I caught up with Dan Barker, founder of Yearbook Machine – Yearbook Machine is a London-based startup that creates beautifully designed yearbooks, using a social network.

In the full interview below, Dan talks me through his journey so far running the company and how the idea for Yearbook Machine came about.

Hi Dan, Thanks for doing this interview with me.

No problem Joseph, any time.

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

It depends what you mean by ‘entrepreneurial’. I’ve always liked tinkering with computers, designing and building things and thinking about how things can be done better. I’d say it’s the desire to make cool products and have the resources to do interesting stuff that led me into starting a company, rather than just the desire for money. Money is important though of course

You left the University of Cambridge to concentrate on running your business full-time. Was that an easy decision?

I felt that I could either stay at uni and do both my degree and my business reasonably well, but not excellently, or pick one to do very well. I felt that I would learn more about more things that interested me by doing the business. So when it came down to it, the decision was quite easy.

Is there anything you miss about being at university?

It’s nice being carefree and being surrounded by great friends who also have nothing to do!

Tell me how the idea for Yearbook Machine came about?

When I left high school, we wanted a yearbook. None of the companies around seemed to offer very good products – they all looked pretty amateurish and could get really expensive. I made a very simple program to make a yearbook automatically and everyone loved it. The school asked me to do it again the next year and I made a bit of cash from it. All the people from other schools I spoke to said that their school yearbooks were a bit rubbish and expensive, so I got to work designing the system that would make yearbooks like we had for more schools.

What is Yearbook Machine? Tell me how it works?

Yearbook Machine is your own private online social network, where the content you write about yourself and your friends is turned into beautiful printed books. We provide a smooth interface to collect memories and photos online, then allow you to fit them to professional designs which are turned into real books.

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

The hardest part is keeping focus on what really matters, and having to accept ‘good enough’. We’re selling a premium product and the whole point is that what we offer is ‘better’, so I have real difficulty trying to not be such a perfectionist about things! It’s pretty upsetting sometimes when you realise that a lot of people just don’t care about quality…

Are you profitable?

We’re breaking even as we re-invest everything we make back into the business.

How many users do you have? Paying customers?

We’ll be serving our 10,000th paying customer in the next month or two.

What makes your business different from other companies/competitors out there?

We really care about making great-quality products that people will want to keep forever. We’ve grown our business relatively slowly compared to some competitors, because we want to make sure that we can always keep our quality high and keep all of our customers happy.

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

I’ve learned not to waste time doing stuff that ‘might’ lead to some possible situation, or to go chasing after people who are going to magically make stuff happen for me. If you want something done the most reliable way is to do it yourself.

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

If it’s anything at all to do with the internet, then learn how to program and/or design. We outsourced the programming abroad for ages and it almost ruined our business as everything would just break all the time. Then I learned how to program (and hired Jazeps, our CTO) and things started going well. Learn how to program.

What can we be expecting from you and Yearbook Machine in 2012?

More, better yearbooks, and other exciting stuff!

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

We need to have a fountain in our reception, made of granite or maybe marble.

If you’re from scotland and love to keep your network scottish, then you’re in for a real treat – KILTR is a professional social networking service for Scots, also used by business owners across the globe to tap into the Scottish market and develop relationships with organisations operating in Scotland . The network already has almost 20,000 users on its platform .

The company was started by Hughes and co-founder Stewart Fraser who met during their time as students at Glasgow Caledonian University.

This is my interview with Brian Hughes, CEO of KILTR.

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

I’m good, thanks. Very busy, but good all the same!

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

I’m 37 years old. I was born and bred in Glasgow, Scotland. Now live in Fife, two young sons, Archie (5) and Fergus (2).

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

I completed a Masters degree in Enterprise and Business Growth at Glasgow University’s Business School in 2002 before co-founding a publishing business in 2005, which successfully produced Scotland’s leading tech magazine for a number of years. I had no real exposure to entrepreneurship as a child but, coming from Glasgow’s east end, I knew plenty of people with entrepreneurial traits!

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

I spent some time studying in America and, as a Scot, I was struck by how many people there would want to tell about their own ties or links to Scotland. As online networking tools became more popular, I thought there would be an opportunity for a niche professional network that tapped into global interest in, and affection for, Scotland. The idea resulted in the formation of KILTR, which the brand’s chief technology officer, Stewart Fraser, and I founded in October 2009. The site launched to public beta in August 2010.

What is KILTR and how does it work?

KILTR is a professional social network for everyone with a connection to, or interest in, Scotland. Users can shares news, views and media with each other and sign up to hundreds of specialist groups in line with their interests. We’re constantly enhancing the platform and adding new functionality as we head towards the launch of version 1.0 later this year.

