Jared Reitzin - Mobile Storm - http://www.mobilestorm.com/

1. What ignited the spark in you to start Mobile Storm?
Jon Schreiber, he is currently serving on my board. At the time he was an advisor who told me mobile is gonna be big. I didn’t know anything about Bluetooth, WAP, and SMS. He explained the eco system to me and it got me fired up. He also got me my first project with Interscope Records. We launched the company around that project.

2. What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?

My definition of business success goes in this order:

1. Make a huge difference in your industry. Everyone respects you and talks about you.

2. Become financially independent. Be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want.

I have not achieved these things yet. I am close, but I have about 10 more years of hard work.

3. To what do you attribute your company’s recent achievements?

Being focused. There are a million ways to take our company and business model. The death of an entrepreneur is being unfocused. You have to do one thing and do it as best as you can. When you really become successful is when you can diversify.

4. How important have good employees and team members been to your success?

Nothing is more important than this. Not how good our service is, not our marketing, or our persistence. It comes down to one thing and one thing only, good people. Its every companies largest expense, and well worth it.

5. What three pieces of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Never give up

Work harder than your competition

Hire good people

6. What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

Not growing quickly enough. This is due to a failure of not making a fast decision and sticking to it. Flip flop is bad for business. Make decisions quickly, don’t look back and stay focused.

7. Describe/outline your typical day?

I wake up at 7am. I am on the computer till 8. I get into the office around 9 and work till 6 or 7. I come home, spend time with my fiancé and baby girl and usually get on the computer again around 10:30 and work till midnight. Most of my days are spent on the phone, my headset usually dies out around 4pm. If I am not on the phone I am meetings with my team. I also take a lot of day trips to Vegas and SF where we have an office and clients. I work weekends but it is not nearly as much, I try to relax on Sunday.

8. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?

We were looking for a round of funding and an advisor of mine introduced me to a company who invests in SaaS companies (software-as-a-service). We had a call and they liked what I had to say. They flew out and we gave them a presentation. Two days later they called me up and said they wanted to invest. We must have broken a record because the whole deal was done in less than 3 months, from introduction to funding. That never happens!

9. What stops you from throwing in the towel and giving up when you are frustrated?

I used to have thoughts about throwing in the towel. Nowadays I don’t see failure as an option. But I do get sad from time to time about certain situations. If I am not in a good mood, I don’t pick up the phone. I put on some great house music, close my door and work on internal documents and projects I need to accomplish. It helps take my mind away from things. If I carry it into the weekend with me, I do my best to not work and to just relax and have fun. Drink some vodka, go out to a club, take my girls to the beach. Anything I can to not have to worry about things.

10. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?

For sure. Some guys get lucky, but like Steve Job’s says “Pixar was an overnight success. It only took 10 years”. I speak a lot about the 3 things you need to become successful. Persistence, knowledge and networks. It starts with persistence. When you are persistent you become knowledgeable in your field. The more knowledgeable you become, the more people respect you and listen to you and the more your network grows. Ever heard of “the rich keep getting richer”? Part of this has to do with being part of a network of people who help each other out. The only other thing I would add to this is you need to be ethical the entire time or none of these three things will last long.

11. Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration?

This sounds cliché but probably my mom. She taught me about the bigger things in life such as being a good person, and who God is. She also taught me about the smaller things such as how to balance a bank account, and how to earn credit. She is an excellent sales person and I got lucky and convinced her to come aboard mobileStorm about 5 months ago. She is the top sales person in the company right now.

12. What book has inspired you the most?

Harry Potter. Ok that was a joke, no offense Rowling. My dad got me 7 Habits when I was in High School and that really set me up for what I am doing now. Covey is brilliant.

13. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?

Nowadays it’s all about online. The best leads come from natural search, so SEO is a huge part of what we do. We do some pay-per-click advertising with Google,

but I am beginning to think it doesn’t have a great ROI, it continues to fail us after all these years, and I know we are doing it right. Also strategically placed banners and ads on sites and in emails that are geared towards new media have been good for us. But nothing beats picking up the phone and closing a deal. Sales is our real driver right now.

14. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.

Can I use two words? Can I cuss? “F**kg Fun”.

15. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

Google. They are going to take over the world. Their business model is brilliant and so is their leadership and staff.

