In our interview, he shares some of his knowledge and advices on starting a business, raising investment, bootstrapping and advices for aspiring and first-time entrepreneurs.

Hi Jens, thanks for doing this with me, I know you are very busy at the moment

Hi, thanks for having me.

Can you give us some background information about yourself, were you the entrepreneurial type growing up?

I grew up in Dusseldorf, Germany, which is a city of about 550k inhabitants close to the Dutch border. I wouldn’t say I was massively entrepreneurial in school. The only thing I did was to give maths classes to younger pupils. Mind you that was pretty well paid at 15 Marks per hour (about Euros 7.50). I became more entrepreneurial in University.

Tell me about what you do?

Until the end of 2011, I was the CEO of aiHit, a London-based tech startup, which I co-founded in 2007. I hired a new CEO who started in January 2012 and am now a non-executive director at aiHit. I am very excited to now be working as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Forward Internet Group. Forward has some 250 staff and >£100m revenue. I am working full-time with a small team that is focusing on startup up new products using lean startup techniques.

Tell me about the early days, how did the idea for aiHit came about?

I was working at Library House, a business information and research outfit based in Cambridge. In 2006, I went to Germany to watch WorldCup football with about 10 VCs. Later on, one of them, Simon Cook, the CEO of what is now called DFJ Esprit introduced me to my co-founders. They had the technology to automatically extract from the web the data Library House was generating by hand. My thought was that when somebody can automate what had previously been done by hand, this has the potential to revolutionise any industry, so that is why we started aiHit.

What would you say was the hardest part of starting the business?

Starting a business is easy. The hard part is to get to the point where you have sufficient critical traction with your idea in order to pay all the salaries.

What is aiHit? Tell me how it works?

aiHit is a provider of automated company data to business information companies, credit reference agencies, and business directories. The company uses advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to automatically create feeds of structured company data from unstructured sources on the Web. Our customers use these feeds to improve their existing products at an attractive cost point.

How has your market changed in the past few years?

Our market has accelerated in our direction. When we started selling, we had to continuously justify that data generated from web is a good idea. That has completely stopped in the last 18 months, which has been great.

What would you say has been some of the most crucial things that you’ve done to grow aiHit?

Pivot. We initially had the idea to sell business information to customers in a retail model, but that never worked for us. We then pivoted towards selling the data in a wholesale model and that was much more successful.

Coming back again to investments especially in the UK, a lot of people have talked about how difficult it has been to raise money, how have you seen this change over the few years?

I think this has remained more or less the same. The players have changed. How web savvy they are has changed. But in terms of how hard it is has remained more or less the same.

aiHit has been very successful raising money, What kind of advice could you give to startups looking to raise money, is there a special route or process that you have?

Yes, we did. It is described on my blog here: http://jenslapinski.wordpress.com/vc-fund-raising-manual/
Overall though, I think about this as follows: raising money is all about the confidence investors have in you. This means you either have a strong personal relationship with them or you have actual data from your business that proves your business is worthwhile. If you have neither, you probably won’t raise money (unless you are in a very very frothy market).

What would you like to say to an entrepreneur contemplating bootstrapping or getting investment?

The big difference between bootstrapping and getting investment is where the money comes from. When you bootstrap, it is your money. When you take investment, it is somebody elses money. In any case, just make sure you are realistic as to how long it will take and how much money it will take to get to break even. If you bootstrap, you could be both broke and in debt, so make sure you are building a bridge to somewhere where you can recoup that investment. If you take external money, the same applies. Also, when you deal with external investors, you are in fact bringing them into the company. It is like hiring. So screen your investors with the same routines you would screen employees for.

What is an average workday like for you?

That has changed totally for me! Since November last year, I am a father and now I work with Forward. Give me a few months and I will tell you what my new typical day looks like.

What pieces of advices could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there looking to start their business?

I have a list of learnings that is as long as my arm. My key learnings are as follows. There are three things that are important: strategy, people, and execution. What this means is as follows:

1. Strategy: When you start, really make sure that there is a market for what you do, before you do it. Read Steve Blank’s “4 Steps to the Epiphany” and Eric Ries’ “Lean Startup” before you start doing anything. Make sure there are a lot of potential customers and that this market is growing fast.

2. Team: When you build your company, make sure you have a small, dedicated, high quality full time team of people who all sit in the same little room, in the same boat, and work their asses off to get out of that small little room. Get co-founders whom you have worked with for a long time. Get mentors to help you for free (or a bit of equity over time).

3. Once you have product market fit, it is about execution, execution, execution. Hiring will be the most important aspect here, as well as building the right company structures and procedures.

What are you personally looking forward to in 2012?

Working at Forward.

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This is what we talked about.

Can you give you some background information about yourself, were you the entrepreneurial type growing up?

