An exclusive with… Patrick Mork, VP Marketing of GetJar

What is GetJar and how does it differ from its competitors?

GetJar is the world’s largest cross platform app store, with over 300,000 developer and beta-tester accounts. GetJar connects mobile consumers, developers, publishers, and advertisers in an interactive environment, and gives users a unique and active role in product development.

Tell us more about the company: size, growth, structure…

Founded in 2005, we’ve grown rapidly and now offer 50,000 games and apps. Currently GetJar recently announced a milestone half billion downloads since launch and the store currently averages 55,000,000 downloads per month through its own site and network of OEM and carrier partners that include Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry and others. We are backed by Accel Partners and are a nimble team of twenty, with offices in Lithuania, Silicon Valley and the UK.

GetJar recently won the Meffy Award – tell us about that…

We were surprised that we won, but it’s great to be recognised by our industry peers. At the same time, winning also demonstrates that GetJar is providing a valuable contribution to the app eco system both, both for developers and consumers. Making distribution and discovery of apps easy is critical for our industry to survive and flourish

What is your prediction for the future of the applications market?  How will it all play out?

The app store market as a whole is likely to change dramatically over the next 12-18 months – I think at least 90% of app stores will fail. We also think that apps are going to be bigger than the mobile internet. The momentum and speed at which the market is growing, as well as the increasing power of smartphones, means that apps are here to stay.

From an advertising and marketing perspective, brands and agencies will begin to embrace apps more and more as a legitimate way to engage with consumers. As they do so, it’s likely that the way mobile marketing campaigns are measured will have to change, focusing more on cost per user engagement, as opposed to existing tools such as cost per impression or cost per clicks. Apps will continue to grow and develop into incredibly powerful marketing tools.

When did you join GetJar and why?

I joined GetJar in October 2008… It seemed like a company that had huge potential and was on the verge of a real breakthrough. More importantly, at the time, GetJar seemed like the only real and viable alternative to the closed app store ecosystem of Apple.

As the popularity of apps continues to grow, everyone who has a handset will want to join the apps revolution and GetJar is one of the only players in the market that can accommodate such demand. Ultimately, consumers want apps regardless of the handset make, model or platform and GetJar is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this demand.

What did you do prior to GetJar – how did you find yourself in this role?

Prior to GetJar I worked at Glu Mobile. It was a great opportunity for me to build a pan European marketing team across several different countries – something I’d not done before. Why did I join Glu? The management team were world class, young and dynamic and I really enjoyed working with them.  A number of them have subsequently gone on to start the incredibly successful web 2.0 gaming company called Playfish.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

Everything I’ve done has lead to something else, so it’s hard to say I’ve made decisions I regret. However, if I had to highlight one particular incident, I’d say it was trying to turn around a failing start up in Spain without having the right management team in place.

What’s your biggest achievement at GetJar to date?

There are two achievements that spring to mind:

Rebranding the company into an irreverent, fun and edgy app store

Putting a PR strategy in place that has noticeably changed the perception of the company – transforming it into a cutting edge start up in the space of 10/12 months

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

First, it’s important to hire the best people and make sure that you hire people who compliment your strengths and weaknesses. Then the key is to manage those people as team, be fair, motivate and encourage them.

What is hot in the online world right now?

Twitter, location based services and web/social gaming and of course: Apps!

What is GetJar and how does it differ from its competitors?

GetJar is the world’s largest cross platform app store, with over 300,000 developer and beta-tester accounts. GetJar connects mobile consumers, developers, publishers, and advertisers in an interactive environment, and gives users a unique and active role in product development.

Tell us more about the company: size, growth, structure…

Founded in 2005, we’ve grown rapidly and now offer 50,000 games and apps. Currently GetJar recently announced a milestone half billion downloads since launch and the store currently averages 55,000,000 downloads per month through its own site and network of OEM and carrier partners that include Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry and others. We are backed by Accel Partners and are a nimble team of twenty, with offices in Lithuania, Silicon Valley and the UK.

GetJar recently won the Meffy Award – tell us about that…

We were surprised that we won, but it’s great to be recognised by our industry peers. At the same time, winning also demonstrates that GetJar is providing a valuable contribution to the app eco system both, both for developers and consumers. Making distribution and discovery of apps easy is critical for our industry to survive and flourish

What is your prediction for the future of the applications market?  How will it all play out?

The app store market as a whole is likely to change dramatically over the next 12-18 months – I think at least 90% of app stores will fail. We also think that apps are going to be bigger than the mobile internet. The momentum and speed at which the market is growing, as well as the increasing power of smartphones, means that apps are here to stay.

From an advertising and marketing perspective, brands and agencies will begin to embrace apps more and more as a legitimate way to engage with consumers. As they do so, it’s likely that the way mobile marketing campaigns are measured will have to change, focusing more on cost per user engagement, as opposed to existing tools such as cost per impression or cost per clicks. Apps will continue to grow and develop into incredibly powerful marketing tools.

When did you join GetJar and why?

I joined GetJar in October 2008… It seemed like a company that had huge potential and was on the verge of a real breakthrough. More importantly, at the time, GetJar seemed like the only real and viable alternative to the closed app store ecosystem of Apple.

As the popularity of apps continues to grow, everyone who has a handset will want to join the apps revolution and GetJar is one of the only players in the market that can accommodate such demand. Ultimately, consumers want apps regardless of the handset make, model or platform and GetJar is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this demand.

What did you do prior to GetJar – how did you find yourself in this role?

Prior to GetJar I worked at Glu Mobile. It was a great opportunity for me to build a pan European marketing team across several different countries – something I’d not done before. Why did I join Glu? The management team were world class, young and dynamic and I really enjoyed working with them.  A number of them have subsequently gone on to start the incredibly successful web 2.0 gaming company called Playfish.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

Everything I’ve done has lead to something else, so it’s hard to say I’ve made decisions I regret. However, if I had to highlight one particular incident, I’d say it was trying to turn around a failing start up in Spain without having the right management team in place.

What’s your biggest achievement at GetJar to date?

There are two achievements that spring to mind:

Rebranding the company into an irreverent, fun and edgy app store

Putting a PR strategy in place that has noticeably changed the perception of the company – transforming it into a cutting edge start up in the space of 10/12 months

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

First, it’s important to hire the best people and make sure that you hire people who compliment your strengths and weaknesses. Then the key is to manage those people as team, be fair, motivate and encourage them.

What is hot in the online world right now?

Twitter, location based services and web/social gaming and of course: Apps!

An exclusive with… Pete Ward, Co-Founder of WAYN.com

What is WAYN?

WAYN is the fastest growing travel and lifestyle social networking community website. WAYN is present in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 15 million today.   WAYN is all about connecting like-minded people and helping them to find each other, to meet, to share dreams and aspirations and to help them enhance their social status.  WAYN is not just about travel, it is about meeting people and having fun!

Who are WAYN’s main competitors and how do you differentiate?

It is an interesting one.  If you look in travel there are few travel social networks of any significant scale.  You have the niche utility sites such as Dopplr, TripIt and TravBuddy. Then you have mass market travel sites such as Expedia and TripAdvisor who recently bought Virtual Tourist (since it was bought it has really capitalised on Trip Advisor’s SEO and driven traffic).

In terms of other types of social networks, we also compete with Facebook (albeit not directly) as this does have the mindshare of people’s time on social networks.

Where we are different is in making new friends – 60% of users on WAYN say they use it to meet new friends and not just to connect with existing ones.

Tell us about your business model – is ‘freemium’ the way forward?

Freemium is definitely the way forward.  It just depends on what that means.  We came from a subscription background (following the advice of Steve Pankhurst from Friends Reunited) but when the market changed in 2005, we had to change in order to compete.  We did not think that our offering was sufficiently differentiated enough to justify people paying subscriptions.  At that time our revenues were 70% subscription and 30% advertising based.  Jumping to today, advertising is now the bulk – over 70% of our revenue is now from advertising.

Shifting our business model is the best thing that we could have done.  It allowed us to go from 1.8m uniques to 7.5m uniques.  It was a great way to grow audience.  It also forced us to learn about how to monetise using advertising – prior to the change we did not really understand what our clients wanted but now we truly know our client base and deliver real satisfaction.  We have great case studies to show companies in the lifestyle, leisure, travel space about how we genuinely drive traffic, improve conversions etc.

Going forwards, it is an interesting one.  We do believe that advertising allows scalability and it is a useful platform however we do not believe it is the ultimate answer.  We have recently refocused our efforts to create a new type of subscription offering called VIP.  This provides a premium extension to our existing service.  It provides subscribers with a combination of offline and online benefits such as browsing in secret, sending gifts, reduced entry to nightclubs etc.  So far the feedback has been really positive.

We’d love to know how you initially took the concept from a piece of paper to an actual website…

The idea came from Jerome whilst he was on the Pacific Highway 101 in the US with friends.  He thought wouldn’t it be cool to be able to know where your mates are and connect with them etc.?  I had been doing a summer entrepreneurship course at LBS and when Pete told me the idea I thought it was great and could immediately see the value (unlike others he had told who thought it was a rubbish idea!).  Jerome and I had met previously at a social gathering for Accenture, our employer at the time.  We immediately brought in our other friend, Mike Lions, who is the tech brain and we started spending weekends and evenings over the next few months working on it.

Our day jobs were definitely not 9-5 so we were desperately trying to scribble notes on the way to work and do support queries in the evenings etc.  We used to meet at LBS and put ideas on whiteboards then send them to Mike who turned them into reality for the site.

It was a real grass roots and bootstrapping approach.  At times we did question if it was worth it – we spent two years of our time not making any money from it.  That was tough.  However in year one, we managed to get £10,000 from Steve Pankhurst and in year two we secured another £15,000.  It was not until year two that we discovered that Google ad words was the key to getting customers and we managed to get 45,000 customers.  In early 2005, we re-launched the site with web 2.0 features and other novel things and it was amazing – the site went from 45,000 to 1m members in six months.  Our next challenge was then about sustaining this growth.

What was the toughest thing you faced in the early days?  What is the biggest challenge you now face years on?

Our first challenge was growth – how do you manage growth?  We did not know about VCs or funding, we were just thinking about how do we keep this running?  We thought that if we blocked every country except for the UK and US from using the site we could limit usage – we really stifled a lot of growth at that point.  Also because we charged that limited a lot more usage and finally we also restricted the site to over 18s.  If we had known about the VC industry then and how taking some money would have helped our growth we would have done it very differently.  The VC industry is a good thing.

The other challenge we faced was when we saw the market changing and we saw the rise of Facebook.  For us, the question was how do we respond?  We raised money and de-risked the business by taking some money off the table.  We then changed the business model – we essentially ripped the business model in half and had to start again!

Now, our biggest challenge is how we constantly differentiate ourselves and compete in a very competitive market space.  Everyone is on Facebook and uses Twitter so we have to constantly redefine what people want.  We have to provide people with a reason to use WAYN.  We are just focused on helping people to connect, to have fun and to be able to share dreams, aspirations and experiences.

What are the pros and cons of the current market?

The positive is that there is a lot of innovation in the market – people are trying new things and mobile is exploding.  Things such as Android have made it easier for developers to make applications etc.  The climate is providing a host of opportunities to take advantage of and there is a real buzz in the industry thanks to people like The Up Group and the Drink Tank boys etc.

The downside for start-ups is the fact that it is difficult to raise money.  It is only possible if you have a proven monetisation model or you have a business with a great idea that is getting great traction.

How did you find raise initial financing and why did you take the investment that you did?

One of my biggest recommendations is to bootstrap as much as you can in the early stages and don’t give away too much equity too soon.  When you don’t have much cash like us in the early days it focuses your mind on what you can do  - so you just buy the server, you get a friend to do the graphic design and not an agency etc.  Don’t raise Series A too early.

