Jonathan Abrams
Stranger in a Strange Land

Jonathan grew up in Canada, and started programming computers when he was 10. He began his career at Bell-Northern Research, the former name of Nortel's R&D arm, developing telecommunications software, and later Internet software. In 1996, he moved to Silicon Valley to work at Netscape as a software engineer.

What is your current company and what does it do?
Four weeks ago I joined Bitfone Corporation to lead the engineering group. Bitfone delivers carrier-grade Java-based application software that provides media-rich messaging and personal content to enhance the user experience on the wireless network. We are a Series A-funded software startup in Palo Alto.

What's the biggest risk you've taken? For example, what was your biggest exposure, or your biggest debt?
The biggest risk I've taken was to found my own company as a first-time entrepreneur with very limited business experience. In many ways, I ended up in over my head. While I didn't have millions of dollars of my own money to risk, I did take a reduced salary and put my career at risk.

Also, when I left Canada for the United States and Nortel for Netscape, my friends and colleagues back in Canada thought these moves were very risky.

What is your biggest success so far and what made it a success (i.e. your definition of success)?
My biggest success so far was starting and building HotLinks. Raising our first $2 million in seed funding as a first-time entrepreneur after living in this country for only two years was a great accomplishment. Also, I'm very proud of the team I built at HotLinks, and all of the things we created together. We had a lot of fun and wacky moments. And when the market conditions became very difficult for our industry, we handled it professionally, making sure all of our employees and creditors got what they were owed, as well as plenty of notice about the layoffs. Today I'm pleased to say that HotLinks' services still live on after the company's successful merger.

What has been your biggest challenge/failure/mistake?
My greatest challenge was trying to run my first company in hyper-competitive 1999 with very limited business experience. Naturally, I made many mistakes, and while HotLinks was not a complete failure, it was a great disappointment for me to have had to lay off valued members of our team, and not provide a better outcome for the people who built the company with me.

How did you bounce back?
During the months it took to complete the process of selling HotLinks, I wondered what I should do next. A couple of weeks after the final closing of the merger, I bumped into a Gene Wang, a CEO I had known for two years through my entrepreneurial activities. He now had a new company, and needed someone to run the engineering group. This was a chance for me to apply both my original engineering background with the business, management, and leadership skills I developed while at HotLinks. I was very excited to work with Gene, and glad for an opportunity to fill some of the gaps in my experience between senior engineer roles at companies like Netscape and CrossWorlds, and CEO/CTO of HotLinks. I would probably like to start another company some day, and working at Bitfone is going to give me an opportunity to play a key role at another early-stage company, while working with and learning from the other very senior members of our team.

How have your experiences paid off -- what is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your journey?
My entrepreneurial experiences have paid off by teaching me far more than I could have learned in more conventional jobs.

The most important thing I've learned is the power of networking. My networking efforts have been important to both starting HotLinks and joining Bitfone. I always respond willingly to requests for advice, speaking engagements, or introductions within my existing network, because that's how networks are built up, and you never know what helping someone today may lead to in the future.

How do you find balance in your life? Do you have a good work-life balance?
This is always hard, especially when I am really engaged in my work. At large companies like Nortel, it is hard for any one person to make an impact on the success of the entire company. But at startups like Bitfone or HotLinks, I know that every additional hour I spend working can make a big difference, and it's always tempting to work just a bit more and see what I can accomplish. It's important to me to find time away from work for my friends and personal relationships, but hobbies often get squeezed out. It's hard to find time for things like reading books or playing the guitar.

What keeps you going -- why do you do it?
I think it's just my nature to keep going, regardless of obstacles. I work in the software industry because I'm a much better software engineer and entrepreneur than musician, and I have been very interested in computers and business since I was a kid. And I need to pay my rent!

Any advice for our community of entrepreneurs?
Getting involved in early-stage ventures can be very rewarding, and being the founder is not the most important thing. There is greater need for talented people to help new companies succeed than there is for additional new companies.

I encourage people who have the right temperament to work at early-stage companies, whether it is as a founder or not. In 2001, career security is based on your skills, not the size of your employer. You can get laid off from a huge company these days just as easily as from a startup, and you can learn so much from being involved in an early-stage company. However, I recommend that people start their career after college at established companies like Oracle, Sun, Cisco, etc. before moving into startups. It's important to get some real industry perspective.

If you really want to start a company, you need to decide whether it is more important to you to be the founder of a VC-funded company, and all that entails, or whether your priority is to pursue your current business or product ideas, regardless of whether they are suitable for venture funding.

And remember to network and have fun!

Nora Barry
Entrepreneur and SuperMom

The wisest thing I learned from Nora Barry, girl-genius behind thebitscreen.com was the value of a new perspective. I knew this already, but hearing her say “just step away and stare at the sky,” gave the theory a practical application. Who knew it was so easy? And, that’s just the answer Nora would most likely give if asked how she juggled single motherhood and an international business that hosts streaming cinema --- first run films on the web.

Nora, a night-owl by self-definition, knows a few things about herself for sure “the whole process of story telling is fascinating to me” and coupled with her love of film, her independent project was born during the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. --- while her two boys (now 9 and 10 ½) slept. The driving notion was “if I’m into creating stories for this medium [Internet] other people must be into it as well.”

Ms. Barry, a 42 year old Philadelphia resident began her professional life as a marketing writer for high-tech firms (after graduating from Syracuse University’s graduate program in Communications and specializing in Technology). Both her expertise in technology and her, what I like to call, East Coast wit (quirky and sharp) shine through in the writing on the site, as well as in her conversation. She sounds like she’s always smiling and excited to show you something cool.

Ms. Barry’s perspective into the technology industry , a knowledge that “each medium gives rise to a unique form of programming,” clued her in, early in the Internet game, that the type of film presented on her site “could not take place elsewhere.” Thebitscreen.com won the attention of Comcast at Home and Nora was ready to fly not long after she began. The site has been mentioned in over forty articles since it’s inception three years ago. After thebitscreen.com was featured in the New York Times Arts and Entertainment section (January 17, 1999) where Ms. Barry described the site best: "Bit Screen films run anywhere from two to seven minutes," she said, "but within that time frame each pushes the boundaries of the technology and expands or changes the way the story is told," she began to receive so many submissions that she made the site a monthly and began traveling to show the site around the world.