I have always been very entrepreneurial. I started my first company after high school. Back then snowboarding was my life and we started a retail outlet in the small town as I’m from in Southern Finland. I have also co-founded two media companies and I’m still involved with one of them, ArcticStartup which is like the Northern European TechCrunch.

Tell me how the idea for Grey Area came about?

Grey Area was originally started by Mikko Hämäläinen, Andreas Karlsson and Teemu Tuulari. One summer day we got excited and decided that we want to build it out together. It was a pipedream of three guys who become four guys and who were really excited about the intersection of games and cities. We believed we could build something that would change the urban landscape and games forever. And we did, but are far from done.

What is Grey Area?

Grey Area is a game developer company based in Helsinki, Finland. We released Shadow Cities – a location based MMORPG for iPhone – globally in 2011. It has became a category defining game title. If you ask our fans, they will tell you there’s nothing like it.

Talk me through the first few months of running the business? What would you say was the hardest part of starting the business?

The hardest part is always the starting. Taking that first step and going all in. You need to really believe in what you do and be passionate because everything will not go smooth and if you’re in it for the wrong reasons you will give up when you hit the first rough path along the way. And there will be a lot of those days.

How were you able to fund the business?

I still remember when Mikko posted to Jaiku (a Twitter like service back in the day) that he had quit his job and sold his car. The guys funded the early days from savings and minimal client work. When I jumped along we quickly raised €100,000 with which we launched the game in Finland. After that we raised €1.9 million to scale the company and launch globally.

Would you say the initial idea for the company, or that your business model has changed since 2010?

The big idea has not changed. We’re still out to crack the location based game play although the road to that has not been linear. If you have a strong and big enough vision, it does not matter even if everything won’t go as planned.

Your first game is called shadow cities? Tell us about that and how the whole idea came about?

We tinkered with different ideas, UI sketches and data sets for a long time before Shadow Cities was what it is today. It was a process of rather long iteration and getting feedback from our friends who played the game. We are super grateful for all those friends in Helsinki who played with us all those months.

How is it doing at the moment? Downloads?

We have a policy of not disclosing exact numbers, but we’re very happy with how Shadow Cities has succeeded.

I know its currently free for download at the moment, will you be adding any paid features to it?

Shadow Cities was build for iOS and at the time it was the only platform with in-app purchase capability. We build our business model around this free-to-play model and it has served us well. It will always be a free game with virtual goods for those who want to buy them.

How does someone who want to get their app discovered do? In other words, how do you succesfully launch your app? what are the procedures?

That’s the million dollar question. It really goes back to what you’re building. Shadow Cities brought so much innovation into the space that it was easier for us to build the marketing around that. Cross-marketing can be really powerful in the app space, but the best way to get discovered is building something that people really want and making it easy for them to tell their friends about it. Nothing beats a great game.

How big is your team now?

We’re currently a solid team of 17.

What would you say has been some of the most crucial that you’ve done to build the company to this level now?

Hiring more skilled people than I am myself. By looking at the raw skill we have in the company and the high standards in hiring I don’t think I would ever get a job at the company if I would have to apply for it.

What is your business model?

Free to play mobile games.

Is the business profitable?

The business model works great. I think it’s the future for all mobile games if you want to build a significant business.

What’s been your most memorable moment so far on your entrepreneurial journey?

It has to be the launch of Shadow Cities in Finland when we were at the office at 5am watching server logs and trying to figure out how we could bring to server down for a minute when there were tons of players playing through the night. I still remember Mikko sending people push message saying ‘Please go to bed people. It’s late’

What pieces of advices could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

Refuse to give up no matter what. Persistence correlates most with success. Much more than intelligence, network or experience. If you’re still thinking what’s the best time to start a company in your career the answer is yesterday. The second best time is now. You learn so much regardless whether you will be successful or not. You can always go back to where you were, but starting your first company won’t come any easier when you get older.

What kind of things can we expect in the emerging mobile gaming industry in 2012?

There will be more quality games that will push the boundaries of what a mobile game is. The games will become social. Social like we have used to in the web services space. Games will also start to be more like services in that they change every day for the players and are always connected. Playr data will play a much bigger role than it does currently. It will become part of the experience, not just metrics to optimize.

What can we be expecting from you and Grey Area in 2012?

We are currently working on two new games, which will come out in early 2012. That said, we’re just warming up. 2012 will be the year that mobile gaming experiences will stop looking like a shrink down Facebook games and start looking like something designed for mobile handset. 2012 is also the year when location will be cracked. We plan on playing a key role in both of these developments.

Where do you want the company to be in five years

I’m way too impatient to think five years ahead. I don’t think those places are yet invented where we are going.

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In the interview below, You learn more about Ryan’s story: Growing up, how the idea of MyBuilder came about, It’s early beginnings etc..