16. How do you achieve balance in your life? Or do you?

Ah balance. Balance is one of the most important things in life. Anything to extreme, right or left, fails. I balance my life as best as I can being a non perfect human being and all. I do my best to always not take things to seriously, have as much fun as I can, work really hard and love my friends and family.

17. Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years? 10 years?

5 years in a dingy. 10 years on a yacht.

18. What’s your exit strategy?

In the words of the late great Dave Chappell “I’m rich biatch!”. Ok maybe Dave’s not dead, but those words live on. My exit strategy whatever it is, will make the most amount of money for my investors and employees.

19. If we could introduce you to anyone, who would it be and why? (you never know who we know!)

Hands down Bill Gates. I might like Google now as a company, but nobody comes close to what this man has created. One of his 1,400 in house attorneys once said, “Bill knows law as good as anyone in this company”. Don’t forget his last position was Chief Software Architect. He is the Michael Jordan, no wait most recently the Tiger Woods of his industry. He is truly a captain of his industry. I am not sure if we will ever see someone create what he has in our lifetime. I met Bill Gates once, he was walking through the crowd at an event in LA (no security!). I walked right up to him, put out my hand and said “Mr. Gates, it’s an honor to meet you. Thank you for standardizing global business”. If YE can get me a meeting with Bill Gates, I just might give you a free year of mobileStorm service!

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Did you get your college or university degree after finishing high school? Has it helped you with your entrepreneurial education? Most colleges train you so that you can get a job once you graduate but they don’t offer much in terms of practical experience for students who are looking to become entrepreneurs.

With all the stories of people who dropped out of school to go on and build multi-million (or billion) dollar companies, more and more students are wondering if college is for them.

The US news recently came out with three suggestions for how entrepreneurial-minded students can benefit from college:

1) Study entrepreneurship while developing an outside niche.

Tina Seelig, executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University, says that while successful company builders have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, sometimes it takes education to bring that inclination to full bloom. “There are people who are natural athletes,” Seelig says. “There are people who are natural musicians. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to teach them those skills.”

2) Expose yourself to as many different courses and experiences as possible.

What if you don’t go to a school that lets you study entrepreneurship directly? Seelig says she would advise trying to get as exposed to lots of different disciplines. Having broad knowledge can make it easier to identify opportunities as an entrepreneur. Hello, liberal arts education.

3) Consider even more education.

Depending on your field of interest, going on to graduate school can help a lot. Litan says that the stakes are now higher for tech startups because the world of technology has grown so much more complicated and expansive. “If Bill Gates were asked if when he was 19 years old, could he create Google, he’d probably say no,” says Litan, whose organization recently published a study that looked at founders of tech startups. It found that 31 percent of them had master’s degrees and 10 percent had Ph.D.’s. In addition, the study found that having an M.B.A. meant that a tech entrepreneur on average founded a startup 13 years before others.

What do you think? Is it worth going to college or is your time better spent working on your business?

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Two weeks ago I talked about my favorite presenter from SES Toronto 2008, Ken Jurina (this is a picture of Ken with Google Guru Matt Cutts). Ken is the man behind Epiar, a search engine optimization service company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As I mentioned two weeks ago, with only 15 minutes to speak Ken listed off a new tool almost every 30 seconds and gave web entrepreneurs a fantastic list of SEO-related resources to add to their arsenal.

I’m pleased to now share some of the results from Ken’s presentation:

Firefox Extensions - www.getfirefox.com

Pros:
•Tools work right within your browser
•Very quick, very powerful, and very free

Critiques:
•None - critiques usually resolved with extension updates

Cool:
•Audit a clients site live: SE Issues, opt. improvement
•SEO Extensions: SEOpen, Search Status, SEO Links, Groowe Toolbar, Customize Google
•Others: PDF Download, AI Roboform Toolbar for Firefox, Search Keys, IE Tab

Cost:
•FREE

URL for Extensions:
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

SpyFu – www.spyfu.com

Pros:
•great competitive insight on PPC & Organic
•works in browser, quick & thorough.
•free stuff is good – though you can subscribe for more

Critiques:
•busy interface
•not intuitive as to what a particular button/tool does

Cool:
•dashboard: charts and data mash-ups

Cost:
•Some free options / additional subscription options

Browsershots – www.browsershots.org

Pros:
•works right within your browser

Critiques:
•Very slow gathering screen grabs
•May timeout when selecting multiple browsers

Cool:
•Can toggle screen size, flash, javascript, java and color depth.
•Great to see what your site looks like without manually
downloading and viewing all browsers.
•Fun if you’re bored.