We raised our Series A in November 2006 – it was lead by DFJ Esprit who have been fantastic.  Nic Brisbourne is on our board and he is very supportive of the management team and works really collaboratively.  Brent Hoberman was our initial Chairman and is also an investor. We now have the befit of Simon Guild at the helm, who has been fantastic since day one. Simon used to run MTV across Europe, Middle East and Africa and achieved great success for MTV. We are very happy to now have him on board. David Soskin and Hugo Burge from HOWZAT Media (also Cheapflights) are also investors as are the co-founders of Active Hotels, Adrian Critchlow and Andy Phillipps.  Finally, we also have Constant Tedder on our board, the co-founder and managing director of Jagex Ltd, which runs RuneScape, the UK’s largest online multi-player game.

The board are fantastic and all very relevant to the online, travel, gaming and entertainment space.

Steve Pankhurst of Friends Reunited was an original investor however he had to relinquish his shares due to the sale of Friends Reunited to ITV.

Did the fact that you were both young first-time entrepreneurs mean it was even more difficult to get funding?

No I don’t think it did.  I think it helped that we had work experience from a credible organisation like Accenture and it helped that we had grown our small investment to a £2m business already.  I think people take the view that the proof is in the pudding.

Brent had had unique experiences himself so I think he related.  As long as you show that you have the ability and that you are working on something novel and that there is a real opportunity then the VCs don’t care how old you are.

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a CEO?

On of our biggest mistakes was trying to keep up with the Jones’s.  We naturally tried to emulate what players like Facebook were doing and apply it to WAYN.  We were trying to compete with something much bigger than we were and we were never going to win.  We tried to do too many things reasonably well.  We are learning from that now. Focus is key.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Attitude.  It is all about finding people who compliment your strengths.  Get the right people on the bus early.  Don’t be a lone ranger.  You have to be smart about who you hire and you have to put people through the mill – we try and create near to reality scenarios and see what people would really do.  When you find good people then look after them and incentivise them to do well.  We now have teams aboard and managing remotely is tough but you have to get the balance right with autonomy and empowerment – communication is the key.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

I don’t have the time to scour TechCrunch and Twitter to see what new online start-ups are launching as otherwise I would not get any work done!  There are so many ideas but unfortunately many do not happen.  In the UK and Europe we should try and get behind start-ups like they do in the US more.

Spotify has created great traction and I wish them the best in capitalising on that momentum and just hope they can before the money could run out!

TweetDeck is another great idea and run by a great guy – it was a smart move to get PROfounders on board.

I also very much rate the Huddle guys (Andy McLoughlin and Ali Mitchell) and there are some exceptional young entrepreneurs coming through the pack – too many to mention!

However, apart from that, nothing springs to mind that makes me really go “Wow – that’s going to be the next Google” at the moment in terms of new start-ups but I really do admire some of the more established start-ups that have managed to scale.  Seatwave is a great example – Joe Cohen has created real scale there. Lovefilm also.

What is WAYN?

WAYN is the fastest growing travel and lifestyle social networking community website. WAYN is present in 193 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 15 million today.   WAYN is all about connecting like-minded people and helping them to find each other, to meet, to share dreams and aspirations and to help them enhance their social status.  WAYN is not just about travel, it is about meeting people and having fun!

Who are WAYN’s main competitors and how do you differentiate?

It is an interesting one.  If you look in travel there are few travel social networks of any significant scale.  You have the niche utility sites such as Dopplr, TripIt and TravBuddy. Then you have mass market travel sites such as Expedia and TripAdvisor who recently bought Virtual Tourist (since it was bought it has really capitalised on Trip Advisor’s SEO and driven traffic).

In terms of other types of social networks, we also compete with Facebook (albeit not directly) as this does have the mindshare of people’s time on social networks.

Where we are different is in making new friends – 60% of users on WAYN say they use it to meet new friends and not just to connect with existing ones.

Tell us about your business model – is ‘freemium’ the way forward?

Freemium is definitely the way forward.  It just depends on what that means.  We came from a subscription background (following the advice of Steve Pankhurst from Friends Reunited) but when the market changed in 2005, we had to change in order to compete.  We did not think that our offering was sufficiently differentiated enough to justify people paying subscriptions.  At that time our revenues were 70% subscription and 30% advertising based.  Jumping to today, advertising is now the bulk – over 70% of our revenue is now from advertising.

Shifting our business model is the best thing that we could have done.  It allowed us to go from 1.8m uniques to 7.5m uniques.  It was a great way to grow audience.  It also forced us to learn about how to monetise using advertising – prior to the change we did not really understand what our clients wanted but now we truly know our client base and deliver real satisfaction.  We have great case studies to show companies in the lifestyle, leisure, travel space about how we genuinely drive traffic, improve conversions etc.

Going forwards, it is an interesting one.  We do believe that advertising allows scalability and it is a useful platform however we do not believe it is the ultimate answer.  We have recently refocused our efforts to create a new type of subscription offering called VIP.  This provides a premium extension to our existing service.  It provides subscribers with a combination of offline and online benefits such as browsing in secret, sending gifts, reduced entry to nightclubs etc.  So far the feedback has been really positive.

We’d love to know how you initially took the concept from a piece of paper to an actual website…

The idea came from Jerome whilst he was on the Pacific Highway 101 in the US with friends.  He thought wouldn’t it be cool to be able to know where your mates are and connect with them etc.?  I had been doing a summer entrepreneurship course at LBS and when Pete told me the idea I thought it was great and could immediately see the value (unlike others he had told who thought it was a rubbish idea!).  Jerome and I had met previously at a social gathering for Accenture, our employer at the time.  We immediately brought in our other friend, Mike Lions, who is the tech brain and we started spending weekends and evenings over the next few months working on it.

Our day jobs were definitely not 9-5 so we were desperately trying to scribble notes on the way to work and do support queries in the evenings etc.  We used to meet at LBS and put ideas on whiteboards then send them to Mike who turned them into reality for the site.

It was a real grass roots and bootstrapping approach.  At times we did question if it was worth it – we spent two years of our time not making any money from it.  That was tough. However in year one, we managed to get £10,000 from Steve Pankhurst and in year two we secured another £15,000.  It was not until year two that we discovered that Google ad words was the key to getting customers and we managed to get 45,000 customers.  In early 2005, we re-launched the site with web 2.0 features and other novel things and it was amazing – the site went from 45,000 to 1m members in six months.  Our next challenge was then about sustaining this growth.

What was the toughest thing you faced in the early days?  What is the biggest challenge you now face years on?

Our first challenge was growth – how do you manage growth?  We did not know about VCs or funding, we were just thinking about how do we keep this running?  We thought that if we blocked every country except for the UK and US from using the site we could limit usage – we really stifled a lot of growth at that point.  Also because we charged that limited a lot more usage and finally we also restricted the site to over 18s.  If we had known about the VC industry then and how taking some money would have helped our growth we would have done it very differently.  The VC industry is a good thing.

The other challenge we faced was when we saw the market changing and we saw the rise of Facebook.  For us, the question was how do we respond?  We raised money and de-risked the business by taking some money off the table.  We then changed the business model – we essentially ripped the business model in half and had to start again!

Now, our biggest challenge is how we constantly differentiate ourselves and compete in a very competitive market space.  Everyone is on Facebook and uses Twitter so we have to constantly redefine what people want.  We have to provide people with a reason to use WAYN.  We are just focused on helping people to connect, to have fun and to be able to share dreams, aspirations and experiences.

What are the pros and cons of the current market?

The positive is that there is a lot of innovation in the market – people are trying new things and mobile is exploding.  Things such as Android have made it easier for developers to make applications etc.  The climate is providing a host of opportunities to take advantage of and there is a real buzz in the industry thanks to people like The Up Group and the Drink Tank boys etc.

The downside for start-ups is the fact that it is difficult to raise money.  It is only possible if you have a proven monetisation model or you have a business with a great idea that is getting great traction.

How did you find raise initial financing and why did you take the investment that you did?

One of my biggest recommendations is to bootstrap as much as you can in the early stages and don’t give away too much equity too soon.  When you don’t have much cash like us in the early days it focuses your mind on what you can do  - so you just buy the server, you get a friend to do the graphic design and not an agency etc.  Don’t raise Series A too early.

We raised our Series A in November 2006 – it was lead by DFJ Esprit who have been fantastic.  Nic Brisbourne is on our board and he is very supportive of the management team and works really collaboratively.  Brent Hoberman was our initial Chairman and is also an investor. We now have the befit of Simon Guild at the helm, who has been fantastic since day one. Simon used to run MTV across Europe, Middle East and Africa and achieved great success for MTV. We are very happy to now have him on board. David Soskin and Hugo Burge from HOWZAT Media (also Cheapflights) are also investors as are the co-founders of Active Hotels, Adrian Critchlow and Andy Phillipps.  Finally, we also have Constant Tedder on our board, the co-founder and managing director of Jagex Ltd, which runs RuneScape, the UK’s largest online multi-player game.

The board are fantastic and all very relevant to the online, travel, gaming and entertainment space.

Steve Pankhurst of Friends Reunited was an original investor however he had to relinquish his shares due to the sale of Friends Reunited to ITV.

Did the fact that you were both young first-time entrepreneurs mean it was even more difficult to get funding?

No I don’t think it did.  I think it helped that we had work experience from a credible organisation like Accenture and it helped that we had grown our small investment to a £2m business already.  I think people take the view that the proof is in the pudding.

Brent had had unique experiences himself so I think he related.  As long as you show that you have the ability and that you are working on something novel and that there is a real opportunity then the VCs don’t care how old you are.

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a CEO?

On of our biggest mistakes was trying to keep up with the Jones’s.  We naturally tried to emulate what players like Facebook were doing and apply it to WAYN.  We were trying to compete with something much bigger than we were and we were never going to win.  We tried to do too many things reasonably well.  We are learning from that now. Focus is key.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Attitude.  It is all about finding people who compliment your strengths.  Get the right people on the bus early.  Don’t be a lone ranger.  You have to be smart about who you hire and you have to put people through the mill – we try and create near to reality scenarios and see what people would really do.  When you find good people then look after them and incentivise them to do well.  We now have teams aboard and managing remotely is tough but you have to get the balance right with autonomy and empowerment – communication is the key.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

I don’t have the time to scour TechCrunch and Twitter to see what new online start-ups are launching as otherwise I would not get any work done!  There are so many ideas but unfortunately many do not happen.  In the UK and Europe we should try and get behind start-ups like they do in the US more.

Spotify has created great traction and I wish them the best in capitalising on that momentum and just hope they can before the money could run out!

TweetDeck is another great idea and run by a great guy – it was a smart move to get PROfounders on board.

I also very much rate the Huddle guys (Andy McLoughlin and Ali Mitchell) and there are some exceptional young entrepreneurs coming through the pack – too many to mention!

However, apart from that, nothing springs to mind that makes me really go “Wow – that’s going to be the next Google” at the moment in terms of new start-ups but I really do admire some of the more established start-ups that have managed to scale.  Seatwave is a great example – Joe Cohen has created real scale there. Lovefilm also.

An exclusive with… Barni Evans, Marketing Director of Paddy Power

What is Paddy Power?

A provider of gambling products and services.

Tell us more about the company: size, growth, structure…

We provide several products across multiple platforms and territories

Multi-product:  Betting, casino, bingo, poker, spread betting

Multi-territory:  We take business from c50 countries, but predominantly UK, Ireland and more recently Australia through an acquisition of two of the largest corporate bookmakers in Oz

Multiple transactional platforms:  Online, telephone, retail (280 shops) and mobile internet.

We recently launched our first B2B venture, Airton Risk Management, which offers financial contracts that allow companies to hedge against risk.

We’re 21 years old but still growing strong.  Since our flotation and UK launch in 2001 we’ve grown turnover from roughly €200m to over €2 billion, with gross win in 2008 hitting €280m, generating an operating profit of €75.7m

We employ over 1,500 staff (excluding Australia) with roughly two thirds of those working in our shops or call centres.

The online gaming sector is highly competitive – how do you differentiate and what do you see as your number one strength?

The genius of our founders was to recognise that gambling was a leisure activity not a financial transaction (yes – I know that seems pretty obvious now – but it was revolutionary at the time), so everything we do is geared towards optimising that experience.

In simple terms – we just want our customers to have fun.

On the product level, we offer more sports, more events within each sport, and more betting opportunities on each event.  Outside of sports we have the world’s biggest range of novelty bets, including current affairs, politics, business, entertainment and the downright weird stuff such as betting on the existence of God!