Nora was off and running to a streaming media festival in Amsterdam called NetCongestion. She honored me with an early morning (9 a.m. for her, 6 a.m. for me) interview. If you haven’t seen this site yet, or experienced this type of cinema, run don’t walk, to thebitscreen.com.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken?
“God, everyday,” she said with a boisterous laugh. “My biggest investment was time. I did this when the kids went to bed and didn’t give up my day job.” Just being a single Mom and starting a business is a huge one.

What about your biggest success?
“Maintaining my relationship with my kids. My office is in my home so I stop working when they get home. I never want to sacrifice that balance. I think this could be so much easier for a single 30-year old guy with no kids. And, the company is still alive and the kids are happy kids.”

What was your biggest mistake and how did you bounce back?
Ms. Barry had to think hard on this one because “nothing compares to single motherhood” in terms of fearing mistakes around every corner, so her entrepreneurial project seemed an innate process to her. And it all came about so slowly, she had lots of flexibility with her schedule. It was a mellow ride to the top for her.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the course of your career?
“How to go too long on too little sleep,” she said with a laugh. And really, most importantly she learned about perspective. “The crisis du jour won’t matter a year from now. I’m not doing brain surgery, no one’s dying here. I got it done in the past and will do it again.” And, she recommends “Step away and stare at the sky.”

What keeps you going? Why do you do it?
“I love being a parent and love storytelling. With the Internet it’s easiest to have them both.”

How do you find balance?
“From the beginning of 1998 through mid-1999 all I did was be with the boys and work. I had tunnel vision. I put every ounce of energy into those two parts of my life. And when I could finally step back, I remembered I love to read and have dinners with friends.” The simple stuff.

What advice do you have, what insider information can you share, with your community of entrepreneurs?
Three things: One. “You have to love what you do. The first year to year and a half you have no other life.”

Two. “Do a business plan first, then develop your idea.” Final word of wisdom: “It’s gonna take time.”

Arthur Bart-Williams
(by Jennifer Dalton)

Arthur Bart-Williams, at 34, is the enthusiastic CEO of his second start-up called Zonux (www.zonux.com). Zonux, which translates literally from a combination of Greek and Latin as "quicken business" provides Internet based tools that allow companies to grow quickly and efficiently. They cater primarily to the professional services sector offering applications that assist companies in managing every aspect of their core business practices. Arthur's first venture, Vianovus, is still growing strong. They earned approximately 4.5 million in revenues last year. He left them earlier this year to start Zonux.

Raised and reared in Sierra-Leon, the UK and California, Arthur, who has the most interesting accent, found himself with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley. He was a construction project manager for the City of Oakland for six years before taking on his first start-up.

What's the biggest risk you've taken?
"The biggest expense and therefore risk is always hiring people," he noted with a careful laugh. His constant concern is taking care of the human beings that are involved in any project. "To continue to operate and be able to pay the people you hire and yourself is the primary goal."

What's your biggest success so far?
To be able to sell an idea and get people to invest without anything tangible to show them; to create a vision and have people believe it and invest either their time or money is a great accomplishment. That they risk being involved." He added that it's always important to remember that selling the idea is an ongoing process. You'll always need help; either people or money.

What's been your biggest challenge or mistake and how did you bounce back?
After a laugh, "not networking enough. It's key to let people know what you're up to, what you need. It's amazing what friends and family can contribute."

He bounced back by networking more. "I got myself in front of the people who could help. You can't do it alone. There's knowledge and resources out there. People are looking to invest in your vision." He mentioned that there needs to be a healthy dose of faith. And underlying passion and belief that what you're doing provides value and that you maintain that "at any cost mentality." He added that if people see you not giving up, others will see that and believe in you. "I learned that the potential for success is based on the people who are doing it with us, helping out. And that requires a solid team that believes in the same vision."

What's the most important thing you've learned?
"Anything is possible. That I can have an idea and make it real. It just takes commitment." Teams, mentors and partners are also extremely valuable. "There's no way to do it alone without killing myself."

How do you find balance in your life?
"Well, I have a good team so that I can have balance. In my first venture I got consumed. People thought I'd fallen under a rock and that's not the case anymore." He spends his free time with his girlfriend Renee, "an amazing, awesome relationship," doing continuous self-development with Landmark Education Corporation, staying fit, playing hard and being with friends and family.

Why do you do it?
He enjoys the journey not only the destination. "It's not just the success that drives me. I'm having a great time. And I'm answering that different than I would have years ago. I know that I make a difference and provide value for others. Success will come when all that is in place."

Nicola Cairncross
Shaper, Catalyst, Wealth Coach and Music Manager

My first entrepreneurial venture was at the age of 7, when I set up a paid lending library in the cupboard under the stairs, with my younger sister as Librarian and myself out promoting the venture in the neighborhood playgrounds. I put myself through fashion college creating waistcoats from old curtains and antique buttons, selling them for over £100 wholesale to designer shops in Brighton & London. I also worked in hairdressing, the arts, marketing, accountancy, recruitment, the music industry and many more, searching for my niche. I always knew that I wanted to be my own boss, though.

What is your current company and what does it do?
I am the Managing Director of Pachira Ltd and ArtistManager Limited.

Pachira Ltd owns The Wealth Company (www.wealthcompany.com), specialising in coaching entrepreneurial & career women to financial intelligence and wealth creation; The Entrepreneurs Company, coaching entrepreneurs through business startups to success and The Vitality Company, coaching people to health and vitality.

ArtistManager Ltd (www.artistmanager.com) is an online business to consumer website that matches music artists to music managers, worldwide.

What's the biggest risk you've taken? For example, what was your biggest exposure, or your biggest debt?
I believe in "bootstrapping". While I am happy to pay for specialist services and other crucial support, particularly in the legal and financial arena, I don't believe in paying retainers and I question every quotation - could we do it better/faster/more effectively ourselves?

Everyone thinks that specialists hold the key to success. This is sometimes true but for the cost of half a day of a consultant's time, you can buy an excellent intensive distance learning programme and teach yourself. The trick is to know when your time can be better spent elsewhere, knowing your strengths and working in the areas you enjoy.

My biggest exposure ever was about £30k. I am comfortable with "good debt" and can sleep happily at night with that kind of debt but I avoid "bad debt" like the plague. What's the difference? You will have to visit The Wealth Company to find out!

