Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Mark Tressler, co-founder of mymave.com, said he and his partners have put in long hours on their creation.

Before Mark R. Tressler could achieve his goal and be his own boss he had to come up with a ripe business idea.

The Carnegie Mellon University student pondered, ruminated and wracked his entrepreneurial brain until June 15, when an idea popped into his head.

Mr. Tressler's plan was to create a cyberspace marketplace where businesses, large and small, could advertise goods and services and connect with customers.

Last month, Mr. Tressler, 20, of South Park, and three CMU partners -- and cross-country teammates -- launched the free Web-based marketplace, mymave.com, which he said has no equal.

Mave, as he calls it, provides free Web sites and domain names for hundreds of businesses, with 1,500 subscribers -- and growing.

His partners include Breck Fresen, a 20-year-old computer scientist from Buffalo Grove, Ill.; Geoff Misek, a 21-year-old senior in computer and electrical engineering from Goodrich, Mich.; and Will Lutz, 21, a junior economics major from Wyomissing, Berks County.

But an Internet business, as with cross-country racing, requires dedication to the long run. "It's a blast, honestly," Mr. Tressler said. "Entrepreneurs tell war stories. You don't believe them, but it is tough. But it's also a rush."

The site offers customers an easy way to find businesses or professional services that can be hard to find on Google or other search engines, he said.

Businesses and people who provide goods and services can set up a Web site on mymave.com that could include photographs showing their work.

Subscribers requesting certain goods or services automatically are notified of companies providing such fare. Companies in turn are notified about customer interest. If appropriate, businesses can bid to provide the service or product in question, be it baby-sitting, landscaping or professional services.

The site includes a comment field and a rating system that answers the question: "Would you work with this person again?"

Mave also offers businesses domain names attached to the mymave.com address, which makes available names long since claimed on the Internet.

Mr. Tressler said Mave already has attracted professionals, including lawyers, consultants, Web developers, mortgage brokers, insurance agents and financial service companies. Businesses can designate a service area or ZIP code.

"For businesses that post Web sites on Google, it's hard to get high on the search ranking," he said. "But on mymave.com, anyone seeking your services will receive your business name and Web site, and you as a business will receive their request as a potential customer."

Cindy Closkey, president of Big Big Design, which builds Web sites and helps small businesses create an online presence, said the Mave crew has done "a good job" with its Web site.

"They've targeted a problem where small business or family business can't justify the cost of a Web site but want to be found," she said. "They made it easy to have something to be linked to, like a domain name."

Mave's big challenge, she said, will be name recognition in the early going, then keeping tabs on how subscribers best use the site. She said Mave wisely is tapping into the growing demand for "hyperlocal" information over the Internet.

"People are looking for services and building local communities," Ms. Closkey said. "Mave builds around that. This is solving that problem."

Charles Elliott, owner of TaleWeavers in Erie, said his business of caning chairs, seat-weaving and basket making "is rather unusual," so he set up a site on Mave. He has yet to get a response, but the price is right.

"I'm always looking for marketing options," he said. "Mymave looked interesting because I'm always looking for free business listings."

The name Mave is derived from "maven" -- a person who is experienced or knowledgeable. The made-up name met Mr. Tressler's requirement for a four-letter name.

Comparisons with craigslist.org and other Web-based marketplaces is inevitable, but Mr. Tressler thinks his site is unique by connecting businesses with customers and providing free Web sites.

Eventually the partners will make money via advertisements that pop up whenever people seek goods or services similar to what the business provides.

Mr. Tressler said he and his partners have worked 50 hours a week launching and promoting Mave. Using "mymave.com" stencils, they painted ads on snow and scrawled the name in chalk on Oakland's sidewalks.

"Since June 15, I've been working nonstop," he said. "But I think this has a good chance. We live in a service economy, and I think this will be a big hit."