We offer better value through our famous Money-Back Specials, Paddy Justice payouts, and Guaranteed Prices (where the customer is assured of getting the best odds).

We also obsess about our customers’ functional experience, and research shows that both our shops and our web sites deliver the best customer satisfaction in their sectors.

All of this great product delivery is brought to life by our marketing.   From our advertising (putting our chief executive in a bathtub with former England international footballer), to our stunts (opening up a betting stand in Vatican City, and hosting the world’s largest strip poker tournament, to our sponsorships (having a professional rugby player change his name to Paddy Power and die his hair green on the eve of a World Cup match versus England) – it can all be summed up by one word – fun.

But there is a serious side to all this.  We operate on smaller budgets than our competitors, which means we word harder, and importantly try to analyse our effectiveness in order to focus on the stuff that really works.  For all the tomfoolery listed above, there’s a spreadsheet that validates or cancels it).

It’s also worth pointing out that whilst the brand activity gets us noticed, our channel marketing and crm programmes are essential in driving home our competitive advantage.

Is it true that online gaming is actually booming despite the credit crunch?  If so, why is that?

There are plenty of theories on gambling in a recession, and you could pretty much pick any one to suit whatever argument you wanted to make.  The fact is – online gaming is too new to have any worthwhile historical case studies.

Online gaming has been growing rapidly for a number of years, due to a range of inter-related trends (deregulation, more sport on tv, broadband penetration, liberalisation of public views of gambling following the launch of the national lottery – to name but a few).  This underlying growth may have slowed slightly over the last year, but the industry is still vibrant, and will continue to be.

This is especially true for Paddy Power because, as customers become more value conscious, they seek out the kind of product offering outlined above.

In the first half of 2009 our UK online sportsbook took 52% more bets than in the previous year.  We’re not stupid enough to believe we’re immune, but we absolutely believe that growth is still possible during a recession.

What is your prediction for the future of the online gaming market?  How will it all play out?

It will continue to grow and consolidate, but not being a big betting man I couldn’t predict much more than that.

When did you join Paddy Power and why?

I joined in 2001, because a well-spoken English head-hunter convinced me that Paddy Power was not an Irish utility company. I met a couple of the founders who told me the beguiling story of the company’s history.  I told them a few (exaggerated) stories from my time at News International – and the rest is history.

What did you do prior to Paddy Power – how did you find yourself in this role?

Prior to Paddy Power I was at an online division of NTL.  I found myself in this role because, having spent some time burning cash during the online boom, I thought I needed to get back into a credible blue chip business!

Paddy Power seemed like a perfect opportunity to join a company with amazing growth potential but the scope to make a significant contribution.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

During 2006 we turbo charged our online business.  I rested on my laurels and H1 2007 was tough because I hadn’t planned ahead.

What’s your biggest achievement at Paddy Power to date?

Helping to build a UK business that is challenging for market leadership.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Given the context of this document, clearly it’s all about recruiting great people.  Seriously, it’s pretty clichéd, but getting (and keeping) the right people, and helping them prove their talent.

In Paddy Power we rely on a fine blend of creativity and analytical rigour, both in individuals and across teams.  This is not a common blend – and requires constant focus.

What is hot in the online world right now?

We’ve been concerned that our online video offerings were too long and we were failing to engage people for the duration.  Our TV guys experimented with extreme cut downs and quite liked the effect.  Then we saw 12seconds.tv and couldn’t make up our minds as to whether we should feel cool or cheated!

[Shameless plug for my wife’s business] Also – a new mobile phone network launched recently called giffgaff.  It plays to all the dynamics of a web2.0 audience.

I’ll be interested to see how these businesses perform.

What is Paddy Power?

A provider of gambling products and services.

Tell us more about the company: size, growth, structure…

We provide several products across multiple platforms and territories

• Multi-product:  Betting, casino, bingo, poker, spread betting
• Multi-territory:  We take business from c50 countries, but predominantly UK, Ireland and more recently Australia through an acquisition of two of the largest corporate bookmakers in Oz
• Multiple transactional platforms:  Online, telephone, retail (280 shops) and mobile internet.

We recently launched our first B2B venture, Airton Risk Management, which offers financial contracts that allow companies to hedge against risk.

We’re 21 years old but still growing strong.  Since our flotation and UK launch in 2001 we’ve grown turnover from roughly €200m to over €2 billion, with gross win in 2008 hitting €280m, generating an operating profit of €75.7m

We employ over 1,500 staff (excluding Australia) with roughly two thirds of those working in our shops or call centres.

The online gaming sector is highly competitive – how do you differentiate and what do you see as your number one strength?

The genius of our founders was to recognise that gambling was a leisure activity not a financial transaction (yes – I know that seems pretty obvious now – but it was revolutionary at the time), so everything we do is geared towards optimising that experience.

In simple terms – we just want our customers to have fun.

On the product level, we offer more sports, more events within each sport, and more betting opportunities on each event.  Outside of sports we have the world’s biggest range of novelty bets, including current affairs, politics, business, entertainment and the downright weird stuff such as betting on the existence of God!

We offer better value through our famous Money-Back Specials, Paddy Justice payouts, and Guaranteed Prices (where the customer is assured of getting the best odds).

We also obsess about our customers’ functional experience, and research shows that both our shops and our web sites deliver the best customer satisfaction in their sectors.

All of this great product delivery is brought to life by our marketing.   From our advertising (putting our chief executive in a bathtub with former England international footballer), to our stunts (opening up a betting stand in Vatican City, and hosting the world’s largest strip poker tournament, to our sponsorships (having a professional rugby player change his name to Paddy Power and die his hair green on the eve of a World Cup match versus England) – it can all be summed up by one word – fun.

But there is a serious side to all this.  We operate on smaller budgets than our competitors, which means we word harder, and importantly try to analyse our effectiveness in order to focus on the stuff that really works.  For all the tomfoolery listed above, there’s a spreadsheet that validates or cancels it).

It’s also worth pointing out that whilst the brand activity gets us noticed, our channel marketing and crm programmes are essential in driving home our competitive advantage.

Is it true that online gaming is actually booming despite the credit crunch?  If so, why is that?

There are plenty of theories on gambling in a recession, and you could pretty much pick any one to suit whatever argument you wanted to make.  The fact is – online gaming is too new to have any worthwhile historical case studies.

Online gaming has been growing rapidly for a number of years, due to a range of inter-related trends (deregulation, more sport on tv, broadband penetration, liberalisation of public views of gambling following the launch of the national lottery – to name but a few).  This underlying growth may have slowed slightly over the last year, but the industry is still vibrant, and will continue to be.

This is especially true for Paddy Power because, as customers become more value conscious, they seek out the kind of product offering outlined above.

In the first half of 2009 our UK online sportsbook took 52% more bets than in the previous year.  We’re not stupid enough to believe we’re immune, but we absolutely believe that growth is still possible during a recession.

What is your prediction for the future of the online gaming market?  How will it all play out?

It will continue to grow and consolidate, but not being a big betting man I couldn’t predict much more than that.

When did you join Paddy Power and why?

I joined in 2001, because a well-spoken English head-hunter convinced me that Paddy Power was not an Irish utility company. I met a couple of the founders who told me the beguiling story of the company’s history.  I told them a few (exaggerated) stories from my time at News International – and the rest is history.

What did you do prior to Paddy Power – how did you find yourself in this role?

Prior to Paddy Power I was at an online division of NTL.  I found myself in this role because, having spent some time burning cash during the online boom, I thought I needed to get back into a credible blue chip business!

Paddy Power seemed like a perfect opportunity to join a company with amazing growth potential but the scope to make a significant contribution.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

During 2006 we turbo charged our online business.  I rested on my laurels and H1 2007 was tough because I hadn’t planned ahead.

What’s your biggest achievement at Paddy Power to date?

Helping to build a UK business that is challenging for market leadership.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Given the context of this document, clearly it’s all about recruiting great people.  Seriously, it’s pretty clichéd, but getting (and keeping) the right people, and helping them prove their talent.

In Paddy Power we rely on a fine blend of creativity and analytical rigour, both in individuals and across teams.  This is not a common blend – and requires constant focus.

What is hot in the online world right now?

We’ve been concerned that our online video offerings were too long and we were failing to engage people for the duration.  Our TV guys experimented with extreme cut downs and quite liked the effect.  Then we saw 12seconds.tv and couldn’t make up our minds as to whether we should feel cool or cheated!

[Shameless plug for my wife’s business] Also – a new mobile phone network launched recently called giffgaff.  It plays to all the dynamics of a web2.0 audience.

I’ll be interested to see how these businesses perform.

An exclusive with… Karl Gregory, Marketing Director of match.com

What is match.com and does it differ from its competitors?

match.com began with one simple mission: to make love happen. It’s been the inspiration since the founders realised the potential of the internet to connect people with each-other.

The site helps millions of people find love and over 6.5 million people have joined match.com in their search for someone special since 2005, making us the UK’s biggest dating site.

First and foremost we are different because people come to us who are looking for love.  We’ve always been about love and work hard through our marketing and distinct brand proposition to attract people to the site who are serious about finding a relationship.

Secondly, it has to be about scale and customer care. We have more members than any other dating site giving our members ample opportunity to meet people they wouldn’t otherwise come across.

And unlike many other dating sites our members are supported by a dedicated customer care team who work around the clock to ensure the success of the match community, personally reviewing every profile and picture. In fact 25% of our headcount in the UK work for that team.

Finally and probably most importantly, match.com has a proven record of success.    We pioneered online dating back in 1995 and have been successfully matchmaking ever since.  Every day, couples contact us to share their love stories, invite us to their weddings and announce the births of their children.

Tell us more about the company: size, growth, structure…

match.com in the UK is part of Meetic, Europe’s online dating leader and is based in London’s Leicester Square.

We are a close knit team and helping people find that someone special is at the heart of what we do.

And it’s working, match.com alone has seen a 35% increase in new sign ups at the start of this year as people reassess their life priorities and search for love.

Hasn’t match recently been acquired?   What does that mean for match.com?

IAC match.com’s former parent company exchanged the European operation including the UK business to Meetic for a 27% stake in the company in June 2009.   The deal has really reinforced Meetic’s first place on the continent and the group is established in 16 European countries, as well as Latin America, and is available in 13 languages.

The deal has brought together the two most successful online dating brands in the UK, dating direct and match.com.

Is it true that online dating is actually booming despite the credit crunch?  If so, why is that?

In spite of difficult economic times, the business of love is doing well. Irrespective of the economic climate, people will always be looking for love because it’s a fundamental human need.  We all want someone to share the good times and the bad times with.

Certainly the economy makes people reassess their life priorities.  We cannot however ignore the powerful role our marketing and strong product have played in driving our success this year.

What is your prediction for the future of the online dating market?  How will it all play out?

More than one in three singles now use the internet to help them find love – we expect this to dramatically increase this year as the internet becomes an increasingly acceptable way to meet a partner.  Which? recently found that one in five people who met a partner online married that person which proves that online dating really works.

As the category matures and new entrants arrive, brand and product will play an increasingly important role. Whether that’s helping people find that person themselves or us finding them their very best match.

When did you join match and why?

I joined in early 2009.

match.com is a company which isn’t afraid to take risks but which combines this gutsiness with a strong company ethos and set of principles which I found very attractive. On a day to day basis, I am also lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a passionate and talented team who really believe in what they do.

Choosing your life partner is one of the most important decisions you will ever make, so it’s great to be driving a business that makes a real difference in people’s lives.

What did you do prior to match.com – how did you find yourself in this role?

I have worked across a number of blue chip companies, smaller start-ups and world-class Internet brands. Prior to joining match.com, I worked for an internet start-up called iProfile with a big idea to revolutionise the recruitment space.

Previously I also held roles as Head of Marketing for Yahoo! UK and was International Marketing Director for AltaVista.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

Fair question. Not working for a subscription based business sooner !

What’s your biggest achievement at match.com to date?

Waking up in the morning and looking forward to going to work.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

I live by David Ogilvy’s mantra “hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants”. Once you have built a team of giants, it’s important to empower them to deliver results.

