123contactform is a Romanian start-up which offers the possibility to create personalized online forms. The start-up has managed to attract angel-investor Adrian Gheara‘s attention after last year’s How to Web conference.

We thought we’d do a follow-up with them and see how things are going after almost a year since the pair up. So we had a chat with Florin Cornianu, one of the founders of 123contactform.

HTW: What makes 123contactform successful? How does it attract clients?
Florin Cornianu: It’s simple. That’s our philosophy.  It doesn’t matter if you need a simple contact form or a complicated order form with payment integration that is linked to SalesForce. We make form building as easy as 1-2-3, and it doesn’t require any technical knowledge. On top of that, we add A class customer support. Our clients come from all over the world. We serve webmasters, design agencies and small businesses that want to sell online.

HTW: Following the 2010 edition of the How to Web conference, you partnered with an angel investor. Can you tell us a bit how it went? What was it about 123contactform that got the investor’s attention?
Florin Cornianu: We met with Adrian Gheara at How to Web 2010, during the first day. Later at the evening party, after a beer or two, it was easy to pitch him and get his attention. We already had a steady income and about 70.000 users, but I am sure that he spotted immediately the room for improvement.

HTW: Was it planned or did it just happen? Did you come to the conference with the idea of pitching one or some of the attendants?
Florin Cornianu: When we first heard about How To Web and discovered the “investor way” of doing business, we began to think about attracting someone who could help us take 123ContactForm to a new level. Our main objective at How to Web in 2010 was to get feedback on 123ContactForm.

HTW: How did this investment materialize? Was it just the money, did the investor get further involved in your business?
Florin Cornianu: We negotiated for 2 weeks and then reached a complex agreement that involved money, shares and the thing we needed the most: expert guidance during the following years, not only in the beginning. Adrian is still helping us establish the company strategy.

HTW: How did the investment impact the business? Where are you now and where do you think you would have been without the investment?
Florin Cornianu: After the investment, we released a major update to 123ContactForm that includes a new design for our website and many new features. Because of that, our income raised with 50% and our user base increased a lot. Bottom line is that the investment really took us to a new level that, honestly speaking, couldn’t have been reached without Adrian’s help.

HTW: 123contactforms has been on the market for two years, yet this was the first investment it got. Was it planned as a bootstrapping company from the beginning or did it just take a while until you got to the right people?
Florin Cornianu: We didn’t plan to attract any investment when we launched 123ContactForm. But, at some point, we decided that we needed guidance to overcome our limits. Basically, it’s not that much about the money. For us, it was the know-how that mattered.

HTW: What is your current customer profile? How is 123contactforms going to develop in the future?
Florin Cornianu: The online form market is quite a complex one. Our clients need a fast, easy and cost effective way of creating an online form that they can publish on Facebook, on their blog or on their website. They particularly like that they can link their web forms with 3rd party services, such as Google Docs, MailChimp, SalesForce and Twitter, with only one mouse click. Our future plans include hiring more people, creating new features and growing our number of clients. Yes, it is a 1-2-3 thing.