What is your biggest success so far and what made it a success (i.e. your definition of success)?
ArtistManager might be my biggest financial success so far. Ironic because I had practically written it off due to the economic climate for internet startups. A huge ISP is interested in placing it on their music area. This will drive huge amounts of traffic to the site and it will go into profit at about subscriber #200 due to my inability to raise venture capital which forced me to find another way to build and promote the site. Thereafter it will be a largely passive income.

As to my other definition of success, creative fulfillment, The Wealth Company is doing that right now, because we have created a company from scratch, with high integrity, that is giving people the key to their own financial freedom. That will save many people from the many long years of financial struggle and sometimes derision that I went through. It is unique in that while there are many US authored "wealth creation" programmes, we are British, we address beliefs, behaviors and attitudes as well as the practicalities, mechanics and resources needed for wealth creation.

What has been your biggest challenge/failure/mistake?
Giving up too soon always and being really really impatient. I go off half-cocked all the time (this is also a strength because I get things done FAST) but if something doesn't work immediately I move on to the next thing too soon.

How did you bounce back?
I started working with my life and career coach Rachel Turner from Kaizen Coaching. She moved me out of adrenaline overdrive, connected me with my needs and values and encouraged me to read many great books particularly "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael E Gerber, I realised that my particular personality quirks are those of a born entrepreneur and not just defects. By setting up the right support systems and working to my strengths, I enable my creativity to flow and my energy to get things moving.

How have your experiences paid off -- what is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your journey?
Commit yourself to lifelong learning. I have learnt more from reading than I ever did at school. You don't have to necessarily work hard to be successful - although you have to be committed and do what it takes - but you do have to learn how to work smart.

How do you find balance in your life? Do you have a good work-life balance?
Still a challenge but I'm working on it. I love what I do - that makes it very hard to stop sometimes. I have a wonderful family and two small children, Phoebe age 6 and Nelson, age 4 and I am carving out a working lifestyle that enables me to be there for the important events in their lives - like bedtime, ballet patrol and all the school events.

What keeps you going -- why do you do it?
That's easy! It's all such bloody good fun! I work with people who I like and who stimulate and support me. I choose what I do and I just love that feeling when I'm learning something new and I can almost feel my brain stretch! I had to drive into a garage the other day because I was listening to a Jay Abrahams tape in the car and he communicated such a huge new marketing concept that I thought my head was going to explode. Almost better than sex!

Any advice for our community of entrepreneurs?
There are so many negative people in the world - you have to learn to shield yourself from them. In the words of Anita Roddick, "It's your vision, so keep it a secret until you achieve it." And as my financial guru Robert Kiyosaki ("Rich Dad, Poor Dad") says "The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is what they do in their spare time."

Shanti Chordia
Revolutionary Education Pioneer
by Jen Dalton

A big thanks to Shanti from the Startupfailures community. Shanti is from India, and as many of you know the stigma around failure is even worse outside of the United States, but the only way we can make a difference is by being willing to share and talk about it. Mr. Chordia was kind enough to allow StartupFailures.com to interview him via email from his offices in India.

He is in the educational services segment called www.MyMitra.com. His company aims to usher in new technological methods to make learning more creative and interesting in India. His background includes a BS MS (Pharmaceutical Synthetic Organic Chemistry) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and no formal education in the Net - he's not a software man - only an entrepreneur.

He has also started a new concept called as the Consortium of Notyetfunded companies - the world's first cooperative for the benefit of the members and he has enrolled over 100 members within the first three weeks of operation. Notyetfunded is a focus group consisting of members who are not yet funded by Venture Capitalists. The idea is to create business opportunities for entrepreneurs by sharing of knowledge, resources, contacts and create partnerships. They have regional chapters formed and under formation in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Calcutta , New Jersey, Vancouver and Singapore. (For more information go to www.egroups.com/group/notyetfunded)

What's the biggest risk you've taken?
For example, what was your biggest exposure, or your biggest debt? "I've taken a lot of 'borrowals' to invest on creating infrastructure in schools, which is a part of our business model. I spent over two years of my life just researching the project --- a time lag!"

What was your biggest success (so far) (and what made it a success)? Either in terms of money made quickly, or however you yourself define success.
"New clients (schools) coming to sign up voluntarily for our program. This shows faith, the usefulness of our model and that FMCG companies are willing to accept sponsorship for our program. It shows acceptance of our model. And our team members are willing to give a loan to the company to tide over cash flow problems which shows their commitment!"

What has been your biggest challenge/failure/mistake?
"Relying on the strength of the concept in paper rather than in the field and working too much to develop the business plan and alliances instead of starting off early." How did you bounce back? "By going to the field and proving our business plan to be correct! Getting our clients to speak for us!"

How have your experiences paid off -- what is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your career?
"Don't lose focus. Don't dream too much. Solve problems immediately instead of postponing them. Anticipate how the human mind thinks - men (women including) are not machines. Be positive and enthusiastic. Be prepared to accept failures."

How do you find balance in your life? Do you have a good work-life balance?
"It is very difficult for the mind is so much focused; but still having a good family really helps. They are very understanding and act like a good speedbreaker. Also trying to develop time habits - since the passion to work is very addictive - like being drunk or with drugs."

What keeps you going -- why do you do it?
"To prove to myself that I can achieve my goals. To create something good in society and bring about a radical change;- like a miniature version of the great Mahatma Gandhi ! With perseverance, power of the mind, strength of perseverance."

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?
"To have conviction and be accepted to fail and not to be ashamed about it. It is a part of life. And to keep changing models and ways of approach fast. To keep abreast of latest technologies. To develop contacts everyday."

What are you most passionate about, in life?
"My goals - my dreams - my ambitions!"

What's it like being an entrepreneur in India? Do you think it's harder or easier than in the states?
"Very tough. The social stigma of being a failure is very baulking. Leaving job security and the comfort of a good income source is not accepted especially in a traditional Marwadi culture that I belong to. (We are from the land of Marwar - a place of traditional hard core businessmen - from the State of Rajasthan in Northern India) People are very skeptical and acceptance of the idea is very difficult to digest.