What is hot in the online world right now?

Video streaming. It has the potential to replace TV and become a mainstream broadcast media. BBC iPlayer has led the way, but other companies are following suit. Today, TV media is bought and planned on a panel of 5100 people across a population of 28 million households! TV advertising’s biggest flaw is the lack of accountability and ROI reporting. Couple Internet’s reporting capabilities with quality programming, large and relevant viewing audiences and you have created a marketer’s dream.

What is match.com and does it differ from its competitors?

match.com began with one simple mission: to make love happen. It’s been the inspiration since the founders realised the potential of the internet to connect people with each-other.

The site helps millions of people find love and over 6.5 million people have joined match.com in their search for someone special since 2005, making us the UK’s biggest dating site.

First and foremost we are different because people come to us who are looking for love.  We’ve always been about love and work hard through our marketing and distinct brand proposition to attract people to the site who are serious about finding a relationship.

Secondly, it has to be about scale and customer care. We have more members than any other dating site giving our members ample opportunity to meet people they wouldn’t otherwise come across.

And unlike many other dating sites our members are supported by a dedicated customer care team who work around the clock to ensure the success of the match community, personally reviewing every profile and picture. In fact 25% of our headcount in the UK work for that team.

Finally and probably most importantly, match.com has a proven record of success. We pioneered online dating back in 1995 and have been successfully matchmaking ever since. Every day, couples contact us to share their love stories, invite us to their weddings and announce the births of their children.

Tell us more about the company: size, growth, structure…

match.com in the UK is part of Meetic, Europe’s online dating leader and is based in London’s Leicester Square.

We are a close knit team and helping people find that someone special is at the heart of what we do.

And it’s working, match.com alone has seen a 35% increase in new sign ups at the start of this year as people reassess their life priorities and search for love.

Hasn’t match recently been acquired?   What does that mean for match.com?

IAC match.com’s former parent company exchanged the European operation including the UK business to Meetic for a 27% stake in the company in June 2009. The deal has really reinforced Meetic’s first place on the continent and the group is established in 16 European countries, as well as Latin America, and is available in 13 languages.

The deal has brought together the two most successful online dating brands in the UK, dating direct and match.com.

Is it true that online dating is actually booming despite the credit crunch?  If so, why is that?

In spite of difficult economic times, the business of love is doing well. Irrespective of the economic climate, people will always be looking for love because it’s a fundamental human need. We all want someone to share the good times and the bad times with.

Certainly the economy makes people reassess their life priorities. We cannot however ignore the powerful role our marketing and strong product have played in driving our success this year.

What is your prediction for the future of the online dating market?  How will it all play out?

More than one in three singles now use the internet to help them find love – we expect this to dramatically increase this year as the internet becomes an increasingly acceptable way to meet a partner.  Which? recently found that one in five people who met a partner online married that person which proves that online dating really works.

As the category matures and new entrants arrive, brand and product will play an increasingly important role. Whether that’s helping people find that person themselves or us finding them their very best match.

When did you join match and why?

I joined in early 2009.

match.com is a company which isn’t afraid to take risks but which combines this gutsiness with a strong company ethos and set of principles which I found very attractive. On a day to day basis, I am also lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a passionate and talented team who really believe in what they do.

Choosing your life partner is one of the most important decisions you will ever make, so it’s great to be driving a business that makes a real difference in people’s lives.

What did you do prior to match.com – how did you find yourself in this role?

I have worked across a number of blue chip companies, smaller start-ups and world-class Internet brands. Prior to joining match.com, I worked for an internet start-up called iProfile with a big idea to revolutionise the recruitment space.

Previously I also held roles as Head of Marketing for Yahoo! UK and was International Marketing Director for AltaVista.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

Fair question. Not working for a subscription based business sooner !

What’s your biggest achievement at match.com to date?

Waking up in the morning and looking forward to going to work.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

I live by David Ogilvy’s mantra “hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants”. Once you have built a team of giants, it’s important to empower them to deliver results.

What is hot in the online world right now?

Video streaming. It has the potential to replace TV and become a mainstream broadcast media. BBC iPlayer has led the way, but other companies are following suit. Today, TV media is bought and planned on a panel of 5100 people across a population of 28 million households! TV advertising’s biggest flaw is the lack of accountability and ROI reporting. Couple Internet’s reporting capabilities with quality programming, large and relevant viewing audiences and you have created a marketer’s dream.

An Exclusive with… Marin Muyser, Chairman of Travel Intelligence

What is Travel Intelligence and what is unique about the proposition?

The Travel Intelligence Group is a group of companies specialising in the online distribution of HYPERLINK “http://www.travelintelligence.com/luxury-hotels/boutique-hotels”boutique and HYPERLINK “http://www.travelintelligence.com/luxury-hotels”luxury hotels. The company owns two consumer websites – HYPERLINK “http://www.travelintelligence.com”www.travelintelligence.com and HYPERLINK “http://www.chicretreats.com”www.chicretreats.com – as well as Starfish Luxury Travel Distribution. Starfish owns the largest and most comprehensive database of boutique and luxury hotels worldwide and powers other sites such as Travel Supermarket, Mr and Mrs Smith, Hip Hotels, Room for Romance, Luxique, Luxe City Guides and many others.

Tell us more about the company: team size, funding….

The company, which employs around 30 people in London, is a venture-backed firm operating at close to break-even. Our revenues grew at 130% year-on-year 2007-2008, and have grown slightly 2008-2009. We closed £2.2 million of funding in February this year (although ideally, as part of that round of funding, we are still looking for around £1 million).

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?  What are the downsides?

The main benefit of being a VC backed start-up is access to cash, the lifeblood of any small business. The network and cachet it brings helps with both business development and the corporate profile of the company, respectively. Another benefit is that they bring discipline, which many entrepreneurs underestimate. However, I think that the last benefit also brings about the downside of VC backing: it is very hard to keep the entrepreneurial spirit going within a VC environment, because detailed reporting, rigour and process are expected, without often having the know-how or the resources available.

How is business in the current economic climate?  Has the downturn presented opportunities as well as challenges?

Business is tough, but not without opportunities. We have shifted our immediate focus from driving revenue (although this remains important, of course) and are revamping our product, from supplier contracts to operating margins, our websites and the technologies that drive them. Let’s say that we’re using this year to sharpen our pencils so that we can compete with an unfair advantage when the markets pick up!

What’s your role – what does that mean in terms of your responsibilities?

My role is focused on corporate and business development. This sounds elegant, but it really means that I am out there, promoting the company with potential partners, clients, investors and anyone else who might want to hear about us. As Brent Hoberman once said – running a business is all about selling, selling and selling and that’s 90% of what I do. I am fortunate, though, to have a fulltime CEO who takes care of the product and operational side of the company.

How did you come to be in the role – what is your personal background and career path?

I am Dutch, and I started out as a filmmaker in Amsterdam after having studied Business Administration in London. After six years of adventure (but no money) the internet was making waves and I jumped on one of them by co-founding a company called Booking.com. After about five years with them, and having grown the company substantially, I moved to join my wife and newborn son in London. I sold my stake in Booking and looked for something in the luxury end of the online hotel market as that was at the time relatively untapped. I bought into Travelintelligence.com (which was set up by AA Gill amongst others) because it struck me as being an absolutely fantastic resource for hotels and travel writing. Together with one of the co-founders I turned the business around into a distributor of boutique and luxury hotels. I guess I have been lucky, but I cannot say it didn’t go without a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

I don’t think there is one big mistake. There are so many. We all make them and we all learn from them. I think the major lesson I have received from 15 years of entrepreneurship is that you are never too big for the small things. With this I mean that detail matters, that you need to get involved and dig deep to find the answers and that this requires sheer determination and a self-effacing and self-deprecating attitude. Integrity goes a long way as well.

What’s your biggest achievement at Travel Intelligence to date?

The biggest achievement overall is that we still exist. We almost went belly-up a number of times. The biggest achievement of late is to close the funding round in February 2009.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

It took me a very long time with Travel Intelligence before we had a good team together. Apart from the human resource aspect I think there is a magical ingredient (which is incidentally the same ingredient that is lacking with the Dutch football team ever since they won the European Cup in 1988!)

Share some tips on how to build a great online business?

Attract the best people, right from the start. Prove it (whatever your business is/wants to be), fund it and grow it. Execution is still the biggest risk factor and the better the people, the more this is mitigated. Otherwise – sell, sell and sell.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

I have no idea, to be honest. But cloud computing and mobile applications are gaining a fair bit of momentum. The combination of the two – and having the security and ease of being able to have everything in one place on the go – would be fantastic. So that is what I would bet on: single points of distribution ubiquitously connected to anything and everything else.

What is Travel Intelligence and what is unique about the proposition?

The Travel Intelligence Group is a group of companies specialising in the online distribution of boutique and luxury hotels. The company owns two consumer websites www.travelintelligence.com and www.chicretreats.com – as well as Starfish Luxury Travel Distribution. Starfish owns the largest and most comprehensive database of boutique and luxury hotels worldwide and powers other sites such as Travel Supermarket, Mr and Mrs Smith, Hip Hotels, Room for Romance, Luxique, Luxe City Guides and many others.

Tell us more about the company: team size, funding….

The company, which employs around 30 people in London, is a venture-backed firm operating at close to break-even. Our revenues grew at 130% year-on-year 2007-2008, and have grown slightly 2008-2009. We closed £2.2 million of funding in February this year (although ideally, as part of that round of funding, we are still looking for around £1 million).

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?  What are the downsides?

The main benefit of being a VC backed start-up is access to cash, the lifeblood of any small business. The network and cachet it brings helps with both business development and the corporate profile of the company, respectively. Another benefit is that they bring discipline, which many entrepreneurs underestimate. However, I think that the last benefit also brings about the downside of VC backing: it is very hard to keep the entrepreneurial spirit going within a VC environment, because detailed reporting, rigour and process are expected, without often having the know-how or the resources available.

How is business in the current economic climate?  Has the downturn presented opportunities as well as challenges?

Business is tough, but not without opportunities. We have shifted our immediate focus from driving revenue (although this remains important, of course) and are revamping our product, from supplier contracts to operating margins, our websites and the technologies that drive them. Let’s say that we’re using this year to sharpen our pencils so that we can compete with an unfair advantage when the markets pick up!

What’s your role – what does that mean in terms of your responsibilities?

My role is focused on corporate and business development. This sounds elegant, but it really means that I am out there, promoting the company with potential partners, clients, investors and anyone else who might want to hear about us. As Brent Hoberman once said – running a business is all about selling, selling and selling and that’s 90% of what I do. I am fortunate, though, to have a fulltime CEO who takes care of the product and operational side of the company.

How did you come to be in the role – what is your personal background and career path?

I am Dutch, and I started out as a filmmaker in Amsterdam after having studied Business Administration in London. After six years of adventure (but no money) the internet was making waves and I jumped on one of them by co-founding a company called Booking.com. After about five years with them, and having grown the company substantially, I moved to join my wife and newborn son in London. I sold my stake in Booking and looked for something in the luxury end of the online hotel market as that was at the time relatively untapped. I bought into Travelintelligence.com (which was set up by AA Gill amongst others) because it struck me as being an absolutely fantastic resource for hotels and travel writing. Together with one of the co-founders I turned the business around into a distributor of boutique and luxury hotels. I guess I have been lucky, but I cannot say it didn’t go without a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

I don’t think there is one big mistake. There are so many. We all make them and we all learn from them. I think the major lesson I have received from 15 years of entrepreneurship is that you are never too big for the small things. With this I mean that detail matters, that you need to get involved and dig deep to find the answers and that this requires sheer determination and a self-effacing and self-deprecating attitude. Integrity goes a long way as well.

What’s your biggest achievement at Travel Intelligence to date?

The biggest achievement overall is that we still exist. We almost went belly-up a number of times. The biggest achievement of late is to close the funding round in February 2009.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

It took me a very long time with Travel Intelligence before we had a good team together. Apart from the human resource aspect I think there is a magical ingredient (which is incidentally the same ingredient that is lacking with the Dutch football team ever since they won the European Cup in 1988!)

Share some tips on how to build a great online business?

