PITTSBURGH \u2014 Despite the fact that the front door of his office space still bears the name of his father, a retired doctor, Jurgen Koster is building something new that he says Pittsburgh hasn\u2019t quite seen before.<\/p>\n
The New Kensington native is setting out on a mission to create, what he calls the \u201canti-Amazon,\u201d and eventually, a “Wal-Mart<\/a> for Yinzers.” A former finance professional who cut his teeth working as a regulatory compliance analyst at the Manhattan office of the Promontory Financial Group, a subsidiary of IBM, Koster returned to the Pittsburgh region in 2018, inspired to follow his entrepreneurial passions and put his ideas to the test in Kittanning, where he spent most of his childhood.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hypothesis was that I could be a big fish in a small pond, it was much easier for me to make a wave when I\u2019m bootstrapping the business,\u201d Koster said. \u201cI can\u2019t get in front of everybody in Pittsburgh, it\u2019s too expensive. But Kittanning, with geofencing and stuff, I could advertise for $5 a day, and everybody already knew who I was.\u201d<\/p>\n The concept, called YinzMart<\/a>, started in a different place than what it would become today, which is an online marketplace of sorts for vendors and makers that\u2019s intentionally local. But its DNA has always been rooted in helping small businesses reach more customers. <\/p>\n Click here to read more from our partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times.<\/a><\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n