Abed Abusaleh from Euro RSCG
TV, media buying, selling businesses
Abed Abusaleh from Euro RSCG is one of the very top media buyers from one of the top TV agencies so this was a pretty rare insight to get. Some Internet guys will be saying this is a pointless interview - but actually many direct response techniques we use to sell on the web came from TV. And these guys do a lot of volume, around $500M/year and run about 30% of the TV marketplace. Abed gives us an inside look at what it takes to get a show produced and enter the world of long-form (i.e. 30 min) infomercials. You can also find out how you can get your Internet products started on TV for $5k.Full Interview »
Matt Hill is the CEO of Shopit.com. Shopit is like eBay for social networking sites. According to Matt, Shopit is now the fastest growing e-commerce application on Facebook. EBay has had a lot of fraud problems, and a lot of people don't like using it anymore. After interviewing Matt, I wrote about 
Joe Abrams from The Software Toolworks was the key investor in the company that built MySpace - Intermix. He's extremely low profile, and it was something of a miracle to get this interview. Joe's made it through two boom periods - in the 90's he ran Software Toolworks, which was sold for around $450M. And then he did it again with MySpace. One of his companies distributed Defender of the Crown, a breakthrough game on the Commodore Amiga, which I spent many years on when I was growing up. I hope his interview inspires you as much as it inspired me. This was my interview of the year!
This interview is with John Marshall. He started his first software business around the age of 13 by making and selling video games. His most recent businesses have included ClickTracks, which is a Web analytics company, and now Market Motive, which provides online marketing training material. John talks about what prompted him to eventually sell ClickTracks. He also explains why he involved an investment bank in the selling process. John never took VC money to grow his business, and talks about why that is a better approach.
This interview is with Chris Young, who founded Klipmart, which he sold to DoubleClick. He recently started the Digital Broadcasting Group. His businesses have focused on online video, advertising, sponsorship, and promotion. Chris has worked on some really interesting things in the online world by incorporating video ads into web ads. His video advertising runs on sites like: MaximOnline.com, MTV, Heavy.com, IGN.com, GameSpy, Yahoo Games and MSN Entertainment.
John Linden, the CTO of Think Partnership, is introducing us to some of their new products. For anyone spending time in the pay per click market, you’ll find what they’re doing to be pretty interesting, there are some new methods coming where you can get additional PPC traffic.
Larry Organ of ConsumerBase is incredibly interesting to talk with because he understands better than just about anyone else how data can be used effectively. It’s a tricky area with lots of privacy and legal implications, but is extremely powerful and is becoming the basis for many types of targeting online, including behavioural targeting. Some key points of the interview: Learn from an expert in offline/online data sales. Find out how this company uses direct response marketing to work with blue chip customers. Discover how cell phone advertising can be legally done.
This interview is with Brady Whittingham, now of Think Partnership. I spoke with Brady shortly after he sold his company for about $20M. This interview will be useful if: you are interested in understanding how one of the top Internet offers in Utah works. You are interested in how to sell a direct response business for $20M.