Attract the best people, right from the start. Prove it (whatever your business is/wants to be), fund it and grow it. Execution is still the biggest risk factor and the better the people, the more this is mitigated. Otherwise – sell, sell and sell.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

I have no idea, to be honest. But cloud computing and mobile applications are gaining a fair bit of momentum. The combination of the two – and having the security and ease of being able to have everything in one place on the go – would be fantastic. So that is what I would bet on: single points of distribution ubiquitously connected to anything and everything else.

An exclusive with… Laurent Gibb, Commercial Director of Criteo

What is Criteo and what is unique about the proposition?

Criteo is a European company specialising in personalised retargeting working with hundreds of e-Commerce clients across Europe such as Wickes, Office, Lakeland, Halfords and many more. Criteo serves over 2 billion online personalised retargeted ads every month generating in excess of £1 million post click sales revenue for our clients every day

Criteo’s personalised retargeting solution is completely unique in that it enables e-Commerce sites to retarget users who didn’t make a purchase the first time round by displaying dynamic banners to them. Each banner is unique to each individual user and the banners are displayed across our traffic partner sites such as portals and networks to bring users back a second time round, converting them into buyers.

Tell us more about the company: team size, funding, stage of growth….

Criteo was set-up back in 2005 by serial entrepreneur and Criteo CEO Jean-Baptiste Rudelle and technical experts Franck Le Ouay and Romain Niccoli, former Microsoft R&D Seattle, USA.

Criteo has a team of around 60 people across Europe and is growing fast in current markets and as well as launching into new markets. Criteo will most likely have a presence beyond Europe sometime later on this year.

In early 2008 Criteo secured additional series B funding to launch into the UK and internationally from Index Ventures (the backers behind companies such as Skype Betfair, LoveFilm, MySQL) bringing the total investment to €10 million. The round also included historical investors AGF Private Equity and Elaia Partners

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?

Having supportive VCs who champion you is really important, introductions and contacts at the right level can also accelerate partnerships and deals.

How is business in the current economic climate?  Has the downturn presented opportunities as well as challenges?

Having launched in the UK only just over a UK everything we do is helping the business grow which is a nice position to be in. We don’t have any competition right now but when you have a great product it’s not long before you have imitators so were working to stay ahead of the curve. Our personalised retargeting advertising technology generates value directly for our clients and drives immediately quantifiable ROI which is a good proposition to have in this current climate. Our clients are looking for new and innovative ways to increase sales, revenues and loyalty and Criteo is able to fill this requirement.

What’s your role – what are your responsibilities?

As Commercial Director and the first employee in the UK I was responsible for setting up all aspects of the UK operation. Overall responsibilities included all functions including sales, business development, technical support, recruitment and marketing. I now have a main focus on the publisher side of our business which is where a huge amount of our growth is coming from.

How did you come to be in the role – what is your personal background and career path?

Prior to joining Criteo I had spent 5 years at Shopping.com and then eBay. When I joined Shopping.com we only had a very small team of 5-6 on the ground in the UK. Being part of extremely rapid growth company, going through an IPO and being acquired by eBay was a lot of fun and a great experience.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

I can’t think of any one thing, although I’m sure I’ve made a lot and certainly hope I’ve learned from them. Working in such a fast-paced environment there is no rulebook so it is important to constantly learn and adapt while keeping focus.

What’s your biggest achievement at Criteo to date?

Since I’ve been involved in so many areas of the business that’s a pretty tough question, I would probably say setting up the UK from scratch. It was a massive challenge with many ups and downs and very rewarding to see the UK business grow from nothing to where it is now.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Building a great team is key to any companies’ success, specifically hiring the right people the first time round in the areas that count the most, especially areas of weakness. Team members should have a clear understating of the companies’ direction and goals as well as their own and be given the freedom and accountability to get to them

Share some tips on how to build a great online business?

Focus is the most important thing and getting the basics right is essential. Realising what needs to be tweaked and iterated and making the changes as you go along and as often as necessary will make the difference between having something that works versus something that is broken. Having open communication at all levels is also vital to ensure business issues that have the potential to become obstacles are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

I was recently asked to speak at a Future of Technologies summit so was lucky enough to see a number of interesting companies present. One which really stood out was Amuso who specialise in online game shows and have some impressive real time game play technology.

The other one was Quick.tv who provides a professional video-editing platform. Their technology is very easy to use and I can see some real benefits for freelancers and small businesses. Although not aimed at consumers I am sure Quick.tv would prove a massive hit in this area.

The last one is Just-eat who have just raised a significant £10.5m investment round from Index Ventures, through the site hungry users can access nearly 3’000 takeaways across the country to place an order via their platform and even pay online before leaving a review. It’s a great site and can’t wait to see the next version.

What is Criteo and what is unique about the proposition?

Criteo is a European company specialising in personalised retargeting working with hundreds of e-Commerce clients across Europe such as Wickes, Office, Lakeland, Halfords and many more. Criteo serves over 2 billion online personalised retargeted ads every month generating in excess of £1 million post click sales revenue for our clients every day

Criteo’s personalised retargeting solution is completely unique in that it enables e-Commerce sites to retarget users who didn’t make a purchase the first time round by displaying dynamic banners to them. Each banner is unique to each individual user and the banners are displayed across our traffic partner sites such as portals and networks to bring users back a second time round, converting them into buyers.

Tell us more about the company: team size, funding, stage of growth….

Criteo was set-up back in 2005 by serial entrepreneur and Criteo CEO Jean-Baptiste Rudelle and technical experts Franck Le Ouay and Romain Niccoli, former Microsoft R&D Seattle, USA.

Criteo has a team of around 60 people across Europe and is growing fast in current markets and as well as launching into new markets. Criteo will most likely have a presence beyond Europe sometime later on this year.

In early 2008 Criteo secured additional series B funding to launch into the UK and internationally from Index Ventures (the backers behind companies such as Skype Betfair, LoveFilm, MySQL) bringing the total investment to €10 million. The round also included historical investors AGF Private Equity and Elaia Partners

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?

Having supportive VCs who champion you is really important, introductions and contacts at the right level can also accelerate partnerships and deals.

How is business in the current economic climate?  Has the downturn presented opportunities as well as challenges?

Having launched in the UK only just over a UK everything we do is helping the business grow which is a nice position to be in. We don’t have any competition right now but when you have a great product it’s not long before you have imitators so were working to stay ahead of the curve. Our personalised retargeting advertising technology generates value directly for our clients and drives immediately quantifiable ROI which is a good proposition to have in this current climate. Our clients are looking for new and innovative ways to increase sales, revenues and loyalty and Criteo is able to fill this requirement.

What’s your role – what are your responsibilities?

As Commercial Director and the first employee in the UK I was responsible for setting up all aspects of the UK operation. Overall responsibilities included all functions including sales, business development, technical support, recruitment and marketing. I now have a main focus on the publisher side of our business which is where a huge amount of our growth is coming from.

How did you come to be in the role – what is your personal background and career path?

Prior to joining Criteo I had spent 5 years at Shopping.com and then eBay. When I joined Shopping.com we only had a very small team of 5-6 on the ground in the UK. Being part of extremely rapid growth company, going through an IPO and being acquired by eBay was a lot of fun and a great experience.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career to date and what have you learnt from it?

I can’t think of any one thing, although I’m sure I’ve made a lot and certainly hope I’ve learned from them. Working in such a fast-paced environment there is no rulebook so it is important to constantly learn and adapt while keeping focus.

What’s your biggest achievement at Criteo to date?

Since I’ve been involved in so many areas of the business that’s a pretty tough question, I would probably say setting up the UK from scratch. It was a massive challenge with many ups and downs and very rewarding to see the UK business grow from nothing to where it is now.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Building a great team is key to any companies’ success, specifically hiring the right people the first time round in the areas that count the most, especially areas of weakness. Team members should have a clear understating of the companies’ direction and goals as well as their own and be given the freedom and accountability to get to them

Share some tips on how to build a great online business?

Focus is the most important thing and getting the basics right is essential. Realising what needs to be tweaked and iterated and making the changes as you go along and as often as necessary will make the difference between having something that works versus something that is broken. Having open communication at all levels is also vital to ensure business issues that have the potential to become obstacles are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

I was recently asked to speak at a Future of Technologies summit so was lucky enough to see a number of interesting companies present. One which really stood out was Amuso who specialise in online game shows and have some impressive real time game play technology.

The other one was Quick.tv who provides a professional video-editing platform. Their technology is very easy to use and I can see some real benefits for freelancers and small businesses. Although not aimed at consumers I am sure Quick.tv would prove a massive hit in this area.

The last one is Just-eat who have just raised a significant £10.5m investment round from Index Ventures, through the site hungry users can access nearly 3’000 takeaways across the country to place an order via their platform and even pay online before leaving a review. It’s a great site and can’t wait to see the next version.

An exclusive with… Francesca Ecsery, General Manager at Cheapflights.co.uk

What is Cheapflights.co.uk?

The founder of Cheapflights, John Hatt, recognised that “Search” rather than “Sales” was going to be an important application for the internet. This has been amply demonstrated by the subsequent success of internet “Horizontal” search engine giants such as Google; Yahoo and other similar sites.

Taking the concept of horizontal search a stage further, Hatt recognised that travel had to be a killer application for the more focussed model of “Vertical” search and comparison. Thus, Cheapflights had the foresight to uniquely distinguish that instead of shifting the “bricks & mortar” travel agency business model online, it should instead become an online media company that publishes deals on behalf of paying advertisers in the travel industry.

Cheapflights was the very first company to set up this business model.  It pioneered travel search and comparison on the internet, publishing not only deals from airlines and other travel operators, but also from what is now called the “long-tail” of small specialist agencies, many of whom have little or no web presence other than on Cheapflights.   Not only does this niche provide consumers with an independent, neutral, one-stop site on which to search and compare fares from literally hundreds of suppliers, it also allows travel operators to put their deals in front of millions of intending travellers and achieve high conversion rates.

The benefits of this set up to the established travel industry were recognised early on by ABTA when the association appointed Cheapflights an “Industry Partner”.

Tell us about the market in which Cheapflights operates…

Travel search and comparison is the market sector in which we operate.  The internet has provided many new opportunities for dotcom companies to exploit and is also one of the fastest changing business environments as new technology reveals a plethora of new applications.

Today, online advertising, aided by broadband connectivity, has become a major marketing tool, particularly in travel. This has created a growing cross demographic group of internet users in the UK and abroad, resulting in huge international growth.

• Internet users and markets are growing worldwide and have room to grow further in the UK and US (source: www.internetworld.com – December 2007)

• Internet advertising is also set to grow both in the UK and in the US (source: ZenithOptimedia – December 2007)

• US airlines achieve 30% of their sales online and yet only 8% of their marketing spend is directed at this rich source of business (source: TNS Media/Forrester – December 2006)

• Despite 9/11, other terrorist acts and natural disasters, aviation remains on a long-term growth trend of between 5% and 8% annually (source: PWC, International Passenger Survery – 2006, Civil Aviation Authority forecasts in The Economist – 28 March 2008)


* UK Online Advertising Trend Still Positive

The March ’09 Quarterly Survey of Advertising Expenditure report, compiled by the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) on behalf of the Advertising Association (AA), found internet advertising maintained stable growth throughout last year, despite the worsening economic situation. Internet ad spend grew by 17.3% in 2008 despite a 3.9% fall in total UK ad spend, according to new figures from the AA. According to a recent report by WARC and the AA, the “Long Term Advertising Expenditure Forecast”, it is predicted that after the current economic downturn, advertising expenditure in the UK could grow by as much as 52% over the ten-year period to 2020.


What is the background of the business?  When was it founded?  What is its size?  Ownership structure?

Cheapflights Ltd, of which Cheapflights.co.uk represents about 50% of the international Group, was founded by the Harpers & Queen Travel Editor and Travel Author, John Hatt, in 1996.  It was the very first online travel price search and comparison website and is arguably one of the UK’s leading internet success stories.

