Ever since Abe Massry’s mom took him to his first arcade when he was 9 years old in South Carolina, he knew he wanted to work in the tech field. “I was playing Road-Blaster and my mother had to reach the pedals for me while I was driving the steering wheel,” Massry recalls. “This sheer joy and excitement along with the adrenaline rush that I got really got me engaged with technology and since then it has become a lifelong obsession and fascination”. Growing up in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, this trend continued, while even trying to figure out how house-hold appliances functioned. With no instruction manual nearby, he was able to muster enough know-how to repair a broken lawnmower with just some spare parts lying around the garage.

It was this same intense interest that has lead Massry to create the website www.1stVote.com, an interactive, online platform that allows for users to rate, rank and review products that people are buying and selling online. After rummaging for ideas about online businesses to create, Abe knew it was best to rely on what’s easiest and most familiar to rely on. As an ardent fan of Digg.com, Massry decided to parlay his passion of a news-focused website as a way for online participants to generate income with something they were already involved in, or a “Digg for products” Massry explains matter-of-factly.

So what makes this genius concoction different from the tech gurus over at Pinterest? “1stvote.com is solely about the product, and the price is required,” explains Massry. “With Pinterest, they’re all about pictures, whereas we have a built-in review system with a star-rating.” Another unique feature that sets 1stVote.com apart from competitors is the mentoring and one-on-one counseling you receive, particularly for small business owners. This groundbreaking online catalogue is a perfect fit for mom-and-pop shops and home-based entrepreneurs by providing another avenue to get your product out into the marketplace with support on staff. Think of it as a specialty coffee shop to fit your marketing needs.

Since launching in 2010, this almost 5 year old company became one of the top 1,000,000 sites in India soon after debuting, and there are no signs of it slowing down any time soon. With the holidays right around the corner, why not stock up on some product surfing and join in on the latest Silicon (eh-hem), I mean Philadelphia Valley tech sites this city has to offer?