Sweet deal: Pancake Labs' 'Shortstack' a Facebook hit

The Reno-based developers of an application that allows businesses to increase their exposure on social media sites such as Facebook say they already have secured customers in more than 58 countries, and they're seeking additional Web developers and customer support staff.

Pancake Labs' Shortstack platform runs on businesses' Facebook pages and allows business owners a simple method of adding video, coupons and other promotional services. The fee-based service operates on a sliding scale starting at $5 a month.

Pancake Labs was founded in the third quarter of last year and already has five full-time employees and also employs several subcontractors.

President Jim Belosic says Pancake Labs will hire up to three Web developers and some customer service representatives once it commences its official launch near the beginning of February. Pancake Labs recently expanded into 2,300 square feet at 201 W. Liberty St.

"Shortstack allows people to take full advantage of their business presence on social media platforms such as Facebook," says Belosic, who describes the Shortstack platform as a miniature Web site on a Facebook page. "It is used for product giveaways, contests and to help promote messages."

Belosic says the Shortstack platform greatly simplifies the process of business promotion for owners of Facebook pages. After spending a great deal of time coding Facebook pages to include corporate and business materials, Pancake Labs decided it would simply create a standardized platform to handle the cumbersome process.

"Facebook developer documentation is relatively sparse, and a lot of things we had to do through trial and error and extensive testing," Belosic says. "We have been developers on the Facebook platform for several years, and we had built up pretty good knowledge over those couple of years."

Belosic notes that Facebook encourages development by companies such as Pancake Labs because the more third-party applications they have running the less load they have on their end.

"They are very open to the development community," Belosic says.

Pancake Labs will target North America and English-speaking countries upon its official launch, and it is working on releasing the Shortstack platform in Spanish, French and Italian as well.

"We are excited that we are able to do typical Silicon Valley-style development here in Reno," Belosic says. "We have been getting great talent out of this area and we hope to expand after launch."

Pancake Labs is privately funded and has used custom projects to fund development, but Belosic says the company hasn't closed its doors to investment offers by outside investors.