Cost:
•FREE

What are your favorite SEO Tools?

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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5 comments

Is this you? Are you working so hard on your business that you forget about taking care of yourself? You’re not alone.

I don’t usually cover health related topics in this blog but I’ve received a number of emails from entrepreneurs about how to maintain a healthy work-life balance and I also came across two great articles on how to get more sleep and how to eat better food that I thought I would share it with you today.

The first article was: Easy Ways to Catch More ZZZs and is an article from Reader’s Digest. The top 5 suggestions were:

1. Make your bedroom a haven for sleep.

Your room should be quiet and sufficiently dark, because darkness prompts the pineal gland to produce melatonin, the hormone that regulates circadian rhythms (your 24-hour body clock). Heavy drapes can help keep the light out, and a fan or white-noise machine can help drown out any annoying sounds. Cool temperatures help you sleep, so set your thermostat appropriately. For better air circulation, open a window or use a fan. If the air in the room is too dry, buy a humidifier.

2. Become a creature of habit.

A nighttime routine can be very effective in letting your body know when it’s time to sleep. Go through whatever rituals help you get mentally prepared for sleep. (Read a few pages of your novel, spend 5 to 10 minutes on personal grooming, meditate, stretch.) It’s also critical to go to bed and get up at the same time every day — even on weekends.

3. Reserve your bed just for sleeping and sex.

Avoid working, paying bills, reading, or watching television in bed. If you associate your bed only with sleep, you’ll be more likely to fall asleep when you get under the covers for the night.

4. Tame your tummy.

Going to bed either hungry or too full can disrupt your sleep. Don’t have a big meal too close to bedtime or the digestion process might keep you awake. Also, if you lie down after stuffing yourself you can end up with gastric reflux — stomach acid backing up into the esophagus. If you’re hungry, have a snack rich in carbohydrates, which trigger the release of the brain chemical serotonin, associated with relaxation. Try a graham cracker or bowl of cereal. Pair it with some milk or a slice of turkey, both rich in the amino acid tryptophan, which also induces sleep.

5. Watch the caffeine.

Too much caffeine throughout the day, even if it’s not consumed right before bedtime, can contribute to fitful slumber. Once you hit 50, your metabolism slows, so caffeine may stay in your system longer — up to 10 hours. Limit yourself to two cups of tea, coffee, or cola, taken at least 6 hours before bedtime. If that doesn’t work, try cutting out caffeine altogether.

The second article was The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating and was from the New York Times. Their top 5 foods were:

1. Beets:

Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.

How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.

2. Cabbage:

Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.

How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.

3. Swiss chard:

A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.

How to eat: Chop and saute in olive oil.

4. Cinnamon:

May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.

How to eat: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.

5. Pomegranate juice:

Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.

How to eat: Just drink it.

After reading the lists I’m pretty good on following the sleep rules but I am way off on the food - none of the ones listed in the top 5 are on my weekly list.

How do you stack up?

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Wolfgang Puck’s signature catch phrase is: “Live, love, eat!” For the past 25 years, Puck has been experiencing the sweet taste of success by doing just that. He was ranked 89th on Forbes’ Top 100 Celebrities in 2006 and has created an empire worth almost $500 million, which includes everything from restaurants to catering to frozen foods to kitchenware. If this weren’t enough to establish Puck as an icon in the culinary world, he is also the host of his own weekly cooking show and has released several cookbooks.

When Puck was asked what he would most like to be remembered for, he answered, “For passing on my knowledge on to a lot of younger people. I think that that’s really the most important thing at the end of the day.” By the time Puck’s career comes to an end, he will have indeed left a rich legacy of not only gourmet cuisine, but also strong entrepreneurial lessons. He has become one of the most successful immigrants of the 20th century whose restaurants today typically receive over 3,000 reservation requests on a daily basis. What were the factors that led to his astonishing success?

