Peter Cullen

• Company: Interleado
• Industry: Search Engine Optimisation
• LinkedIn: http://ie.linkedin.com/in/webmarketingireland
• Website: http://www.interleado.com/
• Location: Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin

Allaboutbusiness met with Peter Cullen, Founder and CEO of Interleado, to talk to him about his business.

Tell us about Interleado…..

We started the business in 2007 and initially located at NovaUCD. We spent about two years at Nova developing the product and completing the M50 Enterprise Development Programme.

Our SEO Workbench software shows business what they have to do make more sales from their website through organic web traffic. That’s the traffic you get from being listed naturally in a search engine, i.e. you’re not paying for a listing.

In addition to the software, we offer online marketing services including mentoring/training in online marketing so that businesses can develop this competence in house.

Why did you start your business?

I always wanted to work for myself and was looking around for the right idea for a few years. While I was researching ideas I started to focus on the web and in particular what made businesses on the web successful. With my nerdy background I was easily drawn into the fascinating world of search engines and online marketing. I started doing some part time consultancy work for a couple companies and it gradually grew from there. Getting on the M50 Enterprise Programme was my big break. This opened up a whole new world of fellow entrepreneurs and access to structured programme that allowed me to test my ideas in constructive environment.

Who do you look up to in business?

This is a tough question. I look up to most people who have started from scratch, build something useful and continue to drive their business forward, especially in theses tough times. There are many such people in this category, but probably the two that stand out for me and the two that I’ve read up on most are Richard Branson and Donald Trump. These both exhibit similar characteristics in that they are both extremely focused, both have a relentless passion for doing what they do and they have both come through tough times with flying colours. They are fighters! They refuse to accept second best. Naturally their styles are very different, but their outlook on life is similar – be the best you can and enjoy the ride!

What are your plans for the future?

Our plans for the future are to continue to invest in the product, continue to build our reseller base. We currently have resellers in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and naturally Ireland. We’re coming to the end of our first (start-up) phase and need to look at growing the business more aggressively.  We’ve learned a few hard lessons over the past couple of years, we know our customers much better now and are much more efficient in targeting potential high value resellers.