The Man Who Survived eTour, Grew Ask.com And Launched Clicker – with Jim Lanzone

Jim Lanzone, Clicker, Mental Game, Sell Your Business, Web 1.0

I met Jim Lanzone over 10 years ago and I was sure he would quickly IPO his startup, eTour, which was a web discovery site similar to Stumbleupon. He raised over $50 million in funding, had top backers and generated a lot of buzz.

Then the internet went through what past Mixergy interviewees called a “nuclear winter,” and the company lost its stability. I watched others disappear from the industry, but Jim ended up selling his startup to the company that became known as Ask.com, and he made it into one of the few surviving search sites.

In this interview you’ll hear how it happened, and how he’s making Clicker into the most complete guide to Internet television.

Jim Lanzone

Clicker

Jim Lanzone is the Founder and CEO of Clicker, the complete guide to Internet Television. The company’s mission is to make it simple for you to find the right show, right now.

 

Interviewer: Before we get started you got to know about 99designs because it’s the largest crowd source market place for graphic design. When I used them, I wrote a description of the design I needed and how much I was willing to pay. I got back a bunch of designs. I gave each designer feedback and then I got a bunch of new designs back, I only picked the designs I liked and I paid just for that. Try them for logo design, for blog design, for app icons and so much more. 99designs.com. Grasshopper is the virtual phone system that I use, it lets me add extensions and change my greeting and forward my calls and so much more. Even I have a toll free number from them. Try it for yourself at grasshopper.com. And finally I have a brand new sponsor, picclick; it was launched by an entrepreneur that you are going to admire because pick click is bootstrapped and profitable. Previously the founder created a visual way to search Cregg’s list, but then Cregg’s list banned him. Instead...

Continue reading the transcript...