The name "Linqia"

One of the joys of starting a new company is coming up with a name...not! We must admit that we struggled over six months and it was in the nth hour when the name Linqia was offered as a possibility by our first Linqia star Daniela Arens.

Having just read the book The Starfish and The Spider (mandatory reading at Linqia) co-authored by good friend and mentor Rod Beckstrom, Daniela spotted the reference to Linckia (LIN-kee-a). Linckia starfish are common in Australia and other parts of the Pacific and unlike other starfish, they can cast off an arm without any part of the central body attached and that arm will slowly grow into a complete starfish. The perfect metaphor for a decentralized organisation and what we envision Linqia to become.

We've found many people spell 'Linqia' in many ways - Linquia, Linqua and Linckia but hey - who knew how to spell google when it first appeared.

Linqia conceived on a beach

Linqia was conceived on a beach in Lisbon, Portugal.

Too many companies have been born out of their parents’ garages that a garage has become a cliché. In the spirit of its brand, Linqia had unique beginnings. No wonder then it is the FIRST online community and group aggregator and vertical search engine.

On that sandy beach, together with three close friends we talked about our passions: the search for greater love, entrepreneurship, protecting the ocean and The Hunger Project. We dreamed about making a difference in the world in our own little way. We thought this could best be achieved by starting with the end in mind.

That day in October 2006, Linqia was born.

Our vision? Well we had two. A business vision and a social vision. Our business vision is to be the leading directory of online communities and groups. Our social vision is to connect the developing world to the developed world through online communities and groups.