We have a special treat for our readers this week. We were able to interview Christian Owens and Mark Bao – both from Branchr.com. Branchr is an internet advertising company founded in early 2009 that aims to bring, low-cost, effective advertising to everyone, without the need for high-risk investments or contracts. If you're a Young Entrepreneur looking for inspiration, look no further than these two amazing guys, who have worked around high school and other activities to build an outstanding company to be proud of.
Christian Owens
Christian is a young technology entrepreneur located in the United Kingdom. Currently Christian is the acting CEO at Branchr. @the_dream
Q: What ignited the spark in you to start your new business venture, Branchr, in high school? How did the idea for your business come about?
A: I started Branchr in 2009. It wasn’t my first business, but I still had a lot to learn about online advertising. The idea for Branchr came from using various other ad networks online – Google, MSN etc. – and just thinking, simply “This is too complex.” At the time, there just wasn’t a really simple way to advertise online, so Branchr was born.
Q:Â Did you come from an entrepreneurial family? If so, how has that helped you? Either way, what do your parents think of your success?
A: Nope, both work normal jobs. My father works in a factory, and mother in an office environment. However, both are very supportive of my success and try to do anything they can to help it.
Q:Â What three pieces of advice would you give to high school or college students who want to become entrepreneurs?
A: It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you have an idea, and are passionate, you can make it happen. Nothing’s free. You have to work for everything you want. Besides, it's better this way – you feel as you deserve what you have accomplished. If you’re going to do a job, do it properly. See everything you start through to the end.
Q:Â How do you balance your business with doing all the things teenagers like to do (date, hang out with friends, etc.)?
A: It’s obvious that running a business and having a “normal” life isn’t really possible. When you need to work, you really need to work. I don’t have a normal life. That has its bad and its good aspects, but there’s no point looking back and saying “what if.” Instead, move forward.
Q: Describe/outline your typical day.
A: A typical day… Get up, check email and respond where necessary, school, then after school the real work begins. Finish school at around 4, home by 5, from 6:30 onwards most evenings is work. I try to make weekends different, see friends, relax etc., but I still often find myself working.
Q:Â What motivates you?
A: Everything. Just doing it is all the motivation I need. It’s as Donald Trump says, ”Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”
Q:Â Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
A: There isn’t really a set of guidelines to follow to be an entrepreneur. That’d make you the opposite of an entrepreneur. To be an entrepreneur, you just have to have drive, passion, and determination.
Q:Â Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
A: Self funded.
Q:Â Who has been your greatest inspiration?
A: Greatest inspiration has to be Steve Jobs, but I don’t just have one. Many people inspire me to do what I do. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google Founders Larry Page, and Sergey Brin, and other entrepreneurs such as Gurbaksh Chahal, Jason Calacanis, and Kevin Rose.
Q:Â What book has inspired you the most?
A: Now that’s a tough one. I think it’d have to be either Tycoon, by Peter Jones, or Crush It!, by Gary Vaynerchuk.
Q:Â What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
A: Being able to do what I love, and make a living from it.
Q:Â What has been your most satisfying moment in business so far?
A: Spending months building Branchr, launching it, and then finding that people love it.
Q:Â What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
A: I think it has to do with entrepreneurs are willing to take a risk. They’re willing to lose it all, and if they did, start over.
Q:Â How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
A: I should probably say, (being an advertising network) that our own network has been most successful, but it hasn’t. Word of mouth and positive experiences are what have gotten us the most customers.
Q: In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
A: I’ll have to do it in two: Chaotic and Exciting.
Q:Â What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
A: Only one: Scalability.
Q:Â What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
A: Non-work involves: Paintball, Airsoft, guitar, charity work, and photography.
Q:Â What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
A: A normal life, and just being young. But I’d do it again in an instant.
Q:Â Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A: Google. They’re a happy company, their employees love it, and they’re doing something amazing.
Mark Bao
Mark is a technology entrepreneur and non-profit founder residing in Boston, MA. At the moment Mark is the acting CTO at Branchr. @markbao
Q:Â What ignited the spark in you to start your new business venture, Branchr, in high school? How did the idea for your business come about?