“I really believe food has to look good by itself. If you buy good, fresh green beans, you don’t have to line them up in a row or anything like that. Just put them out on a nice-looking plate. I think people can walk by, and they see the menu. It’s not intimidating and the food is interesting. If they get good food, friendly service in a nice environment, people will come back and tell their friends.

Young people want to be famous before they know how to cook, before they know how to treat people, before they know what hospitality means. I stayed in France for seven years and Austria for three, so before I was a chef anywhere I was already cooking for 10 years. 

I learned more from the one restaurant that didn’t work than from all the ones that were successes. To expand [before] would have been impossible because I was basically alone. Whether you have one restaurant or 10 or 20 or more, the most important thing is to hire enough good people. Now we’re much better organized, and we have much better management.

The design is really the backdrop to great food and great service. It is the happy customer who makes the ambiance of the restaurant inviting and exciting. So I always believe great food, great service and wonderful customers put into the right space, will make a successful restaurant. 

Only you can judge your life. You have to live up to your own expectations.”

Are you currently living up to your own expectations?

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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This week’s Entrepreneur University comes courtesy of Diarmuid Kieran. Diarmuid is the Webmaster for the franchise opportunity sites network. Diarmuid shares withs us the top factors franchisors consider when they are evaluating franchisees.

“When franchisers meet with potential franchisees, they will be looking for certain personal characteristics to judge whether they would be suitable to run a franchise or not.

It is very important that people wanting to be franchisees have enthusiasm for the company and are confident that they can help to continue its successful expansion. Therefore, a good understanding of what the franchiser does and how it operates is essential.

Even if the franchiser has not directly asked for a business plan, it is advisable to produce a document outlining how the business would go about raising its profile to attract customers and staff and some of the goals to achieve in the first few months and years.

Although an optimistic outlook is valuable, potential franchisees need to acknowledge that in the early stages it is unlikely that large profits or in some cases any profit will be made. Franchisers will want to know that their franchisees will not quit at the first signs of poor financial results.

They must also make it clear to the franchise company that they know they are chiefly responsible for the success or failure of their franchise.

Another key characteristic to have is being a good communicator, as a franchisee needs to deal with the franchiser, staff, suppliers and customers, otherwise it will be difficult to be successful.

Being able to effectively interact with people and explain things in a clear and straightforward manner will create loyalty, value and trust.

When talking to potential franchisees, franchisers will also be expecting a number of questions to be asked to demonstrate a great willingness to learn and seek help when needed, as opposed to believing you know how to run things with little assistance.

Each franchise company is different and so potential franchisees are advised to enquire about any unique practices and systems at the first meeting if they are not told about them initially.

Ideally, they need to show a balance between working on the development of the individual franchise and functioning as part of a team.

Ideas for improvement are welcome as long as franchisees are aware that they need to use the business systems and practices of the franchiser, which have enabled it to expand. They need to accept that decisions made on changes to each franchise are for the benefit of the whole franchise family.

In addition, it is important for potential franchisees to show that they will value their employees.

This is because a belief that employees deserve trust, a degree of responsibility and the chance to offer meaningful contributions to the business is very likely to make them more productive.”

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Earlier this month we started a new Entrepreneur Poll on deciding when it’s time to cut loose from your day job and go full time into your business. It’s a question that I get asked frequently from young entrepreneurs and I thought we could open it up to the Young Entrepreneur community for some feedback.

After a couple weeks of feedback the number one answer so far is:

When Your business is paying you more than what you make at your day job.

Some of the replies included:

“When you make more than your current job with the extra time you’ll put towards it. Although, it must also be a growing business.”

“When the profit being produced is more then your job, and then go full time if you can see your self in the business in 5 years time.”

“I agree with the others: when you’re earning more money running your business than what your day job pays. You shouldn’t quit your day job immediately after you earn a bit, I suppose you have to be earning enough for several months doing your own thing, and then you can quit your day job.”

Some of the other replies included:

When your business income is double your earnings as an employee for 3 months straight

Before you have enough cashflow and start by living off of your savings

Whenever you’re ready!

What do you think? When is the best time to make the leap and go full time? Cast your vote in our Young Entrepreneur Poll.

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Last week I discussed my involvement in SES Toronto 2008. Specifically I talked about how I went on a mission to find out why I’m still ranking in the same prominent positions for many of my important keywords but my traffic from Google (but not MSN or Yahoo) was down.

