Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Part 9)

SM: What is your growth strategy? CL: Growing a network is pretty straightforward. You build out the sales team and you add more publishers. We plan to continue on these core aspects while establishing more specialization, new products and barriers to entry. We have plenty of room for growth both in publisher audience base (there

Read Full Article »

Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Part 8)

SM: Describe some of your team-building experiences. CL: From the start-ups I was associated with before TAN, I know that team building is perhaps the most difficult aspect of entrepreneurism (aside from spelling the word, of course). You start, and it’s just you and you are alone and you are screaming at the world, saying

Read Full Article »

Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Part 7)

SM: How did you finance the different phases of the company? CL: In late 2005 and early 2006 we signed on two publishers that, together, quadrupled the size of our audience. We grew the company to the maximum extent possible with all the profits we’d accumulated. A few months later, one of those publishers left

Read Full Article »

Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Part 4)

SM: How big is the market? How do you calculate TAM? What is your business model? CL: We’ve reviewed a great deal of research on how large the market is for online travel advertising and very specifically banner advertising on travel websites. Forrester says that online travel advertising is an $8-billion-a-year industry in 2007, growing

Read Full Article »

Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Part 1)

In the world of entrepreneurship, a universally accepted doctrine is doing more with less. In this case study series, I bring you an entrepreneur who has done exactly that. Cree Lawson, founder and CEO of Travel Ad Network (TAN), is our guest this time, and will share his story with all its blood, sweat and tears.

Read Full Article »

eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 8)

SM: How does the entrepreneur network in Latin America work? Are there many entrepreneurs in Latin America now? MG: Yes, there is a foundation called Endeavor Foundation. They select entrepreneurs in their region and then supports them. This foundation was founded by Linda Rosenburg and Peter Kelner, two Harvard graduates. They got the big private

Read Full Article »

eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 7)

SM: Does PayPal operate in South America? MG: You can withdraw money but you cannot fund a PayPal account. They do not have a Spanish speaking site either. SM: What is your dynamic with eBay today? Competitive or collaborative?

eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 6)

SM: So you grew well through 2006, and in 2007 you went public. How was the IPO received in the investor community? MG: Very well. The stock went up quite a bit. We were quite unlucky in that we did our road show in the middle of the sub prime crisis. The day we priced,

Read Full Article »