In the recap mode, here’s a list of the top 20 serial entrepreneurs I have spoken with: * Philippe Courtot – a very young 63-year old CEO of Qualys.
I have done numerous interviews with entrepreneurs on this forum. Here’s a list of 10 Web entrepreneur interviews that I think have the most interesting strategy discussions on how each of them are building their companies:
In case you are reading today, Happy July 4th. And here’s some reading to catch up on: Vision India 2020: Renaissance, Gangotri, Maya Ray, Elixar, Bioscope. Entrepreneur Case Studies: Carol Realini (Obopay), Steve Hafner (Kayak), Ramu Yalamanchi (Hi5), Francisco Martin (Strands), Samir Arora (Glam) and Jacob Jacobsson (Blaze DFM).
SM: Have you seen advertisers take advantage of the platforms? RY: Yes, we have. Advertisers are interested in, and this is not exclusive to applications, identifying methods that will result in more users having a higher level of engagement with them. Applications provide a terrific way to do that. It can be accomplished through a
SM: Social networks are becoming the voice of a generation. RY: Another thing to think about is that people are fundamentally social. What is happening online is a reflection of social behavior in the real world. Sites like ours just enhancing natural behavior.
SM: A lot of rep firms have a reputation for having very high commissions, often upwards of 60%. Are your rep firms requiring commissions that high? RY: No, they are not. It is a volume and scale business. Compared to what it would cost us to build and hold our own sales force, as a percentage of
SM: What business did you think you were getting into in 2003? RY: The business we thought we were getting into could broadly be defined as communication. We thought we were providing an option beyond what people were doing with email and instant messaging. Over time, new methods of communication have continually been invented. It