Can you give you some background information about yourself, were you the entrepreneurial type growing up?

I was born in East Lansing, Michigan, while my parents were at graduate school at Michigan State University. My dad got an engineering job at Getty oil when I was 4 or 5 and relocated the family to Texas. I moved to New York City after University and then to Europe when I was 24.

I’ve always loved art and architecture. I wanted to be an architect when I was about 10, then I decided that I’d be a professional skateboarder, then I realised that art was my true calling. I got a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and was fairly successful as a painter until I moved to rural France and found it a little bit harder to sell my work.

When I was in France, helping to start an artist’s commune in the Ardeche, the only job opportunity I had was working with a German stonemason and builder. It kept me from starving, but I also really liked it. It combined my love of architecture, the outdoors, and it fit nicely with the part of me that loves working with my hands. There were times when it was just plain hard work, but it was a lot better than most jobs. I was lucky to happen upon it.

I usually did other jobs while trying to make it as an artist. I worked for a few years as a restaurant cook, I did set design on a film (which I hated), I was a substitute high school teacher, I did a few office jobs, was even a lifeguard when I was 17. When I lived in New York City, I did a lot of things to get by. I bought bicycles at police auctions and fixed them up to resell, worked on motorcycles, fixed furniture, and cooked for the hippy commune where I lived on Staten Island.

My wife is English, so when we decided to get married and have kids in 2001, it was pretty apparent that we’d be quitting France and moving to England. I carried on with Stonemasonry in Bristol, and found that I really enjoyed living in England. 11 years and 3 kids later, I’m pretty Anglicised and very happy living in London. When I go back to the states, people are surprised to find out that I’m American. Whether that’s good or bad is another question!

Tell me how the idea for MyBuilder came about?

Since I had a fairly diverse set of experiences, it wasn’t hard for me to see that the construction industry in the UK was broken. This was always a point of frustration for me, so there must have been some sort of script constantly running in the back of my head. One night in 2004 I woke up at about 3AM with an amazing business idea – fully formed. I woke up my wife and said “honey, honey, wake up… I’ve got a great idea. We’re going to be rich!” She told me to shut the hell up and go back to sleep.

Not taking her advice, I went downstairs to the kitchen table and wrote everything down. So MyBuilder was literally born in a dream. I’d never heard of anything like it before, so I felt that I completely owned the idea. I never really had any doubt as to whether I should pursue my idea.

Talk me through the first few months of running the business? What would you say was the hardest part of starting the business?

Though I was utterly and completely driven, I knew nothing at all about web businesses (or business in general, for that matter). It was a long, hard road before I was actually making any tangible progress. Most of the ‘progress’ in the first couple of years was me learning the hard way through repeated failures. I knew nothing about web technology and I’d never hired anyone in my life. I didn’t know anything about accounting. I didn’t know what a Limited Company was and I’d never heard of a VC or angel investor. I went to my bank and asked to borrow £200,000 to start a business. I was surprised when they said no.

Looking back on it now, it wasn’t actually a bad way to go about starting a business for the first time. If you’re so ignorant that you don’t know how long the odds are and how incredibly hard you have to work, you’re more likely to dive right in. And diving right in is the best way to learn – sink or swim. Plus, the stakes are very low when you’re working from your garage and you didn’t have much of a job to quit. All the mistakes you make are small when you’re only burning £200 a month. If my bank had lent me £200k, it would have been a disaster.

The hardest part in the very early days was the constant insecurity of knowing that I knew very little, but not knowing exactly what I needed to learn. I had been working on the business full time for a year and a half before I found the SETsquared startup incubator at the University of Bristol and actually started meeting people who had relevant experience and could mentor me. With people to support and challenge me, a proper working environment and the beginnings of a network, things started to happen.

What is MyBuilder?

MyBuilder is a web marketplace that connects homeowners and tradesmen. At its core is a feedback review system that holds tradesmen accountable and rewards them for excellent work. The website is free for homeowners, who post jobs describing what they need to have done. Tradesmen registered with MyBuilder apply to the jobs they’re interested in and homeowners can shortlist and hire the tradesmen they like. Homeowners can see a tradesman’s entire work history on the site upfront, and read real feedback comments from previous clients who have hired them. We actively protect our feedback system and show every review, warts and all, so that homeowners have a clear and accurate picture of who they’re hiring before they enter into a contract.

Would you say the initial idea for the company, or that your business model has changed since its launch in 2008?

MyBuilder today is fundamentally what I dreamt of back in 2004. I changed the name from Buildersite to MyBuilder in 2008, and the way in which we make money has changed many times, but those things are basically details. Our market is the same. The vision, mission and ambition are the same. I wasn’t a web entrepreneur looking for an idea or a way to make money. I really did and still do care about the construction industry and I want to help make the world a better place. I saw a problem and wanted to solve it. The problem is still there, and luckily my idea was a good one. We are making a difference and there is nothing better I could think of to do with my life.