Changing of mindsets is a great problem. Greater problem is the infrastructure. Imagine waiting for a telephone connection for ages or having it not working together for months together, poor service mentality, lack of power, apathy of service. Though these are changing for the better."

What are your favorite activities outside of work?
"Spending time with my beautiful children - Babloo and Chunno and their first cousins - Guddu, Raj and Montu ! Going for long walks with my wife Renu!"

What's your favorite joke?
"Trying to dial up the ISP for a long time without linking on the telephone line."

Jon Fisher
Serial Entrepreneur

I was founding CEO of two tech companies in the valley (my first, autoreach inc. was acquired by the Tasha Automotive Group (#344 in Forbes Private 500 U.S. companies) & I recently left my 2nd, netclerk, inc. http://www.netclerk.com (age 29) after recruiting a new ceo & closing the latest round of funding in jan 2001. Netclerk raised $18 MM since its founding in January 1999 & remains a viable Internet services business.

What is your current company and what does it do?
Now I sit on the other side of the table as a Partner with http://www.recognitiongroup.net, a venture capital fund making investments in distressed and out-of-favor technology & an interim management and crisis management advisory service. I'm running a subsidiary out of California so I look at this as my 3rd start-up.

What's the biggest risk you've taken? For example, what was your biggest exposure, or your biggest debt?
Buying a jazz club with no experience in the jazz club business.

What is your biggest success so far and what made it a success (i.e. your definition of success)?
I'm proud of some of the business ideas I've come up with but I feel my biggest success is the relationship I have with my family, including my fiancée.

What has been your biggest challenge/failure/mistake?
Assuming people with more money/experience know more about my business than I do.

How did you bounce back?
That's a life-long process.

How have your experiences paid off -- what is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your journey?
I believe one can achieve almost anything if one is willing to pay the price & that includes "love & happiness" as well as professional success. I take risks & work hard so perhaps I will have a meaningful professional life but I will not sacrifice my relationships with family to achieve professional success because I think that makes for a miserable existence. Perhaps this is the ultimate rationalization of my abilities ---meaning I know in my heart that I won't achieve professional "greatness" so I might as well chalk it up to my inability to make the real sacrifices for it.

How do you find balance in your life? Do you have a good work-life balance?
See last answer.

What keeps you going -- why do you do it?
I derive enormous pleasure from making entrepreneurial contributions to the community (however large they may be) & leading teams of people to achieve common goals.

Any advice for our community of entrepreneurs?
I don't give advice to people unless they work for me or live with me.

nPost.com has graciously offered to share their interviews with the Startupfailures community. The following is one of many interviews featured on their website.

Samer Hamadeh
Co-Founder of Vault.com

nPost.com I am here with Samer Hamadeh, one of the Co-Founders of Vault.com, thank you very much for being here with us today.

Samer: My pleasure.

nPost.com: I would like to start off by getting a little background on how Vault.com originated.

Samer: Sure. Actually it starts quite a while back. I was graduating from Stanford in 1991 with a Bachelor's in Chemistry, and it was a terrible Job Market at the time. All of my friends were have a very difficult time finding work, so I decided to stay at Stanford and get my Masters in Chemical Engineering. I finished that up in 1992, but I had spent a summer working as Chemical Engineer at Chevron thinking I would work at Chevron upon graduation.

The problem was that I really didn't know anything about what Chemical Engineering was all about, and I certainly didn't know what Chevron would be like, I just accepted the job on a whim, because a friend of mine had worked there before. I show up for this job at Chevron, my boss was gone for the entire first week I was there leaving me a very difficult stack of books to read on Grease Reology, which is the study of the flow and movement of grease through pipes.

nPost.com: So a real heart pounding subject.

Samer: Oh yes, so when he came back we talked about how I would do projects where I would test some of the many different greases that Chevron made. They had all types of greases, different ones for different types of machines, climates, etc. So I was to go out and test a few different greases at different temperatures, humidity levels, etc. My job in essence was to test these greases under many conditions and determine where they broke down. It took over a month to get setup with samples, laboratory, equipment, etc. At this time, I was already halfway into the summer and haven't even started to get anything done. This whole time I was thinking: "What is wrong with this place?" At the same time, a lot of my co-workers were much older and completely disgruntled. When the summer ended I told myself that I wasn't go to work there for sure.

I was telling this story to my roommate, Mark Oldman (another co-founder), and my brother (another co-founder), and they were telling me that this type of thing happens a lot. A lot of people go into either a profession or a company, and have no idea what they are getting into. So we began to wonder what the hit-to-miss ration was for that type of event, which is why many people don't stay with a company for too long, their expectations are completely opposite from what they find at a company. We thought it would be a good idea to put together products that give insights into specific companies.

nPost.com: From an insider's point of view.

Samer: Exactly, from specific industries and companies. If I had spoken to people at Chevron and read a dossier on Chevron, if not the entire oil and gas industry, I would have had a much better picture of what I was getting into. That is really had it started. We came out to NYC and decided to write a book, which became "America's Top 100 Internships," and were able to sign a contract with Random House Princeton Review, put the book out that fall in September.

nPost.com: How were you able to get the background on all the companies?

Samer: We worked with Stanford's Career Center pretty extensively. We also did a lot of sleuthing, working the phones, calling companies, telling them what we are doing. Signing the deal with Random House also gave us the IN that we needed. You call Boeing, Microsoft or Intuit and tell them what you are doing, and most people were only too happy to help us out.

We not only used Stanford's Career Center, but others, as well, at major universities around the nation. Asking them to point us in the right direction of companies and students that we might want to talk to. In total, we interviewed somewhere around 1,500 people who had worked for hundreds of different companies. It was real tedious stuff, everything was done by hand, and we ended up working over 20 hours per day, and that is not an exaggeration. We would sleep 4 hours, get up and jam through the day; writing, [and] researching all day long.

nPost.com: How did you then begin transition into what you are today.

Samer: At that time, we weren't Vault. We actually wrote another few books, such as "Internship Bible", business schoolbooks, etc. At one point we had a suite of four books. At then Mark went off to get his law degree at Stanford, my brother went off to get his JD MBA at Wharton and Penn Law, and I went off to become a Management Consultant at LEK which is a Los Angeles strategy consulting firm. Two and a half years into all that, the Internet started to emerge. It wasn't the Internet as we know it, but Prodigy, AOL, CompuServe, etc.

nPost.com: All of the original proprietary online services.