As a private company, Cheapflights does not disclose its financial data.  However, it is on record that the company has enjoyed a CAGR of 50%.  This is evidenced by the fact that it has been in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 for the past five years (one of only three such companies) and is shortlisted for a sixth year.  Its relevance to its travel industry advertising “partners” can be judged by the fact that in 2008, they are estimated to have achieved an accumulated sum of US$1.8 billion worth of sales as a result of leads driven by Cheapflights’ different international sites.

The company now has sites in the US, Canada, Germany and Australia/New Zealand, and expects to launch several more international sites this year.  According to the internet monitoring company Hitwise, Cheapflights has been a top ten UK site in their “Travel-Agencies” sector for the past 26 quarters.

As a private company we do not give shareholder details but ownership is primarily in the hands of eight high-net-worth individuals as well as management & employees.

How is the business performing?  What are your plans for ‘09/10?

Despite the global downturn last year, 2008 proved to be a record year for Cheapflights.  Being profitable and well funded without the need for external financing, the downturn has provided the opportunity to review and refocus its objectives, not just for 2009/10 but for a 3-5 year period.

In no business environment is the phrase “Innovate or Die” more appropriate than in the internet business, and Cheapflights will continue to do so in respect of the content and functionality of the site in 2009/10.

Why did you join Cheapflights.co.uk?   As General Manager, what is your mandate?

Before I joined Cheapflights, I was Managing Director of STA Travel’s International Division for six years. While the international experience of running the distribution of a Top youth brand in 76 countries was fantastic, it was also quite taxing personally (flying from China to Chile via Australia and then back via LA does things to your body & soul!) so I was keen to make my next move less spread out all over the globe.

Additionally, the International Division of STA Travel represents a small percentage of the company’s turnover.  I was keen to be the ‘big cheese’ in my next career move; managing the UK business of Cheapflights means that I run the largest, most mature division. I also really like the idea of working for a British internet company that successfully imported its model to the USA as opposed to doing the reverse, which tends to be more common.

Finally I liked the people. Work is more than a pay check and I had 17 interviews with different people at Cheapflights before making my decision.

My mandate at Cheapflights.co.uk is to run all commercial, business development, traffic, and marketing communication activities from concept development to full implementation.  I am also responsible for the division’s profit & loss and I do all of the above with a team of circa 30 experts and brilliant little stars.

What is your personal background prior to Cheapflights?

I worked for four years at McKinsey & Co in their Lisbon, Madrid and London offices. I then went to Harvard Business School for an MBA and came back to work in brand management and marketing at Pepsi Food for about two years.

There, I was Assistant Marketing Manager of Walker’s Crisps (#1 food brand in the UK) for a little under a year until I moved to Thomas Cook. I worked in the Strategic Marketing Department for two years and then moved for a six month stint at Thorn EMI as International Marketing Director. I could not stay away from travel for long and took a job as Commercial & Marketing Director at Going Places where I remained for four years.

I then set up my first internet venture, Destinex, which I terminated after seven months and set up my second one: Ifyoutravel.com. This second venture proved very successful and became Europe’s leading online speciality travel company.  Its most famous brand was and still is www.ifyouski.com, which I ran for two years. I then sold my dotcom business to OTC in October 2001, now owned by Lastminute.com.

After Ifyoutravel.com I moved to STA Travel for six years before becoming General Manager for Cheapflights.co.uk, where I have been for almost two years now.

What are the pros and cons of the current market for Cheapflights? 
While no one pretends that these markets are easy, Cheapflights provides the travel industry with incredibly cost-effective online access to consumers for its deals.  Everyone prefers a bargain these days and Cheapflights.co.uk and its international sister sites provide cash strapped consumers with “exactly what it says on the can”.  We have seen an increased interest from advertisers keen to shift their inventories and while there has been an undoubted drop in the number of UK passengers departing from UK airports over the past six months, there is still lot of interest from consumers looking for great online deals.

What has been your biggest achievement to date at Cheapflights?  
I have a team of 30 people so my key achievements are also theirs … it would be impossible to deliver on our ambitious strategy without them. Being part of a fast moving industry (travel) in high growth area (internet) there have been many, but some of the recent highlights were:

• Seeing the business through the economic downturn – recession can be positive, it forces even more outside the box thinking and makes you push harder – Cheapflights.co.uk is already among the top five travel media firms in the world; to get there and remain there requires continuous innovation etc

• Foresaw cost saving initiatives which needed to be put in place and restructured, coming out the other side a better and more efficient company

What is the difference between an average and a great leader? 
GREAT LEADERS have the following qualities:

• Genuinely value their people and show this by rewarding more than punishing and by respecting their work / life balance

• Take responsibility for  the management task, the team and above all the personal example they set

• Are not afraid to surround themselves with people whose expertise surpasses their own within their respective field of work

• Coaching is key to a leader’s role & delegating as much as possible is key to developing teams around them

• Are accessible / operate an open door policy but communicate a clear vision

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

• Treat and be seen to treat each of your team equally and fairly

• “Praise” in public, “criticise” in private

• Get to know your team as individuals (while respecting their right to privacy)

• Successes belong to the team, failures to yourself

• It is OK to fail (occasionally!) – the key is to learn from mistakes

• Protect the team against outside criticism / interference

• Listen more than you speak

• Give the team clear direction and as much time as possible – only veto when absolutely necessary

• Moodiness in the workplace can break trust and lower morale, so self-control is paramount to remaining approachable and maintaining confidence

• Invest heavily in both training and communication

• Give frequent, honest and constructive feedback to each of the team members

• Sit in the middle of the ‘shop floor’ as opposed to a corner office. This will mean you have fewer meetings as you can get to know what is going on in the business much better

• Clear the path for your team to progress in growing their area of responsibility and delivering ambitious projects

What do you think is hot in the internet space right now?

Social media has been hot for the past few years, but what is even hotter is using multiple social media platforms together to benefit your users. For instance, Cheapflights.co.uk  recently infused its marketing activity with a social media strategy including the use of Twitter and Flickr. The website has adopted it into its corporate culture with its CEO and Chairman tweeting their own activities as well as purveying over the company in general.

Aside from the active participation of various members of its leadership team, Cheapflights.co.uk’s Twitter strategy mainly draws upon the expertise of its youth to lead the way in this medium.  The recent graduates who have joined its team of marketers have not only grown up with social media, but used it for their own personal projects prior to joining the company. This contribution of young, fresh ideas has led to a Twitter approach with a difference.  Twitter is about connecting with people who share an interest in what you have to say. Cheapflights.co.uk’s tweeters can look forward to a background of creative imagery which changes every Monday to a photograph contributed by a member of its Flickr group of photographers.  The photo sets the theme for the week comprising links and information linked with the destination of choice for that week’s pic.  The activity so far has not only been successful at attracting followers, but also in gaining plenty of positive feedback.

Companies that grasp social media integration and make it a part of their core marketing activities will, overall, benefit from increased user loyalty.

What is Cheapflights.co.uk?

The founder of Cheapflights, John Hatt, recognised that “Search” rather than “Sales” was going to be an important application for the internet. This has been amply demonstrated by the subsequent success of internet “Horizontal” search engine giants such as Google; Yahoo and other similar sites.

Taking the concept of horizontal search a stage further, Hatt recognised that travel had to be a killer application for the more focussed model of “Vertical” search and comparison. Thus, Cheapflights had the foresight to uniquely distinguish that instead of shifting the “bricks & mortar” travel agency business model online, it should instead become an online media company that publishes deals on behalf of paying advertisers in the travel industry.

Cheapflights was the very first company to set up this business model.  It pioneered travel search and comparison on the internet, publishing not only deals from airlines and other travel operators, but also from what is now called the “long-tail” of small specialist agencies, many of whom have little or no web presence other than on Cheapflights.   Not only does this niche provide consumers with an independent, neutral, one-stop site on which to search and compare fares from literally hundreds of suppliers, it also allows travel operators to put their deals in front of millions of intending travellers and achieve high conversion rates.

The benefits of this set up to the established travel industry were recognised early on by ABTA when the association appointed Cheapflights an “Industry Partner”.

Tell us about the market in which Cheapflights operates…

Travel search and comparison is the market sector in which we operate.  The internet has provided many new opportunities for dotcom companies to exploit and is also one of the fastest changing business environments as new technology reveals a plethora of new applications.

Today, online advertising, aided by broadband connectivity, has become a major marketing tool, particularly in travel. This has created a growing cross demographic group of internet users in the UK and abroad, resulting in huge international growth.

• Internet users and markets are growing worldwide and have room to grow further in the UK and US (source: www.internetworld.com – December 2007)
• Internet advertising is also set to grow both in the UK and in the US (source: ZenithOptimedia – December 2007)
• US airlines achieve 30% of their sales online and yet only 8% of their marketing spend is directed at this rich source of business (source: TNS Media/Forrester – December 2006)
• Despite 9/11, other terrorist acts and natural disasters, aviation remains on a long-term growth trend of between 5% and 8% annually (source: PWC, International Passenger Survery – 2006, Civil Aviation Authority forecasts in The Economist – 28 March 2008)


* UK Online Advertising Trend Still Positive

The March ’09 Quarterly Survey of Advertising Expenditure report, compiled by the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) on behalf of the Advertising Association (AA), found internet advertising maintained stable growth throughout last year, despite the worsening economic situation. Internet ad spend grew by 17.3% in 2008 despite a 3.9% fall in total UK ad spend, according to new figures from the AA. According to a recent report by WARC and the AA, the “Long Term Advertising Expenditure Forecast”, it is predicted that after the current economic downturn, advertising expenditure in the UK could grow by as much as 52% over the ten-year period to 2020.


What is the background of the business?  When was it founded?  What is its size?  Ownership structure?

Cheapflights Ltd, of which Cheapflights.co.uk represents about 50% of the international Group, was founded by the Harpers & Queen Travel Editor and Travel Author, John Hatt, in 1996.  It was the very first online travel price search and comparison website and is arguably one of the UK’s leading internet success stories.

As a private company, Cheapflights does not disclose its financial data.  However, it is on record that the company has enjoyed a CAGR of 50%.  This is evidenced by the fact that it has been in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 for the past five years (one of only three such companies) and is shortlisted for a sixth year.  Its relevance to its travel industry advertising “partners” can be judged by the fact that in 2008, they are estimated to have achieved an accumulated sum of US$1.8 billion worth of sales as a result of leads driven by Cheapflights’ different international sites.

The company now has sites in the US, Canada, Germany and Australia/New Zealand, and expects to launch several more international sites this year.  According to the internet monitoring company Hitwise, Cheapflights has been a top ten UK site in their “Travel-Agencies” sector for the past 26 quarters.

As a private company we do not give shareholder details but ownership is primarily in the hands of eight high-net-worth individuals as well as management & employees.

How is the business performing?  What are your plans for ‘09/10?

Despite the global downturn last year, 2008 proved to be a record year for Cheapflights.  Being profitable and well funded without the need for external financing, the downturn has provided the opportunity to review and refocus its objectives, not just for 2009/10 but for a 3-5 year period.

In no business environment is the phrase “Innovate or Die” more appropriate than in the internet business, and Cheapflights will continue to do so in respect of the content and functionality of the site in 2009/10.

Why did you join Cheapflights.co.uk?   As General Manager, what is your mandate?

Before I joined Cheapflights, I was Managing Director of STA Travel’s International Division for six years. While the international experience of running the distribution of a Top youth brand in 76 countries was fantastic, it was also quite taxing personally (flying from China to Chile via Australia and then back via LA does things to your body & soul!) so I was keen to make my next move less spread out all over the globe.

Additionally, the International Division of STA Travel represents a small percentage of the company’s turnover.  I was keen to be the ‘big cheese’ in my next career move; managing the UK business of Cheapflights means that I run the largest, most mature division. I also really like the idea of working for a British internet company that successfully imported its model to the USA as opposed to doing the reverse, which tends to be more common.

Finally I liked the people. Work is more than a pay check and I had 17 interviews with different people at Cheapflights before making my decision.

My mandate at Cheapflights.co.uk is to run all commercial, business development, traffic, and marketing communication activities from concept development to full implementation.  I am also responsible for the division’s profit & loss and I do all of the above with a team of circa 30 experts and brilliant little stars.

What is your personal background prior to Cheapflights?