How big is your team now?

There are 15 of us on the team and we’re currently hiring in Customer Service, Marketing and Tech. We use the Symfony framework, so we’re always looking for talented PHP developers who like or are interested in Symfony and/or PostgreSQL. We’re also doing a recruitment drive to try to convince some of our tradesmen to down tools and join the customer service team. It’s really important for us to get people on the team who understand what it’s like to be a tradesman and have to hustle every day for your bread and butter.

What would you say has been some of the most crucial [things] that you’ve done to build the company to this level now?

Bringing tech in house was by far the single most important thing ever for MyBuilder. As a tech company, outsourcing your tech is a disaster. When I raised a seed round, the first thing I did was hire our CTO. He’s still doing a fantastic job and I never have to worry about our technology. If I want to change something on the site, it just gets done. I’m not exaggerating when I say that prior to having tech in house, small changes could take weeks or months. Something that could have taken a month before might take less than a day now. As an entrepreneur, you get a lot of ideas – some good, some bad. You have to be able to try things out and make changes quickly, to keep up with your pace of thinking and learning. If the development process is gummed up, everything grinds to a halt and the team gets frustrated and negative. Competitors pass you by and the business fails. It’s mostly poor execution rather than poor ideas that kill startups.

If I didn’t realise this, and if I didn’t value tech and work hard to understand it and stay involved in the development process, I’m certain that MyBuilder would not exist today.

What is your business model?

Tradesmen are our customers – we don’t charge homeowners for anything. We have a small membership fee for tradesmen and we make most of our money from ‘shortlist fees’, one of our unique inventions. We charge tradesmen a small fee when they get shortlisted.

Here’s how the site works:
1. Homeowners post their job
2. Tradesmen express interest in the jobs they like
3. Homeowner compares feedback, profiles, work history, etc. and shortlists the tradesmen they like. Shortlisting exchanges contact details and incurs a small fee for the tradesman.
4. Homeowner makes the hiring decision and the work gets done
5. Homeowner leaves feedback for the tradesman when the job is done

Is the business profitable?

Yes, we’ve been profitable on and off since 2009, but now pretty strongly profitable.

How many users do you have now?

We’ve had around 400,000 users register since launch.

What was the experience being one of the winners of seedcamp in 2007 and how have things change since then?

Seedcamp definitely facilitated and represented a big step forward for me and for the company. Though I feel that I benefited more from Seedcamp than any other company in 2007 and possibly even every year since. London was in dotcom mania and Seedcamp was new and very exciting. The press seemed to latch on to my idea because Buildersite was probably the easiest Seedcamp company to understand and relate to… and they loved the fact that I was a stonemason rather than a business school graduate. Shortly after the event, someone rang and told me to buy a copy of the FT. There was a big story on Seedcamp and a half page picture of me leaning out of my office window. The article began with “Ryan Notz…”. Then there was a big story on Buildersite in the Sunday Times and traffic went through the roof. I got a call from the CEO of Travis Perkins and not only did they want a partnership, they wanted to invest in the company. It was quite weird going from zero to hero even though nothing had fundamentally changed. Three years of hard work and hardship paid off all in one go. It was pretty incredible.

You’ve been very successful in raising investments, why? what advice could you give to startups looking to raise finance for their businesses?

Well, I would challenge that statement actually. Trying to raise money for 3 years with only my Dad and brother to show for it is a pretty poor result. It’s more a case of “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. But it’s true that in the end, I was successful at raising money and that’s more than a lot of entrepreneurs can say. Clearly a bit of tenacity is important, but I also credit myself for not getting my priorities the wrong way around. I always saw raising money as a means to an end, or even a means to a means to an end – not a goal in itself. Today I would even go so far as to call raising money a ‘necessary evil’. The goal is to build a business and if you can do it without external cash, that’s fantastic. But if you do need outside cash, you can’t stop working on the business. A lot of entrepreneurs fall into the death spiral of spending so much time trying to raise money that they ignore the business. Investors take their time deliberately – in part to monitor your progress. If the business is stagnating, it gets harder and harder to raise money and they just spend more and more time pitching and then it all falls apart.

When you do finally raise money, it’s not the time to crack open the champagne. It’s time to shit your pants because you’ve now got real responsibility to look after someone else’s money and expectations to perform. But you also can’t let yourself get distracted by every little comment or request from your new shareholders. You have to double down and focus on the business. What really matters is not that you respond to your investors’ emails within 5 minutes, it’s that you deliver a return for them by successfully growing your business. The best way to do that is still to do it your way.

