How to Build Your Personal Website in Less Than 10 Seconds Strikingly pulls from LinkedIn to build customized websites in one easy step.

Back in August 2012, Strikingly co-founder David Chen had one goal: launch the simplest, fastest web builder around. His team succeeded in its first iteration, creating a service that used customers' Facebook profiles to auto-fill a basic website in one click. But competitors such as Sitefly work that way as well. So to distinguish Strikingly from the Facebook pack and enable it to build more robust websites in one step, Chen in January switched his platform so that it pulls from LinkedIn instead. "Facebook doesn't have enough information for us to use and create a functional website, while LinkedIn has just the right amount," he says. "It simply adds more value."

Here's how it works: Users log in with their LinkedIn account, and Strikingly uses that information to create a site optimized for both the web and mobile devices in less than 10 seconds. Strikingly even enables sites to be built from a tablet or smartphone, allowing users who don't have a computer to claim a URL on the web. The free plan covers one site with minimal functionality; premium features such as a custom domain name and analytics data run $8 to $20 per month.

Chen says Strikingly broke even two months after launch, and its user base has grown at a 30 to 40 percent monthly rate ever since.