Sramana: What did you learn from watching eBay’s struggle with art auctions? Alexander Zacke: In the mid-2000’s, it became clear that the peer-to-peer marketplace model, although extremely powerful and scalable, did not work beyond a certain price point. The fine art world will begin at $1,000 which was 20 times the price point of eBay.
Sramana Mitra: What happened next in your history? Andres Rodriguez: After we sold Archivas, we had all the top venture capitalist wanting to fund the next project. Sramana Mitra: I’m sure. What’s good with being an entrepreneur is, capital follows you. Andres Rodriguez: Success breeds capital. Sramana Mitra: However, let’s talk about the investment pieces
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. Auctionata is a professional online auction house. We’re about to encounter the online version of Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Read on … Sramana: Alex, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from and where were you raised? What are the roots of your
Sramana: When did you start Influitive? Mark Organ: I left Singapore in early 2010 and I started Influitive after I returned to Toronto. I was able to get a great team together. The goal was to help companies grow faster by leveraging their fans and advocates. We think this is going to be a huge
Sramana Mitra: What were the mechanics of Abuzz? Was it a venture-funded company? Andres Rodriguez: Yes, it was a classic Series A venture funded company. It was funded by SoftBank, Brad Feld, Solstice Capital, and Flatiron Ventures, which is no longer around. I was very lucky to have good guys. They were especially good with
Sramana: Can you tell me a bit about your decision to raise money? Mark Organ: Once we knew the formula for a sales unit and the return it would provide, it was time to step on the gas and we needed money to do that. We knew that if we did not do that, then
Andres Rodriguez is a rare Latin American entrepreneur in hard core tech. In this era of ‘lean startups’, Andres has built a couple of ‘fat ones’ and in this interview, we discuss what he has learnt, and what he advises other entrepreneurs wrestling with the need to raise money to fund ‘fat startup concepts’. Sramana Mitra: Andres, where
Sramana: Was the high tech space your narrow market niche? Mark Organ: We actually worked hard to be very specific in the verticals we addressed. We became very good at micro-verticals within the application software space. The idea is to split the market into thin verticals and then get absolute dominance of those verticals. We