I worked for four years at McKinsey & Co in their Lisbon, Madrid and London offices. I then went to Harvard Business School for an MBA and came back to work in brand management and marketing at Pepsi Food for about two years.

There, I was Assistant Marketing Manager of Walker’s Crisps (#1 food brand in the UK) for a little under a year until I moved to Thomas Cook. I worked in the Strategic Marketing Department for two years and then moved for a six month stint at Thorn EMI as International Marketing Director. I could not stay away from travel for long and took a job as Commercial & Marketing Director at Going Places where I remained for four years.

I then set up my first internet venture, Destinex, which I terminated after seven months and set up my second one: Ifyoutravel.com. This second venture proved very successful and became Europe’s leading online speciality travel company.  Its most famous brand was and still is www.ifyouski.com, which I ran for two years. I then sold my dotcom business to OTC in October 2001, now owned by Lastminute.com.

After Ifyoutravel.com I moved to STA Travel for six years before becoming General Manager for Cheapflights.co.uk, where I have been for almost two years now.

What are the pros and cons of the current market for Cheapflights? 


While no one pretends that these markets are easy, Cheapflights provides the travel industry with incredibly cost-effective online access to consumers for its deals.  Everyone prefers a bargain these days and Cheapflights.co.uk and its international sister sites provide cash strapped consumers with “exactly what it says on the can”.  We have seen an increased interest from advertisers keen to shift their inventories and while there has been an undoubted drop in the number of UK passengers departing from UK airports over the past six months, there is still lot of interest from consumers looking for great online deals.

What has been your biggest achievement to date at Cheapflights?


I have a team of 30 people so my key achievements are also theirs … it would be impossible to deliver on our ambitious strategy without them. Being part of a fast moving industry (travel) in high growth area (internet) there have been many, but some of the recent highlights were:

• Seeing the business through the economic downturn – recession can be positive, it forces even more outside the box thinking and makes you push harder – Cheapflights.co.uk is already among the top five travel media firms in the world; to get there and remain there requires continuous innovation etc
• Foresaw cost saving initiatives which needed to be put in place and restructured, coming out the other side a better and more efficient company

What is the difference between an average and a great leader? 
GREAT LEADERS have the following qualities:

• Genuinely value their people and show this by rewarding more than punishing and by respecting their work / life balance
• Take responsibility for  the management task, the team and above all the personal example they set
• Are not afraid to surround themselves with people whose expertise surpasses their own within their respective field of work
• Coaching is key to a leader’s role & delegating as much as possible is key to developing teams around them
• Are accessible / operate an open door policy but communicate a clear vision

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

• Treat and be seen to treat each of your team equally and fairly
• “Praise” in public, “criticise” in private
• Get to know your team as individuals (while respecting their right to privacy)
• Successes belong to the team, failures to yourself
• It is OK to fail (occasionally!) – the key is to learn from mistakes
• Protect the team against outside criticism / interference
• Listen more than you speak
• Give the team clear direction and as much time as possible – only veto when absolutely necessary
• Moodiness in the workplace can break trust and lower morale, so self-control is paramount to remaining approachable and maintaining confidence
• Invest heavily in both training and communication
• Give frequent, honest and constructive feedback to each of the team members
• Sit in the middle of the ‘shop floor’ as opposed to a corner office. This will mean you have fewer meetings as you can get to know what is going on in the business much better
• Clear the path for your team to progress in growing their area of responsibility and delivering ambitious projects

What do you think is hot in the internet space right now?

Social media has been hot for the past few years, but what is even hotter is using multiple social media platforms together to benefit your users. For instance, Cheapflights.co.uk  recently infused its marketing activity with a social media strategy including the use of Twitter and Flickr. The website has adopted it into its corporate culture with its CEO and Chairman tweeting their own activities as well as purveying over the company in general.

Aside from the active participation of various members of its leadership team, Cheapflights.co.uk’s Twitter strategy mainly draws upon the expertise of its youth to lead the way in this medium.  The recent graduates who have joined its team of marketers have not only grown up with social media, but used it for their own personal projects prior to joining the company. This contribution of young, fresh ideas has led to a Twitter approach with a difference.  Twitter is about connecting with people who share an interest in what you have to say. Cheapflights.co.uk’s tweeters can look forward to a background of creative imagery which changes every Monday to a photograph contributed by a member of its Flickr group of photographers.  The photo sets the theme for the week comprising links and information linked with the destination of choice for that week’s pic.  The activity so far has not only been successful at attracting followers, but also in gaining plenty of positive feedback.

Companies that grasp social media integration and make it a part of their core marketing activities will, overall, benefit from increased user loyalty.

An exclusive with… Alistair Mitchell, CEO & Co-Founder of Huddle

What is Huddle? What is innovative about it?

Huddle is a network of secure online workspaces where you can share files,

collaborate on ideas, manage projects and organize virtual meetings.

Huddle enables teams to work more effectively across boundaries, both inside and outside the enterprise.

Huddle is used globally by hundreds of thousands of users and businesses including Kia Motors, Nokia, P&G and UNICEF. Huddle is doubling in size every four months; both users and revenues

Why did you set up Huddle & how was the idea conceived?

My co-founder and I setup Huddle as we found it was still far too difficult to work with other people (particularly people who aren’t in the same office, corporate network or company).

We wondered why, when the social networks were making it so easy for people to connect and communicate in our social lives, it was so difficult at work.

Therefore we decided to combine the best of the social networks with the best of the enterprise technologies in order to help people ‘work better together’ securely, simply and successfully.

What is your personal background prior to Huddle?

Before Huddle I was on the board of Dunnhumby – the marketing insight company that manages the Tesco clubcard and other loyalty schemes with 5 of the world’s top 10 retailers.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

We see different trends every year. Currently new consumer finance models are hot. E.g. online pawnbrokers  HYPERLINK “http://www.borro.com” www.borro.com, lenders  HYPERLINK “http://www.wonga.com” www.wonga.com and 2nd hand goods buyers  HYPERLINK “http://www.speedsell.com” www.speedsell.com.

We’re also seeing a lot of activity in travel and mobile – again!

What are the pros and cons of the current market? 


It is definitely true that a downturn is a great time to start a business. Costs are lower, recruitment is easier and the buyers are more willing to take a risk on a disruptive product if it saves them money. You can also build your business organically and benefit from increasing valuations / M&A activity as the economy takes off again.

Why did you base the business in London and not the US or Europe?

We based ourselves in London as we are both locals here and there is a strong technology scene here. London is also a great base to expand east and west. However we are now opening a US sales office in Chicago and will be opening a presence on the West Coast in September.

How tough was it to secure funding initially?  Any top tips? 


Our initial funding was from an angel investor who is now our Chairman – after he had sold his previous company. Charles was and continues to be extremely supportive and we are very lucky to have him on board.  Our top tip (which we used with Charles) is one from the Beermat Entrepreneur; ‘the easiest way to a rich man’s wallet is through his PA!’

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a CEO? 


Not being more aggressive about raising more money at a higher valuation when we raised the first round back in the halcyon days of mid 2007.

What is the difference between an average and a great CEO? 


I’ll let you know in 3 years time!

Share your tips on how to build a strong network in the start-up space…

Get out there! Go to all the events you can and don’t be afraid to ‘give’. It will be repaid tenfold over time. Attend all the events you can – including ours that we started for technology entrepreneurs and investors  HYPERLINK “http://www.drinktank.co.uk” www.drinktank.co.uk.


Give one tip on how to build a great internet business?

Build the hype. Don’t be afraid to do deals with the ‘big boys’, as distribution is everything.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Always hire people who are better than you.

If in doubt between two candidates chose the one that is more intelligent and/or more passionate – not the most experienced.

Trust them. The rewards will exponentially outweigh the risks.

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?  What are the downsides?

It’s definitely a journey that you have to be prepared to go on, with no going back. By taking VC money you are committing to an aggressive growth curve, with the risk and capital implications that go with it. The benefits are obviously that you can grow your business faster and build a better, more focussed product without the distraction of revenue generation from day one. The disadvantages are the risk of increasing your costbase too much and never recovering it (or not in time) through sales. Overall we are delighted with our VC investors ( HYPERLINK “http://www.edenventures.co.uk” www.edenventures.co.uk) in terms of their support, advice and contacts they have brought.

What’s your biggest achievement at Huddle to date?

Building a truly amazing team.

What is Huddle? What is innovative about it?

Huddle is a network of secure online workspaces where you can share files, collaborate on ideas, manage projects and organize virtual meetings.

Huddle enables teams to work more effectively across boundaries, both inside and outside the enterprise.

Huddle is used globally by hundreds of thousands of users and businesses including Kia Motors, Nokia, P&G and UNICEF. Huddle is doubling in size every four months; both users and revenues

Why did you set up Huddle & how was the idea conceived?

My co-founder and I setup Huddle as we found it was still far too difficult to work with other people (particularly people who aren’t in the same office, corporate network or company).

We wondered why, when the social networks were making it so easy for people to connect and communicate in our social lives, it was so difficult at work.

Therefore we decided to combine the best of the social networks with the best of the enterprise technologies in order to help people ‘work better together’ securely, simply and successfully.

What is your personal background prior to Huddle?

Before Huddle I was on the board of Dunnhumby – the marketing insight company that manages the Tesco clubcard and other loyalty schemes with 5 of the world’s top 10 retailers.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

We see different trends every year. Currently new consumer finance models are hot. E.g. online pawnbrokers www.borro.com, lenders www.wonga.com and 2nd hand goods buyers www.speedsell.com.

We’re also seeing a lot of activity in travel and mobile – again!

What are the pros and cons of the current market? 


It is definitely true that a downturn is a great time to start a business. Costs are lower, recruitment is easier and the buyers are more willing to take a risk on a disruptive product if it saves them money. You can also build your business organically and benefit from increasing valuations / M&A activity as the economy takes off again.

Why did you base the business in London and not the US or Europe?

We based ourselves in London as we are both locals here and there is a strong technology scene here. London is also a great base to expand east and west. However we are now opening a US sales office in Chicago and will be opening a presence on the West Coast in September.

How tough was it to secure funding initially?  Any top tips? 


Our initial funding was from an angel investor who is now our Chairman – after he had sold his previous company. Charles was and continues to be extremely supportive and we are very lucky to have him on board.  Our top tip (which we used with Charles) is one from the Beermat Entrepreneur; ‘the easiest way to a rich man’s wallet is through his PA!’

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a CEO? 


Not being more aggressive about raising more money at a higher valuation when we raised the first round back in the halcyon days of mid 2007.

What is the difference between an average and a great CEO? 


I’ll let you know in 3 years time!

Share your tips on how to build a strong network in the start-up space…

Get out there! Go to all the events you can and don’t be afraid to ‘give’. It will be repaid tenfold over time. Attend all the events you can – including ours that we started for technology entrepreneurs and investors www.drinktank.co.uk.


Give one tip on how to build a great internet business?

Build the hype. Don’t be afraid to do deals with the ‘big boys’, as distribution is everything.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

Always hire people who are better than you.

If in doubt between two candidates chose the one that is more intelligent and/or more passionate – not the most experienced.

Trust them. The rewards will exponentially outweigh the risks.

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?  What are the downsides?

It’s definitely a journey that you have to be prepared to go on, with no going back. By taking VC money you are committing to an aggressive growth curve, with the risk and capital implications that go with it. The benefits are obviously that you can grow your business faster and build a better, more focussed product without the distraction of revenue generation from day one. The disadvantages are the risk of increasing your costbase too much and never recovering it (or not in time) through sales. Overall we are delighted with our VC investors (www.edenventures.co.uk) in terms of their support, advice and contacts they have brought.

What’s your biggest achievement at Huddle to date?

Building a truly amazing team.

An exclusive with… Steph Bouchet, RougeFrog

What is RougeFrog?  Why did you set it up?