Samer: Yes, and within the same two or three months we started getting calls from all three of them. All three wanted to license the content that we had created within our suite of four books. This was in 1995, and we ended up signing an agreement with Prodigy. We realized that there was something to these online services, that perhaps people would be willing someday to buy content online.

nPost.com: Were these online services wanting updated information, or did they just want to use your content as it was already written?

Samer: They just wanted to license what was already in the book. You have to remember, that at the time, they just needed something to fill out their content offering. Their marketing message at the time was simply that they had a lot of great information available at one place. In a way they were trying to create a proprietary library online, with email capability, but not that many subscribers were there. They were also willing to pay for this content. It never really took off in a huge way, but we started to make a little money, so we decided to move forward with some type of online site, but at the time we still thought books were the way to go. Finally, after a few years at the consulting firm, I decided it was time for me to break off, and try to do something on my own, and make something of this.

At this time Sam and Mark still had a year to go in their degrees, so we all decided that I would be the one to go and do this. I moved out to NY, and signed a book deal with Houghten Mifflin. My living room became my office, started hiring some assistants, interns, and by the fall we had our first book called Job Vault, which was an expose on about 500 companies.

nPost.com: Were these Fortune 500 companies?

Samer: They were all across the spectrum. For this book, we used all our old contacts at the career centers across the country, and others. We began to promote it online, because we had a site that was hosted by Prodigy, although I can't remember what is was called now. We also used a lot of contacts from the site as well. We would put up a link on the site, saying that we were looking for people who had worked at certain companies, and get in touch that way with people who could help us.

Within a year and three months, we had over 120 titles. Most of these books, though, were only about 60 to 70 pagers on one specific company. But we still did not use the Internet, the way that we do today. It was 1997 and we were using the Internet mainly to promote the guides and to sell them. At the time, it was called Vault Reports, you could visit our site and investigate one of any 500 companies, of course at that level, it was really just a little excerpt from the main book. Users were given the option if interested about that company to actually purchase the book. We sold a fair amount of books that way.

nPost.com: About how many people did you employ at this time?

Samer: Early '98 we had between 8 and 12 people, they were either in journalism school or working for their paper as an undergrad at NYU or Columbia or Fordham, etc. They were all either interns or part-timers. Orders would come in via Excel and we would download them every hour and then there would be an intern shoving books into envelopes in the corner of my living room. We would then ship them out at the end of the day.

nPost.com: Were you profitable from the get-go?

Samer: We weren't profitable from the get-go, we were operating at a small loss for the first couple of years, but it was always a small loss. We were able to keep the loss small by maintaining a small staff of about ten really young people who we weren't paying all that much. It was always a lot of fun. In late 1998, when the whole dot.com thing started really kicking in, we decided to start really pursuing funding. We were able to secure $3 million in funding in December 1998.

nPost.com: I actually remember reading about that in Fortune.

Samer: You're right, that was our first major big hit, a whole half page expose in that Fortune. We launched a very basic web site that had some slightly more interactive content that changed on a more regular basis, we were also covering many more companies, up to 1,500 at the time. You could also continue to buy books, at this time we not only had our books, but we were also selling books on related topics from Ingram. At one point we had about 250 titles total, and they were all housed in this back room. We were handling all the backend operations, warehousing, shipping and we were doing it very primitively. We had someone simply grab the book off the shelf, put it into the envelope, print out a sticker/label, and it was on its way.

The site over time started to take shape, and around this time our investors started talking about us getting into recruiting. We were still big believers that you could really get into recruiting by allowing companies to brand themselves around the content. That is how we first made money, we would go a company like Northwestern Financial Network which at the time was called Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and propose that they sponsor the area that reported on their company; insider's point of view, job posting, etc. Clients now have mini-web sites that allow them to talk about what it is like working for them, the opportunities they offer, and positions available.

nPost.com: Now are these mini-web sites, how are they managed by the client companies?

Samer: They have the ability to update it themselves, but usually they will contact us, and we will change or update the information as needed. There was talk at the time of launching job boards but we were all about content, and were focused on created comprehensive content that would attract people to the site. We believed that we would also be able to make money, by having these client companies advertise around our content. In the beginning, we also had very general banner adds, with GM advertising cars and magazine publishers advertising subscriptions on the site, but nothing really targeted.

In the Spring of '98 we launched job boards and message boards, and those really started taking off. Of course, everything about the Internet was about being free back then, and so were we.

nPost.com: Now your job boards were free for both people listing and people searching?

Samer: That is correct. We thought we could make money by advertising.

nPost.com: Now, though, you have a listing fee for companies placing their ads on your site, correct?

Samer: Yes, but we only began to charge three weeks ago. Up until June 1st, you could still post on our site for free. Up to Ma,y we had 16,000 companies that were posting job ads on the site every month.

nPost.com: How many jobs total?

Samer: About 100,000 that were available at any given time per month. It was one of the largest job boards on the web, but, of course, it was all free. While we were making decent money from advertising and book sales, it was not enough to support the entire infrastructure required to maintain the company. So we made the decision to start charging companies to post job ads, because we had the data that proved that they were very successful in finding qualified candidates on the site, and that we provided them a very valuable resource month after month.

nPost.com: What type of drop-off did you see as a result of this new fee?

Samer: I can't quantify that for you right now, but we did see a drop-off, but three weeks later we starting to regain that lost ground in terms of the number of postings.

We also offer package deals for companies that are looking to post large numbers of jobs, and we just signed a deal in which one company is going to post 1,000 jobs per day. Our per job posting fee is $50.00, and of course we aren't going to be charging them $50,000 everyday.

nPost.com: I would also think that this is all high-margin incremental revenue. You already have sunk these costs in concern for infrastructure, and so all new incremental revenue tends to increase you margin per dollar earned?

Samer: True, that is the beauty of the Internet, in that it doesn't really cost extra to post more jobs. The servers are already in place, the software is already built, and the potential is huge. So we are in a conversion process of contacting each of those 16,000 different companies and start selling them our listing service.

nPost.com: As a little background, Vault.com has some of the most company specific message boards on the Internet. Yahoo is financial related, but Vault has the real insider knowledge of a company, directly from its work force. Did you plan for these message boards to become what they have been, or was it quite fortuitous, and how did you drive people to these message boards?