What is your business model?

Currently a venture capital and angel investor backed start-up, we’ll launch version 1.0 of KILTR later this year. We anticipate revenues from advertising and sponsorship deals and we also plan to capture a slice of the Scottish recruitment market. Our business model will evolve, as the platform develops in order to encapsulate the wants and needs of the KILTR community.

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

Our niche approach provides our users with a sense of shared value from day one. General networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn have become too large for the content to be truly relevant to the vast majority of its users. Niche networks like KILTR, which are based on a shared sense of “belonging”, represent the next generation of online networking tools as they more accurately reflect the way relationships are formed in the real world.

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

Firstly, taking the plunge and deciding to go for it. Both Stewart Fraser (my co-founder) and I have young families so it was a big decision for us to ’go it alone’. We’re lucky to have our families’ support and, ultimately, we believed in the idea of KILTR too much not to pursue it.

The next crucial thing was securing the backing of our investors, Par Equity, Barwell and the Scottish Investment Bank – without their belief and support we wouldn’t be here today.

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

No, not really. The central concept remains the same now as it was on day one. That said, feedback from the KILTR community has led to various minor changes along the way, so they’ve been a great support in helping us develop a user-friendly platform.

Who are your competitors?

We’re already the fastest growing online professional network for people with a Scottish connection, so in one sense we don’t really have any competitors.

Some people may be tempted to point to giants like LinkedIn as our competitor, but I don’t see it that way: KILTR is a different proposition. Online networking doesn’t begin and end with sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. If that were the case, we would all still be driving Model T Fords!

What were you doing before you founded KILTR?

I published a trade magazine for the Scottish IT sector, called Hi-Tech Scotland, for four years. This gave me my first taste of running my own business and also gave me a good overview of the emerging digital media sector.

How have you been able to fund the business?

At the very beginning, both Stewart and I funded the business through our incubator stage. Re-mortgages and loans played an important role in keeping the idea alive before we found investment.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

You can expect the launch of version 1.0 of KILTR, including lots of new features such as company pages and recruitment functionality. We’ll also be undertaking an international marketing push to promote KILTR on a global scale.

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

1) Trust your instincts. Be open to advice and the opinions of others, but be mindful that many of those you speak to may have their own agendas. If you believe in your business and your strategy have the courage and strength to see it through.

2) Get used to being a spokesperson for your business. If you’re a start-up, securing publicity and raising awareness of your business is vital. Get comfortable with the idea of making presentations in public and speaking to journalists – it’s part of the job whether you’re shy or not!

3) Look after yourself physically. When you create your own business it becomes an obsession, much more so than a normal job. Above all else, make sure you own wellbeing comes first – you can’t run a successful business from your sick bed.

So if you’re a football fan that love voicing your opinion around your favourite team, player, a place where you can interact with fans like yourself or just a little Bantr against your local rivals then Bantr is your place.

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

Catherine Cook, founder of MyYearbook sold her company today for $100 million.

The news broke when the buyer, a publicly-traded Latino social network, Quepasa announced the acquisition. The deal is said to be $82 million in stock and the other $18 million in stock.

The 21 years old who founded the company with her brother David when she was 15 had the idea of having a digital version of her yearbook and MyYearbook was born.

The company now 6 years old has over 70 million users, and generates 1.2 billion monthly pageviews.

Geoff Cook, MyYearbook’s CEO and sibling of Catherine and David, wrote a letter to his 100+ employees:

“I don’t consider this an exit or the end. I consider it the end of the beginning, and I believe we have a lot more innovative products to create,” he says.

She is definitely going to have a very long summer break. We at YHP wish her the best.

Second Glass founders Morgan First and Tyler Balliet started their venture in October 2008. Based in Boston, the startup helps people discover, remember and share new wines. The two young entrepreneurs are both wine lovers but always felt that wine wasn’t marketed to the younger generation properly.

They felt that wine was seen as a drink, drunk by the older generation at dinner parties. This or being used as cheap alcohol to binge on. They wanted to get people to understand and appreciate wines more so they started Second Glass to do exactly that.

They decided to market wine to a younger generation via what is essential a wine based social network. The largest part of the companies business is in events which take place in 5 cities across America (plans to expand). These events called wine riots facilitate a connection between wine sellers and young consumers.

In 2010 Second Glass brought in over $300,000 in revenue and they have two offices their HQ in Boston and an office in LA. The 5 cities they operate events in are  Boston, LA, Chicago, New York and DC.

Tyler Balliet founder of Second Glass became a bit of a wine connoisseur while spending a year in rural France. Back in Boston he honed his skills even more, working in a wine shop. Tyler started Second Glass as a wine print magazine and soon evolved into a event company making use of new media and technology to target the younger target market.