What could you say has been some of the key things you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

One of my revelations is that business is largely common sense. Don’t let yourself get caught up in complicated logic and business school jargon. Analytical skills are hugely important, but the fundamentals are surprisingly simple. You’ve got to focus on the big picture or you will get lost in the woods. As an artist, I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by how creative business can be. I love problem solving and I truly believe that anything is possible. Well, maybe not time travel… but most of the stuff you want to achieve in a business is definitely possible.

What’s been your most memorable moment so far on your entrepreneurial journey?

Certainly winning Seedcamp was up there. Although earlier on, I won an elevator pitch competition in Bristol, sponsored by HSBC. I remember they pulled out a shiny trophy and a giant plastic cheque for £250. Then came the photo op with the bank manager, both of us holding the big cheque. He shook my hand vigorously and said, “If there’s anything I can do for you, just ask.” I replied, “Actually, there is. Could you give me a loan for £20,000?” He did.

What pieces of advice could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

Do something that’s meaningful to you; and whatever you do, be the best you can possibly be.

What can we be expecting from you and MyBuilder in 2012?

We will continue to improve, launching new features, improved processes, a new business within our existing business, and we’ll keep gaining market share and demonstrate to even more homeowners that it can be easy to find a builder that you can trust. We’ll also enjoy converting more tradesmen to a new and better way of finding work.

Where do you want the company to be in five years?

I hope that we’ll have more of the same, just bigger and better. But who knows, there could be some big surprises over the next five years that even a time traveller would find difficult to predict. Crap, I’ll be over 40 too!

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The company who raised €500k investment, a round led by Kernel Capital, The Bank of Ireland’s Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund in March 2010 will be hoping to increase their already growing 1.5 m members in 2012.

I spoke to the company’s CEO, Niall McEvoy, who talks me through his background, how Teamer came about and their plans for 2012.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

Born, raised and educated in Dublin. After a brief flirtation with academia when I left school, I embarked on a career as a bookmaker (as in betting, not making books !). Great fun, learned a load about risk and margin ! Then changed direction completely to work for the Irish Govt. business development agency, helping companies to grow in international markets. This role took me to London, where I spent 8 years. After a few years back in HQ, I got the entrepreneurial itch, and Teamer was born in late 2008.

How did you get involved in entrepreneurship? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

My father was an entrepreneur, leaving a very safe public sector job in his late 30’s to set up his own business (scary how history has a habit of repeating itself !). But actually, my main exposure to entrepreneurship cam during my time in Enterprise Ireland. This was a wide and varied business consulting role, which gave me exposure to companies ranging from start ups to those growing in international markets by acquisition.

So tell me about Teamer and how the idea came about?

Teamer was born in a pub ! Actually, it’s not my idea, but the idea of company co-founder Ken Moulton, who had been asked to run a hockey team, and quickly discovered that there wasn’t an integrated web/email/sms solution online. With my experience in working with high growth start ups, fundraising etc., Ken asked me to come on board as CEO, with him taking on the role of operations director. We were joined at founder stage by Ken’s brother Steve, a career web professional. 3 co founders of the business

What is Teamer and how does it work?

Teamer is sports social platform which provides any sports team with a private online team space to organise, interact and communicate. At its core, Teamer is fully integrated with the mobile sms network, and this combined with web, email, and mobile app provides a unique sports team organisational platform.

What is your business model?

Up to recently it has been solely advertising and sponsorship, but the model is evolving as we scale to include mobile apps, sms, and up-selling our users to value add functionality. We have some exciting new revenue streams in our business plan.

How did you initially attract users to Teamer, and how do you do it now?

We work very hard on user acquisition. We do all the usual stuff, search and social media etc, and we have an in-house user acquisition team, that focuses exclusively on a direct user acquisition strategy. We get a lot of viral growth within clubs and communities once we seed effectively. We are always experimenting with new user acquisition methods. We have some special sauce as well, but that would be telling !

What makes Teamer different from any service out there? What problem does it solve?

The problem is actually pretty straightforward, and that is that organising a sports team is a load of hassle. So starting with solving the team organisational headaches, and building around that, we identified that many teams would have a requirement for an integrated online solution, that solved organizational headaches and offered a private community environment for online team interaction.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

User acquisition without doubt, because if you aren’t adding users/members, then you never get a chance to validate the business model, attract investment and take advantage of the market opportunity.

What was the most challenging part of starting the business?

It would be easy to say funding, but you can always make year 1 happen on a shoestring if you have the appetite for a tough year. The most challenging part is convincing yourself to get off the fence and do it. That’s the difference between having an idea and being an entrepreneur.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

At a high level, very little. Anything that has changed, has been user driven. We listen to the user base all the time, are quite democratic about the prioritization of developments and enhancements. If our community asks for new features, we try to prioritise in favour of this stuff.