Samer: That is a very good question. You can drive the number of visitors in many different ways. At one point, we used direct advertising, we took out full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week, and we also did truck advertising (e.g. on the side of buses) and this all drove recognition. We did a lot of online advertising where we were rotating our banner on a lot of relevant sites. This was during the heady days, when there was a lot of advertising money out there. We were just very savvy when it came to advertising. We do a lot of affiliate deals, a lot of cost per acquisition deals.

nPost.com: What type of affiliate deals are you doing?

Samer: We have a relationship with CommissionJunction, and a number of offers through them. One is that we will pay sites for driving traffic to our site, or a percentage of any transaction that they are able to facilitate on the site, etc. We have also built up a large membership base.

nPost.com: You have developed a critical mass that enables you to market to others.

Samer: The message boards were a unique innovation, in that they were questions pertaining to jobseekers looking to find out more about the internal workings of a company from current employees. That was a new concept at the time, now there are a few sites that offer similar concepts, but not many, and we are by far the largest. Yahoo is by far the largest concerning general topics, and financial information, but we are the largest in our niche. In the early days, we offered an unfettered discussion. It was a lot like the Wild West, in that they could do or say anything. Which, over time, we learned was not a good way to do business.

nPost.com: From a liability standpoint?

Samer: Interesting enough, the Congress and the courts ruled on this issue very early on, they found that the carriers of message boards were not liable for anything on them. The people who posted were liable though.

nPost.com: How does this relate back to Vault.com now requiring registration?

Samer: Well, let me give you a little history on how it has all evolved. It kind of began as the Wild West, you could do whatever you wanted, and there was no liability. What became the issues, was that as more people became comfortable with message boards, the topics and the discussion began to become nonsensical. You still had the majority of people who were talking about relevant topics, such as I just got an MBA, how is the best way to apply it, what are my chances of getting in with your company, I just got an offer from your company can you tell me about the following three things, etc. The issue was that we also had a lot of people who tended to deviate from the relevant conversations, usually in an unprofessional manner, and with little to no value to what they were saying.

nPost.com: So these people were driving the nature of the boards away from professional questions and insights?

Samer: Yes, people began posting dating information, people were asking about the baseball games, the weather, anything you can think of. This began to generate a lot of responses directly back to our organization telling us that they could no longer find relevant information, that their posts were getting lost amongst the junk.

Our initial step was to hire moderators to control what was being said on the boards, and also institute clear rules as to what type of information should be available on the boards. That helped to some extent, but in the last few months we had such a huge surge in messages that the moderators weren't able to keep up with it all.

Another issue was that since individuals could post anonymously, that it was beginning to become more and more difficult to follow each message thread.

We also wanted to foster a better sense of community, and responsibility on the boards, so we began forcing registration for posting. We have made it as simple as possible with a username, password, and message board handle. If you look at the messages posted since May 15th, when we instituted this new policy, the message are much easier to follow and read, and much more relevant. It is still completely anonymous, but now you can follow who said what, how they replied, etc.

nPost.com: Going back to the revenue model, since you place advertising on the message and job boards, what is the proportion of banner advertising to job listing fees? Or, since you just started the listing fee, what do you forsee as the balance between the two?

Samer: Advertising in the strictest sense has never been more than one-third of our revenue anyway. Recruitment marketing has made up over two-thirds or our revenue where companies can talk about themselves on the site. While this is a form of advertising, it is a form of advertising that is much less cyclical. Luckily, with this downturn and the CPM's for banner ads having come down 60-70% or more, we really haven't been all that affected. It turns out that branding yourself on a site is much more discretionary than pursing qualified new employees. Over time, the percentage of our revenue dependent upon advertising will go down as the listing fee starts to establish itself.

In addition to that, we have introduced services to our member community offering resume review and career planning. Until a few months ago, people had their pick of jobs, without having to worry about how well their resume was written or how to optimize it for a specific industry.

Now the pendulum has swung the other way. The employers are getting inundated with resumes and not the job seekers being inundated with job offers. Now, the job seekers are wondering if they have the best resume, or if they are saying the best thing in the interview. We have had pretty good results so far.

nPost.com: What type of capture/conversion ratio are you seeing?

Samer: Less than one percent of people who view the link are clicking through. But I sincerely believe that there is lot of opportunity in this area as well. It is analogous to Kaplan Test Prep, where people used to wonder why the service was worth $1,000, now they believe and realize that they are at a competitive disadvantage if they do not utilize the Kaplan course. We believe that people will realize that they may be at a competitive disadvantage if they do not utilize our service. We are also continuing to see an increase in book sales.

nPost.com: Are you continuing to handle that all on your own as well?

Samer: We don't, actually those 120 guidebooks disappeared, and we only kept six. All of the other guidebooks are provided online for free. We also outsourced distribution of those books to Random House.

nPost.com: Through all of its stages of development, where do you for see taking Vault.com in the future?

Samer: Well, there are just so many paths that we could pursue, and as much as I would like to plan for five years down the road, right now we are looking one year ahead and driving the company towards profitability. The best way to do that is to ensure that we have the best mix of products, and I think that the path we are on right now makes a lot of sense.

If you have a substantial community in a specific community, then we can leverage these communities into more and more revenue streams. We currently have over 35,000 lawyers who use the site and we offer a wide range of services directly to them, and the organizations that service that community. The long term potential is to continue to grow the number of communities that are served by Vault.com and continue to grow each of the communities at the same time.

If we do this right, we will have far more than the 5 communities we have currently, hopefully up to two dozen. Each one will have its team of individuals who will work on them. We estimate that each of these communities can sustain revenue of between $2 and 5 million each year.

nPost.com: How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors; both online and old media.

Samer: What we try and do is to utilize our known strengths, our massive membership, our insider's view of companies and organizations, and our ability to fine-tune our service offerings to both members and customers. That is the imperative. There are many ways to reach our members: traditional print ads, television, radio, etc., but only Vault.com offers the wealth of information provided on specific companies by employees themselves and offers such a comprehensive community for customers to target. The insider's view is our competitive hook that really differentiates us from our competitors.

nPost.com: For the insider point of view, is there a way to do a side-by-side comparison?