A: Well, I didn’t start Branchr, but I did start Adaptance. I knew that advertising could be done so much better than how it was now – and ads could be targeted so much better than they are now. I worked on an advertising network in the past, too.
Q:Â Did you come from an entrepreneurial family? If so, how has that helped you? Either way, what do your parents think of your success?
A: No, I don’t. My parents work in the medical/pharmaceutical sector. They aren’t too fond of my success, since it takes time away from school, heh.
Q:Â What three pieces of advice would you give to high school or college students who want to become entrepreneurs?
A: Your age is not an excuse for doing inferior work. However, your age means you can do whatever you like without much fear of failing – entrepreneurship becomes more difficult as you become older. Just keep working at it. There is really no shortcut.
Q:Â How do you balance your business with doing all the things teenagers like to do (date, hang out with friends, etc.)?
A: When I work, I work thoroughly. I’ve learned to adopt a rigorous work ethic that lets me get work done when I need to, and it is based on the idea of making every hour count. I don’t date (I do feel like I missed out on the high school relationship thing), but I do hang out with friends a lot. I’ve had to turn down times to chill at some points when I have too much work 
but it’s rare.
Q:Â Describe/outline your typical day.
A: Wake up, emails, school, then I usually go to Starbucks or something to work, emails, then I just work on the 4 most important things of the day. If I finish early, I usually go on to my less important matters and work on those, and sometimes go into the next day’s 4 important things. About twice a month, though, I call it a day after I hit my four, and relax 
Q:Â What motivates you?
A: Making meaning, as entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki says. I want to make amazing products that change the world! It’s really quite exciting – that the products that I make, make the smallest of changes to people’s lives, but they affect them nonetheless.
Q:Â Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
A: There is a pattern, but it’s not as exact as some kind of formula. I think the pattern is essentially – successful entrepreneurs have partners they work with and advisors that help them; successful entrepreneurs work really damn hard; successful entrepreneurs are cognizant of the importance of marketing in business; successful entrepreneurs have experience.
Q:Â Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
A: N/A. Self.
Q:Â Who has been your greatest inspiration?
A: A lot of partners have been my biggest inspirations: Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Also, Guy Kawasaki. I remember watching his entrepreneurship talk at TiECON like a hundred times when I was in freshman year.
Q:Â What book has inspired you the most?
A: I think Art of the Start. It’s the quick-start guide for entrepreneurs and was one of the first books about entrepreneurship I read.
Q:Â What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
A: I think I already said it – that entrepreneurs can really create value just by doing what they do: building products and building companies.
Q:Â What has been your most satisfying moment in business so far?
A: I think it was the point when my motivation for business turned from wanting to make some money to save up for college, to making products people love. That really changed things for me, as I started to really love what I was doing when I did.
Q:Â What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
A: It’s really not ambition. Entrepreneurs are a bit more ambitious, I think, but what’s more important is risk and how much risk you’re willing to take on. Entrepreneurs are a lot more scared since what they’ve worked on could completely collapse in a day, and if that happens they have that opportunity cost to deal with.
Q:Â How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
A: I don’t know how many people consider it marketing, but SEO has been pretty effective for me – as well as referral/word-of-mouth.
Q:Â In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
A: A bit hectic. Always have emails, always have work, and it never ends. But it’s exciting!
Q:Â What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
A: I didn’t learn about marketing with my first ad network, so I just released it in the wild, and it really wasn’t as effective as it could have been. I learned from this that I needed to know about marketing, and that’s been extremely important.
Q:Â What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
A: I run a few other companies and nonprofits, but otherwise, I really like oil painting, watercolor, sketching, photography, piano, guitar, singing, writing, reading, fashion, jewelry, and a lot more. Yeah, it’s kind of difficult to balance all those hobbies with all the work I have, but it works!
Q:Â What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
A: I had to sacrifice a big part of my childhood. I don’t know if I would really do it again if I had the chance, but I probably would. Instead of having a lot of fun or just relaxing more, I’m working a lot. I’ve had to sacrifice a lot of social things, like going to all of the parties, having a girlfriend, or finding the time to do random stuff that makes you meet random people. Health has been a big thing too.
Q:Â Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A: I really admire Google for being able to build the empire that it has. It’s incredible how they’ve become such an integral part of the world at large.