Who are your competitors?

Lots of people fishing in the grassroots sporting pond, some in the “club” space, less in the “team” space. Companies like E-Teamz, Teamsnap, Pitchero, Clubwebsite, all play in the grassroots sports vertical. We have seen plenty come and go over the last three years, but few with our sort of traction across multiple markets.

What were you doing before you founded Teamer?

Worked for Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government Business Development Agency

How have you been able to fund the business?

We have been fortunate to attract strategic investment at a number of key stages in our growth, initially private friends and family type investment, then a small seed round from an Irish VC, and a private round in late 2010.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

Grow our member base to 2.5m members, grow into new geographical markets, expanded platform functionality with a range of new features including an android app. Taking Teamer to the USA !

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

- Start now, tomorrow is too late.
– Use every business contact you ever met to get free advice and professional help (you need a lot of freebies if you aren’t funded, and you’ll be amazed how much goodwill can be transformed into free help)
– Build a broad skilled mgt team. If you are a techie, no point in surrounding yourself with lots of techies, you need strong commercial influences to succeed (and vica versa)

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Bantr gives football fans an interactive environment to follow live games, a place where users are able to check in to games, vote on manager decisions also allowing fans to rate their club’s manager and players, earn points for predicting match results and, most importantly, share their thoughts on every match.

Today I speak with the CEO of the startup – Peter McCormack.

Hi Peter, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

Hi Joseph, I am doing great thanks; we appreciate you guys wanting to feature us. How are you all? I see you just launched your first issue, congratulations.

Thanks Peter, We’re doing well – the magazine launch was amazing, the response has really been encouraging.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

I have worked in digital media now for 14 years on the side of agencies. I setup my current agency with my business partner Molly Morrison 2 years ago and now have a team of 16. We wanted to give clients a different relationship with their agency built on an open relationship and good solid digital marketing.

How did you get involved in entrepreneurship? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

I suppose it is something that has always been in me. When I was 14 I setup a music fanzine, I used to interview bands, print the fanzine and give it away at gigs. I never made any money but I always loved the feeling of owning and running something.

When I first started working in digital media I would freelance which helped me maintain the control over my daily work but I realised that I needed to experience a corporate environment to understand all aspects of running a business.

I joined an agency in Bedford called Evolving Media as an Account Manager and under the mentorship of Martin Scovell I worked my way up to Managing Director.

So tell me about Bantr and how the idea came about?

Bantr is a social network for football where we collect and aggregate the opinions of fans. We developed the idea last season when Liverpool were struggling. Molly is a huge Liverpool fan and every morning I would hear complaints about the poor job that Roy Hodgson was doing.

When we searched on Twitter people were complaining about him and calling for his head. What we realized is that there is no central index of fan opinion on managers and this Bantr was born.

What is Bantr and how does it work?

Bantr is focused on the live environment. We give fans a real time match experience by integrating match commentary, fan opinion and conversation. Users are also able to interact with the game by picking the team they would play, predicting the outcome and voting on match actions such as penalty and sending off decisions.

What is your business model?

Our focus at the moment is growth and product stability but we are also modeling revenue around media, gaming and ecommerce. We have found that we have a product which fits well with advertisers and media businesses, because of this we have found that doors are opening for us quite easily.

What makes Bantr different from any service out there? What problem does it solve?

Football fans are highly opinionated and we pull their opinions together to give an aggregated view of what fans think about their team, manager and players.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

The most important thing we did was build a launch audience. Launching a social network can be difficult in the early days as there is no critical mass. We made sure we had more than 3,000 registered pre launch so that when we had our first games there were enough users to make the experience interesting.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

The idea has not changed too much from our original concept. We are still only 5 months old and we haven’t lived in the live environment long enough to require significant change. What we will now focus on is simplifying the product and improving the user experience.

Who are your competitors?

Our direct competitors are Sofanatics and Fanatix but really we also compete with Facebook and Twitter for share of voice.

What were you doing before you founded Bantr?

I was running McCormack & Morrison and I still am. I don’t take a salary from Bantr so McCormack & Morrison pays the bills hence while at 10pm I am doing things like this interview J

How have you been able to fund the business?

We raised a seed fund of over £200k from angel investor to build the prototype, launch and prove a need in the market. We are now looking to raise a series A fund to accelerate product development and commercial opportunities.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

We will continue to focus on improving the customer experience both in features and platform development. Out next big project is to build a mobile product to allow those at the game or watching in the pub to engage with other Bantr users.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1. Whatever your product or business is keep it simple.
2. Make sure you have good people around you (partners or mentors)
3. Don’t be afraid to fail, you will learn from all your mistakes

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This is what we talked about.

Hi Churchill, great to have you on YHP, how are you doing today?