One of the people I connect with was Joe Dolson. Joe is I a freelance web designer living in Minnesota’s Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul). He has been operating as a free-lance web designer since the beginning of 2005, and has been building websites since 2002. I was referred to Joe at the conference because he is an accessibility and usability expert.

What was Joe’s response to my problem?

It’s a strange issue, certainly. I took a quick look at your site itself, and didn’t see anything which stood out as a problem. However, when I went to take a look at your server, I found a few odd issues.

First, several tools I applied returned an invalid name check on your domain — while I couldn’t confirm it, this implies some problems with DNS resolution for your site. It may be that you have some kind of behavioral sniffer running which is checking for robot activities - if that is the case, you may want to try disabling it to see if it’s been blocking legitimate traffic.

I also found that your server response time is pretty slow - based on ping queries from 38 different server locations around the world, the average query response time for your site was 2.09 sec. This isn’t particularly extreme, but two of the slowest locations were Philadelphia (5.12 seconds) and Portland (4.89 sec), followed by Los Angeles (4.63), Atlanta (4.36), and Orlando (4.28). This suggests that your server’s regional network is providing very poor response times to several major population centers of the US, which could also have a significant effect on your traffic - there may be a large percentage of people clicking on your results who never actually arrive at your site.

For comparison, my own website has an average response time of 0.80 seconds, with a high of 4.60 (from Moscow). The third slowest response time for me is 2.14 (also from LA.)

I suggest investigating a change of host, or at least taking up these connectivity issues with your host to see if they can help resolve any problem.

I didn’t identify anything which really behaved like a “smoking gun” in the limited time I had to check, but I’d definitely be concerned about this issue. It’s worth investigating further.

Best,
Joe

Thanks for the advice Joe! It looks like I have to connect with my hosting provider and see if they can lead me to the next step!

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Forbes recently put out a list of nine ways to prevent job burnout. Most of the tips can also be applied to entrepreneurs who are stressed out running their companies:

1)  Get Away

You don’t have to take a vacation to give yourself a break. Spending some time on a hobby you love, such as golf or playing music, can quickly re-energize you. If you’re really stressed out, head for a relaxing place far from the stimulus of a TV, phones and e-mail, such as the park or a massage therapist’s table.

2) Cut The Processed Foods

Whether you’re eating out with clients or tucking into fast food at your desk, a steady diet of restaurant food means big portions and hidden calories. Take a breather in your hectic schedule to cut out the processed foods, alcohol and caffeine and instead eat vegetables, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. You’ll feel more energy and your digestive system, thanks to your increased fiber intake, will thank you.

3)  Champion The Cause

If you want to make sure you keep up a health regime, put your reputation on the line. Sponsor an employee health and wellness program. You’re much more likely to follow through with taking the stairs or avoiding the vending machine if you’re trying to encourage coworkers or employees to do the same.

4)  Fresh Air

A few deep breaths can clear your mind and refresh your body. Try taking six seconds to inhale and six seconds to exhale five times in a row once an hour. As you do so, focus on moving your stomach in and out, rather than just your chest. Done regularly, the practice will help relieve tension and may help prevent burnout.

5)  Eat In Silence

At Miraval Resort in Tucson, Ariz., corporate groups that take part in the new Executive Strategy Package enjoy a breakfast in complete silence. Instead of eating on the run or in front of a TV or Web site, the program shows executives the importance of putting their forks down in between bites, helping them eat less and feel more satiated, so they can taste a meal’s textures and flavors.

6) Get Your Assistant Involved

Hummingbird Coaching Services’ experts know that executive assistants can be a big help in keeping their bosses healthy. Assistants set aside time in executives’ schedules for health coaching and workouts and often play a role in choosing what restaurants they frequent.

7) Use Your Competitive Edge

If you’re a top executive, chances are you’ve got a competitive streak. Try leveraging your personality trait by setting a stress-reduction or fitness-related goal for yourself. If you really want to make sure you succeed, tell people about it.

8) Sweat

While it won’t actually rid your body of more than trace amounts of toxins, breaking a sweat will make you feel good mentally and physically. Take a run outdoors, get moving in the gym or step into a sauna to sweat out some of your stress.

