Founded by Jack Eisenberg, Chicago-based MapDing is a mobile app that enables users to buy and sell items in their local community. Its functionality includes a fully-featured map browser along with an in-app messaging and notifications to alert you when other users show interest in what you are offering. Jack gave midVentures insight into his service and discussed the direction he plans on going with MapDing.

mV: How did the idea for MapDing first come about?

MapDing (Jack Eisenberg): I feel like I should say MapDing came about in a fit of genius, but actually it’s a result of poor planning. My friend and I were supposed to go to the Cubs game, but the Cubs were terrible at that point in the season, and we were tired from a weekend-long music festival. So, we decided a few hours before to see a movie instead. I had some pretty good tickets, and I didn’t want to eat the cost, so I walked down to Wrigley and tried to find buyers.

Of course, the only people that would pay me any attention were the brokers, and they offered ridiculously low prices. After walking around for a while, I still couldn’t find any takers, so I ended up selling them for about a third of the face value. Even though I lost money, I came away with MapDing, which was, and still is, a vision for solving my marketplace problem: finding what you want, where you are, when you want it. I had been programming on the side for some time, and after I talked with some close friends about the idea, I decided to run with it.

mV: What is MapDing’s USP – unique selling point? How will it differ from the world of local classifieds, such as newspapers or even Craigslist?

MD: MapDing is a clean break from the paradigm of web-based services, and provides a set of functions that leverages the cool and core features of smartphones. This means it is instant, local, and allows both buyers and sellers to control the kind of information they receive where they are, when they need it. We call it ‘geo-matching.’ But the heart of MapDing relies on pairing up buyers and sellers by geographic proximity and their respective commercial interests. We also believe that now people communicate in ways more immediate than email, such as push notifications, SMS, and social media. That’s why we use custom alerts, in-app messaging, and Facebook and Twitter to enable this new kind of local, social, real-time commerce.

mV: Tell our readers about MapDing’s current state of affairs.

MD: For the business side of things, Chad Lomax just joined as president and we are in talks with a developer in the city to come on board as CTO.

Right now MapDing is in public Beta. We had about a thousand users after two weeks, and we are steadily growing the community and listings every day. At the moment, we are working out a complete UI overhaul based on our user feedback. We expect to roll out the revamp in the next few weeks, with some very handy features like secure mobile payments and integration with online partners.

mV: What about for the future? Where is MapDing headed?

MD: For the future, it is more a task of building the community through word-of-mouth and strategic partnerships. Unlike popular location-based apps like Foursquare or SCVNGR, which are somewhat insular social communities at the moment, I think this has the potential to appeal to anyone with a smartphone who uses classified ads online. That amounts to between 50 and 150 Million Americans, and plenty of other people elsewhere in the world. In a year, I want to hear Chicagoans say, “You should really MapDing that couch in the attic,” or “Just ding it.”

mV: Describe the development process. Have there been any setbacks along the way that you’ve had to overcome?

MD: About seven months ago, I picked up a few programming books, and started coding in my free time. Clearly no one can master this stuff with a full time job and a part time job on top of that, but I was able to build a few basic iPhone applications after a few weeks. Once the idea for MapDing came about, I coded away as best I could to make the interface and the tab bar controller function, along with the alert settings. I had a pretty detailed interface developed, and I found some stellar programmers on the internet who worked with me through all the heavy lifting on the server side, the Facebook and Twitter APIs, and converting from iPhone to Android. In the meantime I enlisted my couch-surfing/rockstar, designer friend, Jake Ramberg, to make the background, images, and logo.

The biggest setback happened when Apple changed the review guidelines about half way through development. Apps could no longer charge for notification services, even though several already did it. We also changed the business model, which was originally charging $.99 for a post. We launched on Android first, and the users didn’t like the pay-per-posting idea, so we quickly made it free and retooled our revenue stream. Iteration is really a never-ending process, but it makes the work meaningful and interesting.

mV: You said that you just started coding in your free time. Did you have any other background in development or coding before that?

MD: I have some very modest HTML, CSS, PHP, and Objective C skills. Lately, I have gone deeper into Drupal and WordPress, and I am really starting to enjoy graphic design.

mV: Is this your first entrepreneurial pursuit?

MD: MapDing is my second formal corporation. The first one stalled on funding. Although I like to think I have been taking risks my whole life, I have only recently been applying that to business ventures.

mV: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who have a unique idea such as Mapding, but may not know where to start in terms of developing and marketing?

MD: First, get motivated. It’s as easy as setting up a dummy Twitter account and following the most entrepreneurial/interesting/motivating people you can find who think we are in the middle of a revolution. Also, talk and listen to people about their problems, and if you think you have something that can make them happier, dive right in. And of course, get feedback and collaborate with others. I think a lot of entrepreneurs are unnecessarily guarded about their ideas. If anyone realized the commitment it took to execute an idea – basically a re-dedication to a singular lifestyle, they wouldn’t steal it. And if they do, come up with something better.

While I won’t be so bold to over-generalize an entire swathe of people, it seems like generation 2.0, myself included, is increasingly anxious about deciding on what kind of working life we want to and can have. But I can tell you honestly that taking a plunge on an uncertain, creative endeavor is incredibly liberating and challenging. When you are the creator of a product or service, spreading the word doesn’t feel like marketing. Not to be too lofty, but sometimes I think of it as sharing a small extension of my imagination.

Editor’s Note: We’re proud to introduce new start-ups such as MapDing that are innovative and based in Chicago. We recognize that it takes guts and a bit of crazy to dive into this world, so if you know another startup that’s getting its feet wet, don’t hesitate to contact our Social Media Director, meagan [at] midventures.com. Thank you Jack for meeting with us and sharing your new startup!