I am doing fine though a little sleepy didn’t have enough sleep last night.

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I am Churchill Nanje a Cameroonian software developer turned entrepreneur based in Buea, Cameroon. I have been doing software and web related business for the past 8yrs.

So Churchill, tell me about yourself growing up? What was your ambition? Were the entrepreneurial – making a quick buck type?

Growing up I have always been the inquisitive type and I always wanted to know how everything works. My dad was a scientist (Civil Engineer) and my mom is a midwife which means I have always been surrounded by sciences and science inclined conversations. My ambitions have always been to do great things in my community and set examples for others. So my drive is mostly doing amazing things that will push the people around me to wonder and also try to do similar.

Let’s talk about your latest startup, Njorku, how did the idea come about?

Njorku was born out of frustration. I have been trying to employ and keep great talents in my ventures but the solutions available for me to do this easier and faster where nonexistent so I decided to fill the void and develop tools that will help job seekers and employers find just the best match including me.

That was not the only reason as the high rates of unemployment in Africa has been a great catalyst in the Njorku journey.

What is Njorku?

Njorku means elephant in my native language (Dikome Balue, Cameroon) but Njorku.com is a job search and career platform for Africans world wide. Its a platform that will host a series of technologies (web, mobile and enterprise) to help the job seekers and employers relating to Africa.

How have you been able to finance the business so far?

Njorku was initially self funded then I brought in a co-founder Betrand Kima based in Baltimore,MD. Who has been financing alongside me till we have successfully raised seed funding from Tchepannou Inc in Canada. So right now we got seed funding covering the servers, marketing and technology.

What’s your business model?

Our business model is a mixture of alot of things and there is no clear cut model right now we will try a couple of things which we are doing right now and by 2013 we sure will be making some profit. For now I can say our model is based in HR solutions, Hr services, subscriptions and advertising.

Is the business profitable?

Njorku is 9 months old and its not yet profitable but it shows alot of potentials

What has been some of the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

I have spent sleepless nights brainstorming on options
I have written codes for long hours (16hrs) nonstop without a break or food (sort of fasting )
I spend a minimum of 2hrs every morning pondering about Njorku and every step that has to be taken and analysing steps and errors.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

Research is very important
Devotion, persistence and strong belief in yourself and your ideas
Marketing is as important as programming and even more important when starting up but less when growing.

What plans do you have now to expand your business further?

We plan to take the business into every African country and serve millions of job seekers and thousands of employers within the next couple of years

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Now Farrhad says he is focusing his time on his two new companies in the fields of entertainment and travel. This is the what we talked about.

Hi Farrhad, thanks for joining us on YHP, how are you doing?

Taking on life’s challenges as they come!

When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Well, entrepreneurship wasn’t something I decided on from the very start. It’s a chain of events that led to me becoming an entrepreneur.

One thing, which I’ve always believed in, is – “A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”. Everyone must take that one step, you never know where it can take you.

Tell us about Rockstah Media and how the idea came about?

Rockstah Media was the first company I founded. We’re an award winning team of designers, developers, consultants and market visionaries who work towards one goal – Creating Awesomeness.

Summing it all up, we are a one-stop style destination for all your needs pertaining to your corporate presence, online or offline. Rockstah Media is here to make your communications more effective.

I never started out thinking that I wanted to form a company. It all started with an aviation website which was quite successful. Then I started venturing into more personal projects which eventually led to the formation of Rockstah Media.

How have you been able to cope with education and running a business?

Everyone has 24 hours in a day, be it Bill Gates or Einstein, it all depends on how we use it! It’s not easy but it’s all a matter of effective time management. And of course there should be time to relax and party!

What would you say was probably the most difficult part of starting the business?

Before I got my initial clientele it was difficult to get new clients as they always looked at me and had doubts as I was just a “kid”. However, eventually it all worked out.

Tell us some of the key lessons you’ve learnt so far on your journey as an entrepreneur?

There are definitely many things I’ve learnt over the past few years.

To start off with, I’d say, failure is the stepping stone to success. Life isn’t a walk in the park and you’re bound to fall short somewhere. Get back up and keep moving on!

In the words of Randy Pausch, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

Also, never let success intoxicate you. There’s much more it than what meets the eye.

What would you say has been your most memorable moment so far?

A really special moment for me in life is when I was interviewed on CNN in a live interview. The experience was really different and exciting!

How do you stay grounded with your recent success in business?

Mostly this goes to the upbringing my parents have given me. They’ve always taught me to be humble no matter what.

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

I haven’t actually thought that ahead to be honest! I take each day as it comes. Recently I’ve founded two new companies in the fields of entertainment and travel.

For now, I’m concentrating on taking them to the next level.

What can we be expecting from you in the future?