9) Stretch It Out

The next time you’re on a plane and feeling stressed, let it out. Extend your legs under the seat in front of you, pushing your heels out and holding the pose for five minutes. Repeat three times. You’ll get your blood moving and your mind off what’s worrying you.

How have you prevented burning out from your business?

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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Back in November I mentioned a great video of MySpace founder Tom Anderson. I wanted to continue the MySpace profile today by sharing a some of Tom and Chris DeWolfe’s (co-founder) advice for entrepreneurs.

Together, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have over 200 million “friends” and chances are you might be one of them. The two buddies are the brains behind MySpace.com, the online networking site that has taken the world by storm. The second venture for the pair, DeWolfe and Anderson’s first company was sold for several million dollars. Now, MySpace.com, which allows members to create interactive profiles, blogs, and post just about anything they want, is the sixth most popular website in the world, and the third most popular in the U.S. But it was a business that almost never got started.

“It’s certainly nice to make money off of it and become financially successful,” says DeWolfe, “but really the fun of it was to build the site and that continues to be the fun of it.” Anderson echoes the sentiment: “I’d like to do this as long as it’s fun, and that could be a long, long time.” They started off as two men who shared nothing but a love of indie music, a distaste for authority, and a simple idea for a website. So, how did these fast friends find themselves not only in the pages of Fortune magazine but also at the forefront of an Internet revolution?

“It sounds crazy, but even in the first plan that I wrote up, I mentioned AOL, Yahoo! and Hotmail, knowing we would be big. And it’s crazy to think that it happened. We met about seven or eight years ago during the beginning of that Internet boom. Tom has a million ideas, and some of them are pretty good. Some of them are a little wacky. But oh, this one was just a phenomenal idea.

We started the company around the time that a lot of other social networking companies were starting up. But we saw that a lot of those companies had a very niche focus. We set out to create this next generation portal where we looked at the best social features around. 

We looked at how people live their lives. We didn’t get bogged down in creating the next new technology podcasting RSS thingamajiggy. We had classifieds, events, blogs, music. It definitely has its own voice. It’s a little bit edgy, it seems cool, it doesn’t seem overly produced. We’re not deciding what’s cool. Our users are. MySpace is all about letting people be what they want to be.

My vision for social networks is participatory, visual, based on dialogue. They can be as edgy as they want or as square as they want – it’s up to them. As a TV manager, the best thing to happen is your show gets really hot. But you always know that it’s going to lose popularity and become uncool at some point when you run out of ideas or people just get tired. We don’t have to deal with that because we are not creating the program – our users are. They can continually reinvent what’s new and what’s cool, based on changing their profiles, or new bands coming in.

There are 140 million different channels to watch on our site. They’re defining the experience, not us. We’re just letting it rip. What I’m basically trying to say is that as long as we don’t screw it up, we’ll be fine. 

We’re never arrogant, we’re always looking at the competition. But they have not been successful for a couple of reasons. The intent to socialize on a site like Yahoo! isn’t really there because the brand doesn’t necessarily stand for anything and there’s no real voice to it.

In the early days, there were a lot of bands signing up. They told us that they’d like to post their lyrics and tour dates. Users told us what they wanted to see, and we just built it. It gives those artists a longer period of time to develop themselves before they get signed, or make a living without getting signed at all.

For the most part everyone doubted we were a real company and a real site because we weren’t in the Silicon Valley. And we didn’t do things like everyone else. We had ten different features on our site. They considered that to be unfocused. The user interface wasn’t pretty. We weren’t using Linux operating system but off-the-shelf Microsoft products, which was unheard of.

Others try to do too many things at one given time. At any one time, we focus our developers on the top three to four initiatives and don’t get distracted with what others tell us we ought to do. That was the antithesis of what we aimed to do. Most of the sites that did that became boring after awhile. Once you choose your product road map, then it becomes very important to focus on the top three to four initiatives and get those things done.

So we are not doing what everyone else is doing. When we were getting popular, people were saying, ‘Why aren’t you doing this or that?’ I thought they were ridiculous, and they thought I was ridiculous.

I’d like to do this as long as it’s fun, and that could be a long, long time. A lot of the early growth had to do with the features and what our competitors were not allowing people to do. As long as it’s still fun to be here we are going to continue our work. For me it feels like the opportunity has just begun; it’s definitely not ending.”

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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