This evening Silicon Flatirons hosted CEO Todd Vernon and COO Walter Knapp of Lijit Networks. Founded in 2006, Lijit provides online publishers (bloggers) a free search engine as well as the potential to create a business around the blog from advertisement revenue sharing. Speaking to a group of over 100 in the Engineering Center, Vernon and Knapp took questions from the audience in addition to queries from moderators Brad Bernthal and Phil Weiser, both Professors of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. Among the more substantial points:
- Reach out early, reach out often: A recurring point made by both Vernon and Knapp was the need for an entrepreneur to forget about looking foolish and reach out to industry experts: “Nobody knows any of this stuff [starting a business]. Don’t worry about looking like an idiot. Go talk to people. Ask them, ‘Do I need to do this or is this stupid?’”
- Partner up: Vernon recounted that earlier in his career he was impressed by Paul Berberian and sought to partner with him, so he joined Berberian’s company with the intent of lining up a partnership down the road. The career gamble paid off as the two men eventually left the company to found Raindance Communications.
- Write your business plan in pencil: Vernon explained the original vision for Lijit had nothing to do with blogs but instead was a browser search engine plugin. The plan changed, however, when he discovered that few customers would install the widget. “By definition, the business will change. You can talk to someone you believe hit the ball out of the park with their business plan on the first at bat, and you learn that six months earlier the idea had been to open a dry cleaner.”
Those interested in more thoughts from these men can visit their personal blogs: Todd Vernon’s blog can be found at www.falseprecision.typepad.com, while Walter Knapp’s blog is www.walterknapp.typepad.com.
The next Entrepreneurs Unplugged will be held on November 19th at 6pm at the University of Colorado Engineering Center, ECCR 265. The featured speaker will be Roy Dimoff, CEO of Viawest. The free event is open to students, faculty, and members of the community. Registration can be found at Silicon Flatirons.
