Mixergy

When I asked him how he got his early customers, Steven Boal, founder of Coupons.com, didn’t say that he courted the digerati or threw a launch party. Instead, he told me stories of how he convinced packaged goods companies to try digital coupons by waiting in their lobbies longer than most people would have been willing to or jumping a redeye to get a prospect to run a small test campaign with him.

I implied that what was describing didn’t sound like a sexy business….

When I read that TechCrunch fired Daniel Brusilovsky for allegedly taking bribes, I invited him to Mixergy so I could find out what happened.

I asked Pat Matthews for an interview because he co-founded Webmail.us and sold it to Rackspace. I spent a lot of time talking about the setbacks along the way, because I knew that if all we talked about was how successful Pat was, I’d get emails thanking me for the motivating story, but it wouldn’t be useful enough.

I want Mixergy to give you interviews that will embed themselves in your mind and be there for you when you need them most. So I asked Pat to talk openly about the setbacks, about the…

In my pre-interview, Anand Shimpi warned me that he didn’t care as much about business as my other interviewees. I liked that. Mixergy can’t give you a real view of entrepreneurship if everyone I interview thinks and works exactly like I do. We need a mix of approaches.
So how did Anand build AnandTech, a tech [...]

How quickly would you give up?

After one setback? Two? Three?

Listen to Herman’s experience. See how he got past multiple setbacks that cost him millions and how he finally got his big hit. Better still, learn from his straight-forward advice to you.

How did a student with just $1,100 to his name create one of the 50 most visited web sites and launch a company that brings in $57 million a year?

What does he wish he knew when he started? And what advice does he have for you?

Click over to see.

I’ve gotten a lot of requests for a program about the legal issues that entrepreneurs like you need to be prepared for, so I invited Bill Schreiber of Fenwick & West to Mixergy. Fenwick is one of the most trusted firms among tech startups. They incorporated Apple, when it was just a startup, and their current client list includes young companies like Twitter and Facebook, as well as bigger companies like Cisco and Symantec.

…It’s schtick. It’s intentional. And it’s working. Last year, he earned $1.3 million from his blog.

In this interview, he talks very openly about how he gets people to notice him and pay up. Then he tells you how you can do it too. Well, I don’t think he really believes you have the heart to do it too, but he showed you how it’s done anyway.

The founders of Airbnb are guys who couldn’t make rent a few years ago, but they kept turning desperation into creative solutions. In October 2007, eager to make extra money, they noticed that local hotels were booked up because of a conference. So they pumped up some inflatable mattresses and listed their place online as an “air bed and breakfast.” It was quirky and it worked. That little act of creativity became Airbnb, the (profitable) site that allows anyone to list their extra space for rent.

This interview is full of examples of that kind of hustle, like how…

I’m always curious about how people decided to work together. Here’s a clip from my old interview with Jerry Colonna where he explained how he and Fred Wilson knew they should partner up at Flatiron Partners.

The transcript is included.

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With each sale, Rod Drury’s gaze was raised as he realized how much bigger he could build his companies.

His first big entry into entrepreneurship came when he and 2 partners each kicked in $10,000 and launched Glazier Systems, a software development and consulting company. What allowed it to grow with little capital is…