UK Webmaster Forums conducted a fascinating interview with the CEO of eSyndicat web directory script, Simon Gooffin, excerpts from the interview follows:

UK W Forum:
I assume you are a programmer, how did you get into programming?
Simon Goofin:
Well, you are right. I'm a programmer and hold B.S. in computer engineering from State University. I also hold B.S. in linguistics. Before I was making programs using Visual Basic and later found a job of PHP programmer. There I got some skills and only after that I felt the future was WEB.
UK W Forum: When did you start eSyndicat?
Simon Goofin:
I started working on it early in 2005. I had a need of directory software for my other sites and existing products were not good enough for me. So I decided to start making my own script. It was just for fun and it was my hobby. It's still my hobby despite its popularity though I never forget its business as well.
UK W Forum: what lead you to starting eSyndicat?
Simon Goofin:
In my previous reply I already mentioned this. I just wanted to create a directory that will suit directory owners needs. I used directories myself and I knew what functionality should present in this software. I also paid great attention to our members’ needs and requests and tried to implement all requested features.

You can read the full interview by clicking the Simon Gooffin interview.