Samer: Not at this time, there are charts that allow you to compare the per diem, planes, taxis, etc.

nPost.com: Which leads me to the simple conclusion, that I will never hire one of those firms, because they always charge it back to the clients.

Samer: Yes, they do.

nPost.com: You recently laid off a number of your employees in January and February. How has that impacted your organization?

Samer: To start off with, it was a very difficult thing to do. We were forced to layoff people who had been with the organization 2- 2 ½ years. It was a business decision to conserve cash and reorganize the company, and focus on key areas of business. We did an analysis of each business unit, each initiative and determined which ones were going to make our company stronger, and for those that weren't in our long-term interests we were forced to close them. Consequently, we were not forced to significantly increase the workload of our remaining employees.

Another difficult thing to quantify, as well, was the loss of company morale. It took quite some time of constant reinforcement to bring it up to levels prior to the layoff. Although, I don't think we can ever recapture the heights of morale in the midst of the dot.com mania.

nPost.com: Sounds like a very difficult undertaking.

Also, what are the most important message that employers should take away from the content and information that is posted by their employees on your boards?

Samer: There have been a number of articles written on this subject. Basically, message boards have become a legitimate way for employees to talk about a company. If Vault doesn't do it, someone will. Minus the extraneous messages that have no relevant feedback, the messages that are contentious posting of either positive or negative information on a company, those are extremely valuable. Many human resource departments are beginning to use these as a means of gauging the internal temperature of a company.

One example is that a Salomon Smith Barney analyst posted on Vault a list of 50 things that were wrong with the analyst program. It went from the car service available, to the dining allowance. Within an hour or two, The New York Times picked up the story, and a lot of people began posting responses to this post. Most importantly, the HR department took this posting very seriously. Management then called a meeting and brought over 600 analysts into a room to discuss the posting. They went down the list, and explained how they were going to address each and every one, what they were going to do, and explained their reasoning.

They were able to nip this thing very quickly, and many of the analysts were very impressed that the concerns were addressed, and were given a full explanation. A lot of companies choose to ignore this information and lose as a result. This is a wonderful resource to find out what your employees think and feel before they walk out in the exit interview.

nPost.com: That concludes my questions. I thank you for meeting with us today, and I appreciate you sharing your insights and experiences.

Samer: It was my pleasure.

Thank you to nPost.com for sharing this interview.

Tobias Hill
He Eats It for Breakfast

Toby met me at a small little tacqueria in San Francisco’s Mission District on a sunny afternoon. A lunch of burritos, carnitos and lemon jaritos and good old conversation about what he’s doing with his thriving plaster business these days. Stonehenge Studios, in its 8th year, is having the most-lucrative and fulfilling year ever and occupies a large warehouse-like space at Hunters Point Shipyard a few miles away from our lunchtime meeting spot. While sitting at a small wooden table for two with the glare of a magnificent late afternoon sun in our eyes we chatted about that which keeps Toby going … the plaster he could “eat for breakfast.”

After getting his BFA in architecture, painting and drawing back in 1993, Toby started Stonehenge Studios as a business doing decorative finishes in homes and businesses. Then in 1996 he began importing Italian plaster and working with that as a medium for his painting as well. And, the twisty tale to follow is the path by which Toby is now able to be an artist and an entrepreneur without sacraficing his appetite or his values.

While in architecture school Toby met a man who needed a person to mix colors for the plaster he was using. As an art student, Toby was the perfect candidate; he is able to match colors by eye the way a master musician can hear perfect pitch. He found that he loved the plaster, especially the texture of the medium, and developed a passion for it. He enjoyed working with the plaster so much he was driven to master the material. After a time, he found the name of a plaster company in an art magazine and went to Italy to see about importing his own line of the stuff to compete with the guy who hired him. Sort of divide and conquer.

Upon his return, Toby did a job for Lick-Wilnerding High School in the Bay Area and from then on went after this niche. He saw that this plaster was really an opportunity for architects and designers to transform the interior architecture of San Francisco (bring a little of the artistry of Italy to SF) and give them access to bringing more beauty and color to this realm. Toby created himself to be the conduit for this enterprise.

Meanwhile, Toby is making contacts and soon has a client list that includes Fischer Development, Gap, Inc., AT &T, PG & E and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. And, to date this is his highest grossing year. He’s hired a full-time operations manager and other part-time employees. Even owns his own forklift (which he drives very well, I might add). All of this success with a product he proudly boasts he could “eat for breakfast, I love it so much,” frees him up to be more creative as a painter. In the coming year, Toby plans to spend a lot of time up in Mendocino, California, a few hours north of San Francisco, where he’s built a painting studio/barn for his painting retreats. Would you like some sugar with that breakfast?

What's the biggest risk you've taken? For example, what was your biggest exposure, or your biggest debt?
“I ordered my first shipment of plaster from Italy and prior to shipping I had to wire $15k into their account. We did the whole thing by fax. They were complete strangers who spoke another language. I had to trust them completely.”

What was your biggest success?
“Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma Inc.,” he says with a huge grin. “They purchased my product for the interior of all their stores nationwide.”

What has been your biggest challenge/failure/mistake?
“The Pottery Barn slowed down one year. They decided to use paint instead of plaster. My business totally relied on that account. So I got on the phone and cold -called new clients nationwide. I didn’t take no for an answer.”

How have your experience paid off -- what is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your career?
“People want to work with me. It’s a relationship. I’m the most successful when it’s not about me. When I’m actually just being service and value for another. As opposed to it’s gotta be my way or this isn’t going to work for me. Rather, I say “how will this work for you?” Simple really. My competition wasn’t like that and I know that the architecture and design community is happy to see me and work with me.”

How do you find balance in your life? Do you have a good work-life balance?
“By creating a team around my business. Since I’ve hired on people to help me I’ve been pursuing my work as a full-time artist. Painting.

What keeps you going -- why do you do it?
“It’s good money. It provides a means for fulfilling my dreams; like building my studio in Mendocino and buying 30 acres. To be a full-time artist and have financial freedom.”

What advise do you have for other entrepreneurs?
"Spend time creating something you can eat for breakfast, “ he says with verve and conviction in his voice. “Create a mission statement of how it will contribute to other people and impact communities and people around the world. Create something outside yourself that’s unusual and in high demand.”

