be in property,” he explains, I wanted to see boarded up houses where I live come back to life”.
But that venture came to an end when the credit crunch bit and Caleb saw his Freedom Properties go into administration leaving him looking for alternative ways to make a living.
“I had to stop and say ‘what went wrong?’, how could things have been done differently” and he came up with the idea which sets out “reduce the friction between businesses and their customers”.
The service which came out of that soulsearching is Freedoma – a directory service which promises more than just listings. Currently in beta, the website seeks to connect customers with businesses ranging from backstreet hairdressers to travel giants.
Obviously online directories are nothing new but what marks out Freedoma from the others is the level of functionality on offer to businesses meaning they can post offers, reply to their customers and future developments expect to include appointment booking systems similar to successful Scandinavian publisher Eniro.
User reviews and ratings of services and geo-locative profiles will also help customers reward great service or warn businesses of improvements that need making.
Caleb sees the site as a tool that businesses without huge technical departments or marketing expertise can help manage their brand reputation.
The site won’t be officially launched until all the final tweaks and testing have been carried out in beta but is expected in the next couple of months and at that point, some of Caleb’s more unorthodox publicity campaigns begin.
“I’m calling it ‘spreading the love’. We will select a business of the day and burst in singing ‘What a wonderful world’ before giving them a certificate to show what their customers think” he enthuses.
Aahh, so that’s where the singing background comes in then.