Helping You Book Vacation Rentals: FlipKey CEO T. J. Mahoney (Part 3)

SM: What was your strategy for entering a market that was already dominated by HomeAway?

TM: Before leaving Compete, I had actually asked them if they would help sponsor some research for the industry. They helped conduct some surveys for us, and we released some market research for the vacation rental industry. >>>

How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 2)

SM: What was the genesis of Overstock.com?

PB: I came up with the idea just after I retired and went to Dartmouth. When I was over in China with the American college students, we brainstormed different names for the company. The name Overstock.com from a brainstorming and voting session. There were 20 students in that group. >>>

Helping You Book Vacation Rentals: FlipKey CEO T. J. Mahoney (Part 2)

SM: What roles did you hold at Compete?

TM: Initially I was their founding consultant. Compete has a dedicated consulting practice, which is how they make the majority of their money. I was one of the first consultants who helped to develop some of their vertical categories. In 2005, I helped launch Compete.com as a separate business. >>>

Entrepreneur Journeys Book Review: A Peek At Businesses That Validate The Vertical Movement Of The Web

Here’s a review of Sramana Mitra’s Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market by Kevin Clancy in The Copernicus MZine:

“Positioning is Volume 3 in Entrepreneur Journeys, a series of monographs that transcribe the author’s interviews with entrepreneurs to discover new ways to make high-technology businesses more successful. The book includes about 20 interviews and in each case, we learn something about positioning and new product introductions. >>>

Deal Radar 2009: MAIA Intelligence

By Guest Author Shailesh Otari

Deal Radar wraps up 2009 in India, with two more companies that have crossed the $1 million revenue mark. The first is business intelligence (BI) software product company called MAIA Intelligence. The company’s primary offering is a data visualization layer that provides BI in the form of actionable information. The company aims to provide an intuitive way of reading and looking at data, rather than simply offering statistical analysis. MAIA provides BI at every level in an organization; “Democratization of business intelligence by allowing decision making at every level” is the company’s motto. >>>

Helping You Book Vacation Rentals: FlipKey CEO T. J. Mahoney (Part 1)

T.J. Mahoney is the founder and CEO of FlipKey, a leading vacation rental service with verified vacation guest reviews. Prior to founding Flipkey he worked at Compete.com, Zefer, and Accenture. He is a graduate of Macalester College.

SM: Can you take us back to the beginning of your story? Where do you come from?

TM: I was raised in Boulder, Colorado. I was recruited to play basketball at a small school in Minnesota called Macalester College. Once I graduated, I got into the world of the Web by working as a consultant at Accenture. >>>

How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 1)

Dr. Patrick M. Byrne is chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, Inc., a Utah-based Internet retailer that has been publicly traded since 2002. Under Byrne’s leadership, the company’s revenue soared from $1.8 million in 1999 to $760.2 million in 2007. Before founding Overstock.com, Byrne served as chairman, president, and CEO of Centricut, LLC, and held the same three positions at Fechheimer Brothers, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in philosophy and Asian studies, a master’s degree in philosophy from Cambridge University as a Marshall scholar, and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University.

SM: Patrick, first tell me about you. What is your background? Where does your story begin?

PB: I was born in Indiana. We moved to Massachusetts when I was two, so I grew up in New England. I went to Dartmouth, Cambridge, and Stanford. My career has been split between academia and business. Early on I was one of those guys who did some small business ventures while I pursued a full-time career as an academic. >>>

Deal Radar 2009: Alert Logic

Houston, Texas-based Alert Logic is an on-demand IT compliance and security solutions provider. Founded in 2002, Alert Logic provides SaaS-based solutions that allow its customers to detect threats, eliminate vulnerabilities, and manage log data. Its cloud-based platform provides customers with an easy way to secure networks and comply with policies and regulations. >>>