Session #1
About.com: How It Raised Money, Went
Public, And Sold For Over $700M
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Intro
•  Why A Founder Speakers Series?
•  Operating Principles
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Focus on Founders and Entrepreneurs
Successful Founders/Angels. More Than Once.
Not Just NYC
Real Value, No Fluff
Bootstrapped (“no hors d’oeuvres or fancy drinks”)
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This Is Now
This Was Then
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Quote #1
“It’s midnight Saturday. You’re stoned, watching ‘Saturday Night
Live’ and on the bottom of the screen the title asks ‘Do you
want pizza?’ Touch button one and the truck will be at your
house in 20 minutes.”
Scott Kurnit, Aug. 24, 1979
Washington Post, article on QUBE
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Supported By
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The Mission
•  The Mining Company is dedicated to having the strongest
possible relationship with users by providing the most
satisfying and well-rounded Internet experience.
•  The Mining Company is committed to helping people find what
they want and trust what they find. It will do this with a
commitment to building strong communities while also
encouraging people to just drop by to pick up a quick piece of
information.
•  The Mining Company will support its global net work of Guides
so they may provide excellent ser vice to users.
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What’s In A Name
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General Internet
The Mining Company
The MiningCo
TheSkinny.com
10,000 Monkeys
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About.com
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Cultural Imperatives
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Input, Not Consensus
Adaptive and Adoptive
Pushback
No Politics
Reward Risk Taking
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Obser vations
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Stayed true to original vision
Raised tons of money, but needed it to create a business built to last
Worked in stealth for over eight months
Distributed workforce before it was fashionable (patents)
“B/B+” VCs
Scrappy, aggressive culture
•  “Not a comfortable place to work”
•  “If you can’t sprint the marathon, you shouldn’t work at About”
•  Check your e-mails on Saturday morning or don’t come in on Monday
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Picked fights with bigger players, like Yahoo!
Who to put and not put on the board
Founder equity/credit
Inflated titles
Lessons from Bloomberg
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Dave Hills, President
Bill Day, CEO
John Caplan, CEO
Alan Blaustein, CEO
Lance Podell, CEO
Mark Josephson, President
Doug Perlson, COO
Dave Hills, CEO
Todd Sloan, CFO
Greg Schmergel, CEO/Founder
Michael Cassidy, CEO/Founder
Todd Sloan, EVP/CFO
Doug Perlson, CEO
Andrew Eisele, COO
Jason Cohen, Founder
Mark Josephson, CEO
Mark Lieberman, CEO/Founder
Bill Day, CEO
Andrew Pancer, COO/Co-founder
Lance Podell, CEO
Prescott Shibles, CEO/Founder
Supported By
Dave Otten, CEO
Adam Fawer, COO
Brian Rifkin, CRO
John Caplan, CEO/Founder
Alan Blaustein, COO/Co-founder
Doug Perlson, Founder
Media Partner
Housekeeping
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Schedule at www.startupat work.org
Session #2: Dave Morgan & Curt Viebranz (Oct. 22nd)
feedback@startupat work.org
jobs@startupat work.org
Complimentary copy of “Founders at Work”
Recycle badges outside
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