Howell Hsiao
In the Middle of the Muck

What's your background/what company are you at now (and what does it do)?
Born and raised in the suburbs of Minneapolis, MN. After graduating high school in 1979, was a year-program student in Switzerland with American Field Service. Entered Stanford University in 1980. Selected for the Krupps Internship Program in Berlin; Interned at Daimler-Benz Stuttgart 1983 to 1984. Graduated June 1985 with BS in General Engineering/Product Design. Began employment at frogdesign August 1985 as CAD Designer, promoted to Design Director and General Manager of the Taipei office. Resigned from frogdesign May 1991. Started Cactus Design December 1991. Transformed into en Vision January 1996. Incorporated en Vision identity, inc. July 1998. Renamed envision ID May 2001.

Envision ID provides identity consulting and award-winning design services for high technology clients. Our skill sets include positioning, naming, logomark design, print design, website design, environmental design, and industrial design.

What's the biggest risk you've taken? For example, what was your biggest exposure, or your biggest debt?
To date, leaving frogdesign and starting my own business. I left a high-paying, stable job with lots of perks to do my own thing.

What was your biggest success (so far) (and what made it a success)? Either in terms of money made quickly, or however you yourself define success.
In terms of visibility, to be published in Graphis as this is a great honor in the design field. In terms of high-profile clients, did the identities of Calico, Kana, Chemdex, SIA and SEMI. In terms of building teams, had an office of up to 8 people.

What has been your biggest challenge/failure/mistake?
Hiring the wrong people, and now, surviving through the current economic downturn.

How did you bounce back?
Wrong people: Never quite recovered, they created more damage than I thought in terms of both cash outlay for no return and wrong decisions that have impacted our ongoing business.

Economic downturn: Haven't recovered yet, prognosis is not good. Downsized from a staff of 6 to one, need to sell furniture and hardware just to pay off our debts.

How have your experience paid off -- what is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your career?
As this has been the most difficult season of my career, I'm still learning. To date, the most important thing I've learned is that loyal and totally competent employees are the key to success. Also, sometimes things are simply beyond my sphere of influence and I can't feel personally responsible for these things.

How do you find balance in your life?
I try to keep my priorities straight and remember that my relationships with God and family are more important than what happens here at work. I make sure to schedule time to spend with my family and exercise daily. I also try to NOT work on the weekend if possible. Also, I try to not stress out about the things I don't have any influence over.

What keeps you going -- why do you do it?
At this point, I'm not sure I'm going to keep going. I will try to continue envision ID, but I will also be looking for a full time gig working with another world-class design firm.

Any advice for our community of entrepreneurs?
Make time for God, your family, and yourself. In the end, that's all that really counts.

Dave Holsonback
Reification: Turning art into profit
by Jen Dalton

I stepped out of the rain and into an enormous oasis of metal and wood one afternoon in San Francisco to interview Dave Holsonback, a sweet tempered man in his 50s or 60s (he wouldn't reveal) and owner of Reification. This warehouse space, a groovy hodge-podge of all sorts of metals and glass I couldn't identify by name combined with refurbished pieces from various old San Francisco buildings is home to the studio that has made a name for itself catering to the architectural elite of the Bay Area and beyond.

Reification means to reify or ascribe substantiality to a concept. More specifically, it's a synonym to deification or ascribing a god-likeness to an idea. Dave gave the example of using a word like "honor" to create a sculpture. And, this is the business of Reification. Dave works with designers and architects and collaborates and executes grand ideas into form. They do custom metal fabrication, patinas, restoration and design work. What was once a loose collective of artists just working together has transformed into a company that will make anything from custom furniture to staircases the likes of which grace the finest art and architecture magazines.

The company now has five employees and has earned a reputation for doing extraordinary things substantially on time and in budget. This group tries to do things as well as possible given the constraints of money and materials. And Dave modestly shares that he wishes he could say he had a plan, he just recognizes certain opportunities and follows them until they're exhausted. Meanwhile, he sits sipping a porter surrounded by art books, new computers, various metal odds and ends and a wall of fame illustrating the portfolio of the shop.

Reification is the perfect example of a working studio of artists who are making a living doing what they love to do. Dave is their ringleader and his wisdom is as follows:

What's the biggest risk you've taken; for example, your biggest exposure or biggest debt?
"Getting married. Personal relationships are much riskier than business."

What's your biggest success so far? What made it a success?
"We don't have to do much work we don't want to do anymore. We can pick and choose. I don't have to deal with crap or people I don't like."

How have your experiences paid off? What's the most important thing you've learned over the course of your career?
"I expect results, particularly when I delegate a lot of authority and responsibility to others and have to make sure they're getting it done and it's a contribution to everything. I've learned to make sure they're serving the organization rather than trying to become the kingpin. Also, I make enormous mistakes and that's why I know so much. I know a whole lot of ways that don't work which is more important than to know just one that could."

How do you find balance in your life?
"This past year was hard. I had no balance. But, I like to be social, fish, and fool around with cars and motorcycles. I actually do artwork when I have the time. It's been a rebuilding year and it's worked! Now the business is in a much better position than ever. We're poised for another run at greatness."

What keeps you going? Why do you do it?
"I like to do this stuff. I find it easier to do the collaborative stuff than being a lone artist."

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?
"Make sure you've got a salable skill you can live off of. Find something central to your own concerns and find a place where you can really do your own work. Find something you can stand to do that doesn't kill you or be an artist and don't take no for an answer. Try hard enough."

Russ Kirby
A True Renaissance Man and Jack of all Trades

Calm. Modest. Highly creative. Analytical. Crafty. Keen. Far sighted. Near sighted. A skilled carpenter, woodworker, draftsman, artist, musician, adventurer, inventor, general contractor, photographer and husband. That’s Russ Kirby in a nutshell. He’s the owner of Maestro Pedestals, a company of seven employees (two principals – Russ and his wife, Susan). Maestro makes custom-made pedestals to display art in galleries, museums, homes and hotels.

Russ acquired the company over 14 years ago as sort of an inheritance and it seemed like it just fell on his lap. He’d been doing some woodwork and purchasing on a very large boat up near Seattle and he met a man named Ed Maestro, a friend of the owner of the boat, Werner Earhardt. Mr. Maestro asked him to help build some pedestals when he was finished with the boat project. So Russ, knowing nothing of this trade