“We are literally changing the way the world does business.”

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Globial is a business networking platform that is committed to helping small businesses engage in global trade more easily and with greater trust. Their platform combines research tools, networking capabilities, and user created content. They aim to create opportunities for anyone interested in global trade by empowering users to easily find information and connect with businesses anywhere in the world.

Umut Yildirim is the founder and the CEO of Globial. Prior to Globial, he worked for a number of diverse international small and mid-size businesses in senior level executive positions. During his career, he experienced and analyzed the problems related to global trade. He is extremely passionate about SMEs, strategy management, the economy, and internet communication. He holds a BSc. in Engineering from Istanbul Technical University and an MBA from the Barney School of Business. In 2002, Umut was awarded with Prof. Kakac Scholarship for his educational achievement. In 2006, he was selected as a European Union Scholar to pursue studies at the University of Florence. In his spare time, he enjoys running in Silicon Valley and playing Go as well as chess.

Chadi Abousaleh has been immersed in startup situations and new ventures for most of his career. As project leader for the largest independent implementer of wireless solutions, he designed and developed a full-service e-commerce platform for Sprint’s largest corporate clients, including Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi. He developed the first PHP-based solution for Oracle’s supplier network, facilitating communication and ecommerce between Oracle employees, contractors, and Sprint. Chadi has also been a key player in several smaller startups. For Newport International, he led the team that developed both desktop and web-based online collaboration software, web communications technology, and video conferencing solutions. One of their products, GRCLive, was later purchased by Marriot for internal use.

MO: How are you fundamentally changing the way businesses connect, buy, and sell around the world?

Umut: Globial is disrupting the traditional B2B approach by delivering the latest news, products, and relevant trade opportunities directly to you.

Chadi: Our business users simply log on and already have everything relevant appear in front of them. No search needed—you see updates from your business contacts, buying and selling leads that you can immediately follow up on, and more.

MO: What advantages does having a truly global team provide?

Umut: Working with people who have different backgrounds, cultures and opinions is just amazing. Our global team has the ability to look at problems from different perspectives and create the best solution.

Chadi: There is a definite diversity of opinions and that’s a good thing. Because everyone has had different experiences, we’re able to approach anything with a bigger view of things.

MO: What’s your strategy for continuing make global trade “easy” and “trusted”?

Umut: Information and communications tools help businesses on Globial build relationships of trust. We have many more of our trust-related features in development at the moment and will reveal these features when they are released. However, I can say that we truly understand the problems small businesses are facing in a global environment and we are solving them one step at a time.

Chadi: Full speed rapid development of many exciting new features. We’re working day and night to improve Globial every single day. We attack the problems of trust and ease of use through multiple angles—design, development, psychology, and more. You can expect many advanced algorithmic and technological features on Globial’s horizon.

MO: Can you talk a bit about developing the Globial platform? What influenced the design process and what kind of challenges did you encounter along the way?

Umut: From a design perspective, the biggest challenge we have had was to come up with a unique and simple user interface. We have had a number of trials and errors that slowed down the development speed a little bit. However, we have learned much from every mistake and we’ve implemented a process that is working well.

Chadi: We always focused on a rapid development methodology so that we could quickly deploy new features into the user community. We’ve also always optimized our system for speed, high amounts of traffic, and fast on-demand data delivery. The biggest challenge was developing our system from the ground up—Globial is a proprietary and uniquely built system just for global trade. Everything you see was 100% created, designed, and developed by us.

MO: What feedback have you most enjoyed receiving about Globial?

Umut: We have received a number of great feedbacks but the one that I have enjoyed the most came from my father, after first seeing Globial launch. He said: “You made my dream come true, son!” That was one of the best feelings I have ever had in my life.

Chadi: My personal favorite: “This is simply amazing. I can’t believe you’re the first to do this!”

MO: What’s the most exciting thing on the horizon for you personally or professionally?

Umut: The global economic situation has been very serious for several years. Knowing that we are adding significant value to the economy by helping small businesses to talk, trust and trade globally, is priceless. Of course, being a part of this amazing team, technology, and product with limitless potential and opportunities recharges my excitement and passion every single day.

Chadi: Being a key part of this amazing team and opportunity is incredibly exciting. We are literally changing the way the world does business. What’s more exciting than that?