Web Site Hopes to Encourage Internet Browsers to Go Valley

A Tarzana-based creator of Web sites Monday launched a one-stop Web portal specifically aimed at the 1.7 million residents and 70,000 businesses in the San Fernando Valley area.

Joining Valley-specific portals like Ventura Boulevard.com and local sites hosted by Web giants like Yahoo, GoValley.com will offer information on everything from romantic restaurants to movie times, according to Kenneth Pao, chief operating officer for Idesic Technologies, the year-old company that serves as parent to the Web portal.

In addition, the site offers yellow page listings, school information and nearby shopping centers.

Funded largely through more than $300,000 in private investments and staffed by 16 full-timers (the average age is 23), the site hopes to lure Valley residents and businesses with Valley-specific news and features, advice columns and community resources, said Pao, noting that two of the venture’s three top officers attended high school in the Valley.

The company plans to spend $90,000 over the next four months to promote the site and to eventually launch an initial public offering.

“If this goes well, we see ourselves expanding into many different regions,” Pao said. “Our goal is IPO or bust.”