I can’t really predict how business will be, all I can say is that I’ll still be the person I am today. With more experience and a broader perspective to life.

What advices can you give to entrepreneurs out there looking to get involved in this industry?

Like I said, a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step! Always take initiative and be strong. Take one step and a time.

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Skip has pioneered territory on the digital frontier for nearly 20 years. All told, he has brought a dozen new media models to market for startups and giants alike. As a college student, he started the first Super Bowl website, selling out sponsorships in two weeks. He raised more than $10 million to build the first educational network (ASPIN), founded top Southwest web development firm Rhino, and launched one of the country’s first broadband networks at Cox Communications. He ran and sold SimpleDevices, headed sales and business development for JiWire, and helped establish, Excite@Home. On the corporate side, Skip ran the Yahoo! Global Alliances organization, introducing several media innovations for the company’s top 50 accounts multi-million dollar accounts. Simply put, he’s always running something. When it’s not a company, it’s endurace races: more than 50 marathons, 10 Ironman Triathlons and too many adventure races to count.

Hey Skip, great to have you on YHP today!

First of all what is Martini Media?

Martini Media is the digital media and content platform for engaging the richest audience with the most money and influence online. With more than 1,000 publishers organized across multiple lifestyle and business verticals, Martini Media has helped the world’s leading brands reach more than 90 million consumers across the globe that invest in their passions at work and play. Martini Media’s full-service marketing capabilities encompass display, video, mobile, social and audience targeting to effectively engage the most valuable audience online at scale.

And so when did you come up with this idea and what were you doing at the time?

The more money an audience makes, the more digitally savvy they are. In addition, this affluent audience is projected to overtake other demographics to become the most engaged group on the web. In my mind, when a consumer group moves from the least to the most engaged, this provides a great business opportunity and Martini Media was created to take advantage of that opportunity.

Prior to Martini Media, I worked at a start-up company, JiWire, which connects advertisers to the mobile audience, using the world’s largest location-based interactive media channel.

Had you started a company before and if so, what did you find was your biggest challenge when starting your first company?

I started my first company in college. The start-up I created, Rhino, focused on the movement from sports teams and engaging content to the web. Rhino still exists and is profitable. However, that start-up has the same challenge I face today, which is educating and proving to the marketplace that digital, whether it is in web development or in advertising in the case of Martini, is the right area to shift traditional dollars into.

What was been you’re biggest challenge at Martini media and how did you overcome it?

The top challenge for Martini is finding the best talent who can devote a considerable amount of resources and effort to ensure that Martini Media not only achieves its goals but disrupts the status quo in B2B, B2C and the lifestyle space. Talent is required to innovate and that innovation is required to achieve market share.

You recently raised $13 million in venture capital, how will you use this to help Martini media grow?

We plan to use the capital to ensure our company can horizontally scale in the U.S. and in Europe, resulting in more products and revenue per head based on technology and product investments.

How did you fund the company initially?

Venrock allowed me to work inside of its incubator called “The Quarry” and take advantage of the existing resources Venrock provided, as well as the sister and brother companies that were born there.

What would be your tip for aspiring entrepreneurs?

You need to have pig-headed determination, persistence and discipline. Professionally, you need to make sure your company can answer the 4 T’s:

• Do you have the right team?
• Are you seeing traction?
• Do you have technology?
• Is the timing right for your company in the marketplace?

So you are a pretty active guy, having run marathons and completed ironman triathlons, how important do you feel it is to have a real passion outside of work, to maybe help improve you while you are working?

It’s very important to be a well-rounded person. If you do not have passions outside the workplace it makes it very difficult for you to draw on other non-work experiences that will ensure you are constantly invigorated, interesting to engage and testing yourself/balancing yourself outside the workplace.

What do you hope to achieve over the next 3 years?

I hope to continue to be able to scale Martini Media vertically, horizontally, geographically and culturally, begin to establish myself and my company as a technology leader and lastly, run the Western States 100 mile race.

Thanks Skip, some great tips there and good luck for the future!

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Based in Shoreditch in an area dubbed ‘Silicon Roundabout’ Mind Candy has gone from a position of almost going bust to building Moshi Monsters which has seen it’s popularity rocket to over 50 million users and a value of over $100 million. Acton is expanding  the Moshi Monster juggernaut  into areas outside of just online gaming and creating an eco-system with merchandising and TV  channels.

Prior to Mind Candy, Michael started Firebox with co founder Tom Boardman during the dot com bubble, through boom & bust.

Michael talks about his experiences of starting two successful internet startups through the tough times and the good times, as well as giving valuable advice to other entrepreneurs. It’s one not to be missed!

Check out the video interview with Michael Acton Smith below:

Share it with Twitter, Facebook & Google communities & then check out our other interviews on our YouTube channel.

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