Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora (Part 6)

SM: My position on this dichotomy between content destination and ad network is that in the future, all media companies will have to do both. SA: We believe we are redefining what a media company is. We epitomize what you just said. All media companies have to recognize that pre-web 2.0, you could own and

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Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora (Part 5)

SM: I always like it when a pioneering company takes a new approach with a solid business model already in place. SA: I will tell you something about Glam’s history we have not talked about before. Most startups come to a decision point in the first two or three years after launch, where the original

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Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora (Part 4)

SM: Glam was a pioneering startup. How did you assemble your management team? SA: Our seven key founders are all serial entrepreneurs and pioneers in Silicon Valley and Internet Technology.

Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora (Part 3)

SM: What is the story behind Glam? Where did the idea come from? SA: Glam was interesting from the first concept. It started as a jewel of an idea in 2001 and developed in 2002 at the bottom of the downturn.

Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora (Part 2)

SM: Was Rae a successful venture for you? SA: Rae did well. We created navigational applications for Apple, then PCs, and later worked with Wells Fargo and American Express. Interestingly enough, they introduced us to a small company called Mosaic. Once I saw what Mosaic was doing, I knew we had the legs to deliver

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Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora (Part 1)

Samir Arora is a serial entrepreneur with a history that includes Rae Technology and NetObjects. Aside from being chairman and CEO of Glam Media, he is chairman (and founder) of Information Capital LLC. Glam Media offers a self-coined ‘vertical content network’ platform. The Glam Media network includes over 400 publishers, all of whom receive an

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Towards Personalization: Strands Founder Francisco Martin (Part 8)

SM: What is your distribution of workers? How many people are in Corvallis and how many people are in Barcelona? FM: We have 9 different offices in the world with 150 employees. Sixty-two percent of our people are in the States, the rest are in Europe.

Towards Personalization: Strands Founder Francisco Martin (Part 7)

SM: Having raised $55M, do you think that is too much money? FM: Initially some people thought it was too much. Now we are very happy we closed on that amount. SM: From the point of view of valuation and return on investment as well as in terms of what you can sell a company

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