Co founder and CEO, Morgan First who was born in LA, went to Boston to earn a degree in Marketing and entrepreneurship, so combine that with her love for wine and Second Glass was obvious really!  Morgan wants to make wine fun, whether it is learning about it or drinking it. Her fun and upbeat attitude certainly helps sell it in that way as well.

Both were named in Inc magazines 30 under 30 cool young entrepreneurs.

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Imagine a social networking site where you could chat with your friends online, share ideas, publish your art work as you get critiqued by you fellow followers and get the chance to sell your artwork online, that is exactly what Angelo Sotira together with Scott Jarkoff and Mathew Stephens created ten years ago when they launched DeviantArt Inc.

Based in Los Angeles, California, they launched on August 7, 2000 the online community which would showcase various forms of user-made artwork.

‘DeviantArt was started to service the community of artists who at the time we started didn’t have a place to congregate, share their work and publish what they were doing.’ Says Angelo.

DeviantArt aims to provide a place for any artist to exhibit and discuss works. The artwork showcased on the site is categorized in a comprehensive and well organized structure including, photography, digital art, traditional art, literature, Flash, filmmaking, skins for applications, and others, along with extensive downloadable resources such as tutorials. From when the site was launched, the categorizes have grown with more online users joining the community and requesting for more categorizes to be added where they would have a larger platform to upload their work and share it with other users.

‘We started with 12 categories of artworks. The whole point was to listen to what categories people want it created. We have listened and grown that from 12 to 2,400 individually launched categories.’

Getting around the site is fairly easy, DeviantArt has a mascot, ‘Fella’, a small robotic cat character that explains the site to first time users and it also offers a tour guide around the site to familiarize oneself with the community.

Exactly 10 years after it was started, the success of DeviantArt is overwhelming. The site consists of over 14.5 million members, and over 100 million submissions, and receives around 140,000 submissions per day. In addition, DeviantArt users submit over 1.4 million “favorites” and 1.5 million comments daily. Explore over 100 million original works of art. Angelo Sotira credits this success to the ability of him and his co-founders of the site to listen to exactly what their users want.

‘We believe that we do a better job of listening to the community better than any other company has. We have a department dedicated to listening. We listen and we absorb what the community would like…… And we are constantly in development. We are constantly in the feedback loop with the community listening’

Angelo believes that for the young entrepreneurs of today, they should use all resources available to them because when he started DeviantArt, technology was not as developed as it is today. He feels that the new crop of entrepreneurs has it a lot easier than he did and needs to do more with very little. He also feels that his generation built platforms while the new generation will be all about marketing, creating the most powerful generation of marketers the world has ever seen.

Written by Christine Maema

Internet Art : The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce

Although i am just about to start reading the book, i can believe how fast it has taken them to start filming the movie for the book, not that it matters, because at the end of the day, i will watch the film when its out, justin timberlake is also involved, so what is there not to be excited about.

Jesse Eisenberg Says ‘The Social Network’ Isn’t Just About Facebook
The actor, who will play Mark Zuckerberg, explains the drama of the Web site’s inception.

Last week, we learned that Jesse Eisenberg had been cast to play Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, in the upcoming film “The Social Network.” Already the actor is facing a frequent question: How do you make a compelling story about a social-networking site?

“People have asked me, is it, like, a three-hour movie just on the Web site?” he said at a recent interview to promote his latest flick, “Zombieland.” “No, no, no, it’s a very methodical retelling of this interesting story.”

The story, based on Ben Mezrich’s recently released book, “The Accidental Billionaires,” is about Harvard students Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin and their quest for social acceptance at their school. Saverin chose to try to get into one of the elite Final Clubs. Zuckerberg hacked into Harvard’s computer system and created a database that rated every female student on campus. Though he was almost kicked out of school, it was from this that the framework for Facebook was born.

“The great irony is that while Facebook succeeded by bringing people together, its very success tore two best friends apart,” reads the summary of “Accidental Billionaires” summary on Mezrich’s site.

Read More

Story of how Ashley Qualls (born July 1990)from Lincoln Park, Michigan, started a website called whateverlife.com, designed to provide free Myspace layouts and HTML tutorials for people in her age demographic, and supported entirely by advertising revenue.

The website now receives several times more traffic than circulations for popular teen magazines Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and CosmoGirl! combined.

In 2006 she turned down an offer to acquire the company for 1.5 million dollars (1,220,000 euros) and her choice of any car.

In September 2006 she paid cash for a $250,000 home in a fenced-off subdivision in the community of Southgate.

The basement of the home is her office. In addition to employing her mother, she employs friends from school.
I hope you are all inspired in some way to turn your ideas into success.