As I was spending more time in the entrepreneurship world through my experiences at Skype ( HYPERLINK “http://www.skype.com” www.skype.com) and Joost ( HYPERLINK “http://www.joost.com” www.joost.com), I realised quickly that there was a growing need to help small and medium online businesses with their marketing, especially when it comes to product & online marketing. Those businesses sometimes don’t have the full set of necessary skills required internally, can’t afford to get a full time CMO on board or have simply chosen to de-prioritise marketing resources at an early stage. As a result, I have set up RougeFrog over a year ago, as a single individual boutique. Based in London and operating across Europe, RougeFrog is helping small and medium size businesses to launch, grow and re-focus their product and brand at a domestic and international level. I usually work alone with clients and sometimes recommend and engage virtual resources, when necessary.

Describe your role and what you do for start-ups

My role varies according to the individual needs of each business. I sometimes act as a temporary CMO, managing their marketing team, strategy, budget and helping them grow the business. I may also focus on solving specific issues, helping the company with specific marketing challenges, such as driving acquisition and retention of users, putting in place scalable CRM programs or leveraging their brand in social media environment. I also try to bring my clients additional value beyond the traditional marketing strategy and execution activities, by introducing them to relevant contacts, networks, case studies, new marketing techniques etc. In addition to that, I like to develop strong and long-term relationships with them. The synergy with the team is really important for me – as important as the product, if not more, for this particular reason, I work mostly on site, within the company environment as an integral member of the team to maintain the synergy level.

Who are you working with at the moment – tell us about some exciting start-ups

I work across different industries such as travel, gaming, music, telecoms and many others. This allows me to broaden my experience and at the same time gives me opportunities to share key learning’s across the board and adapt different models to different industries. To give you some examples, I am currently helping out Gekko ( HYPERLINK “http://www.gekko.com” www.gekko.com), a unique matching tool that helps you find hotels and restaurants based on your profile and by matching you with like-minded people. The site has been released in beta very recently and the team will be rolling out some very exciting development and features over the coming months. Stay tuned. Other promising clients to keep an eye on are Football Superstars ( HYPERLINK “http://www.footballsuperstars.com” www.footballsuperstars.com), the first free MMO game that let you to live the life of a Football Superstar and GoMix ( HYPERLINK “http://tinyurl.com/dxaf5k” http://tinyurl.com/dxaf5k), a revolutionary way to remix major artist songs, which has recently been picked up by MySpace editor as one of the most popular apps. The biggest focus for those companies is to convert users, while empowering their respective communities and securing partnerships with major renowned brands. My previous experience at Skype also allows me to help innovative companies in the telecom and mobile arena, such as Truphone ( HYPERLINK “http://www.truphone.com” www.truphone.com) and Billmonitor ( HYPERLINK “http://www.billmonitor.com” www.billmonitor.com)

What impact has the current market had on you and your clients? 
Surprisingly, very positive. There is currently a high demand in the space where Rougefrog operates. The current market conditions are forcing companies to cut down their budget and as a result they need to focus even more on resources and activities that will move the needle. The key challenge then for RougeFrog and the companies is to work with existing assets and resources and transform the business and avoid spending additional resources. Those conditions often require one to be even more creative, not so much from a design perspective but in the way you plan, do things and in the choice of tools you’re putting in place. Market conditions have also forced more companies to become risk averse – and this represents a real opportunity for start-up businesses to take greater advantage of their small size and the ability to act quickly in order to get noticed.

What is the benefit for a start-up of an interim CMO rather than full-time?  What are the downsides, if any?

The one thing that start-ups seem to appreciate in the interim CMO model is the plug and play characteristic of the role: you come, act, test, learn and adapt accordingly. Also, the diversity of clients and missions over time allows me to experience more, faster and then share immediate learning’s across my clients.

At the same time, this model is also quite versatile and as a result, you are part of the team for a dedicated time or a dedicated area and then step out and act virtually. Some people might find this frustrating and I am addressing this frustration by keeping strong relationships with my clients while trying to bring them on-going value over time.

How do you gain credibility with VCs in order for them to recommend you to their portfolio companies? 
What I like about the RougeFrog position is that I have to shoulder different roles. Whatever the challenge of a project might be, I always meet the investors to understand what their objectives are toward the business. Simultaneously, a large proportion of VCs and investors are very active when it comes to finding specific ad-hoc resources for their pool of companies. From time to time, I also run dedicated workshops with well-known European VCs in the benefit of marketing representative of their portfolio of companies. This activity has been proven successful to date and is an effective way to contribute and share learning’s with different companies, with different background, at the same time.

I also maintain an on-going relationship with VCs, by sharing tips and “hot” businesses and models I come across. This sometimes ease introduction to promising start-ups on one side and introduction to promising investor on the other side, especially for start-ups companies looking for funding.

What might you have done differently in your career to date? 
I’ve learned a lot over the past years, but I don’t think I would have changed a thing. I don’t live with regrets and always try to apply learning’s to the present and future. I generally think that a career rotates around 3 elements: willingness, timing and opportunity. Being passionate, at the right time, in the right place is for me are the most essential ingredients. Having said that, the real challenge is to achieve the right balance between those three. I came across this quote from Confucius one day: “find the job that you love and you will never have to work again” and that probably reflects my position today. I am hoping that this state of mind will remain over my future career choices. I also think that maintaining a good work/life balance and some fun along the way are essential; as refreshing your mind on a regular basis helps you set your next goal and dreams.

Share your tips on how to build a strong network in the internet start-up space…

Learning from your own experience and mistakes is the key but learning from others is just as important. Building a strong network in your industry will ease and enrich your journey. Here are some basic tips that I would recommend:

Be open – you have to make a habit to get out there, meet and find out about people, be curious, take a genuine interest in others.

Focus – like any industry, there are lots of people and events you could be exposed to. Pick the ones you think will make the difference and will help you fulfil what you’re trying to achieve. Make a short list of popular entrepreneurship events such as Open Coffee ( HYPERLINK “http://www.opencoffeeclub.org” http://www.opencoffeeclub.org), Glasshouse ( HYPERLINK “http://www.theglasshouse.net/” http://www.theglasshouse.net/)  TechCrunch ( HYPERLINK “http://uk.techcrunch.com/” http://uk.techcrunch.com/) and mentoring event, such as Seedcamp ( HYPERLINK “http://www.seedcamp.com” www.seedcamp.com). Those can bring you lots of positive and interesting contacts to start with.

Learn and share learnings – make sure you secure good mentors during your journey and try to become a mentor for someone else – it proves to be a very enriching and inspiring experience.

Use the net – if you’re evolving in the Internet industry, then make the most of it. Use online tools such as Linkedin ( HYPERLINK “http://www.linkedin.com” www.linkedin.com), Facebook ( HYPERLINK “http://www.facebook.com” www.facebook.com) , twitter ( HYPERLINK “http://www.twitter.com” www.twitter.com) to keep in touch with your contacts and share valuable information.

Nurture your network – networks are like relationships. Cultivate them to make them grow. Like a good aged wine, the value of your network will increase significantly over time, provided you take good care of it. That means, always follow-up with your contacts.

Give one tip on how to build a strong B2C Internet brand?

Think user-customer: put the customer at the centre of your strategy and your day-to-day operations. In the old days, the marketing and customer support “departments” used to be the responsible units for understanding and solving customer needs – today there is no organization that can be built without putting the customer at the centre of its organization.  This should be reflected across all decision made for your product, your brand, the partnerships you’re aiming to build and so on – and always keep in mind, that learning from one disappointed customer is often worth ten delighted one.

Email:  HYPERLINK “mailto:stephanie@rougefrog.com” stephanie@rougefrog.com

Twitter: @rougefrog

Linkedin:  HYPERLINK “http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebouchet” http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebouchet

Website:  HYPERLINK “http://www.rougefrog.com” http://www.rougefrog.com (currently under construction, going live in June 09)

What is RougeFrog?  Why did you set it up?

As I was spending more time in the entrepreneurship world through my experiences at Skype and Joost, I realised quickly that there was a growing need to help small and medium online businesses with their marketing, especially when it comes to product & online marketing. Those businesses sometimes don’t have the full set of necessary skills required internally, can’t afford to get a full time CMO on board or have simply chosen to de-prioritise marketing resources at an early stage. As a result, I have set up RougeFrog over a year ago, as a single individual boutique. Based in London and operating across Europe, RougeFrog is helping small and medium size businesses to launch, grow and re-focus their product and brand at a domestic and international level. I usually work alone with clients and sometimes recommend and engage virtual resources, when necessary.

Describe your role and what you do for start-ups

My role varies according to the individual needs of each business. I sometimes act as a temporary CMO, managing their marketing team, strategy, budget and helping them grow the business. I may also focus on solving specific issues, helping the company with specific marketing challenges, such as driving acquisition and retention of users, putting in place scalable CRM programs or leveraging their brand in social media environment. I also try to bring my clients additional value beyond the traditional marketing strategy and execution activities, by introducing them to relevant contacts, networks, case studies, new marketing techniques etc. In addition to that, I like to develop strong and long-term relationships with them. The synergy with the team is really important for me – as important as the product, if not more, for this particular reason, I work mostly on site, within the company environment as an integral member of the team to maintain the synergy level.

Who are you working with at the moment – tell us about some exciting start-ups

I work across different industries such as travel, gaming, music, telecoms and many others. This allows me to broaden my experience and at the same time gives me opportunities to share key learning’s across the board and adapt different models to different industries. To give you some examples, I am currently helping out Gekko, a unique matching tool that helps you find hotels and restaurants based on your profile and by matching you with like-minded people. The site has been released in beta very recently and the team will be rolling out some very exciting development and features over the coming months. Stay tuned. Other promising clients to keep an eye on are Football Superstars, the first free MMO game that let you to live the life of a Football Superstar and GoMix, a revolutionary way to remix major artist songs, which has recently been picked up by MySpace editor as one of the most popular apps. The biggest focus for those companies is to convert users, while empowering their respective communities and securing partnerships with major renowned brands. My previous experience at Skype also allows me to help innovative companies in the telecom and mobile arena, such as Truphone and Billmonitor

What impact has the current market had on you and your clients? 


Surprisingly, very positive. There is currently a high demand in the space where Rougefrog operates. The current market conditions are forcing companies to cut down their budget and as a result they need to focus even more on resources and activities that will move the needle. The key challenge then for RougeFrog and the companies is to work with existing assets and resources and transform the business and avoid spending additional resources. Those conditions often require one to be even more creative, not so much from a design perspective but in the way you plan, do things and in the choice of tools you’re putting in place. Market conditions have also forced more companies to become risk averse – and this represents a real opportunity for start-up businesses to take greater advantage of their small size and the ability to act quickly in order to get noticed.

What is the benefit for a start-up of an interim CMO rather than full-time?  What are the downsides, if any?

The one thing that start-ups seem to appreciate in the interim CMO model is the plug and play characteristic of the role: you come, act, test, learn and adapt accordingly. Also, the diversity of clients and missions over time allows me to experience more, faster and then share immediate learning’s across my clients.

At the same time, this model is also quite versatile and as a result, you are part of the team for a dedicated time or a dedicated area and then step out and act virtually. Some people might find this frustrating and I am addressing this frustration by keeping strong relationships with my clients while trying to bring them on-going value over time.

How do you gain credibility with VCs in order for them to recommend you to their portfolio companies? 


What I like about the RougeFrog position is that I have to shoulder different roles. Whatever the challenge of a project might be, I always meet the investors to understand what their objectives are toward the business. Simultaneously, a large proportion of VCs and investors are very active when it comes to finding specific ad-hoc resources for their pool of companies. From time to time, I also run dedicated workshops with well-known European VCs in the benefit of marketing representative of their portfolio of companies. This activity has been proven successful to date and is an effective way to contribute and share learning’s with different companies, with different background, at the same time.

I also maintain an on-going relationship with VCs, by sharing tips and “hot” businesses and models I come across. This sometimes ease introduction to promising start-ups on one side and introduction to promising investor on the other side, especially for start-ups companies looking for funding.

What might you have done differently in your career to date? 


I’ve learned a lot over the past years, but I don’t think I would have changed a thing. I don’t live with regrets and always try to apply learning’s to the present and future. I generally think that a career rotates around 3 elements: willingness, timing and opportunity. Being passionate, at the right time, in the right place is for me are the most essential ingredients. Having said that, the real challenge is to achieve the right balance between those three. I came across this quote from Confucius one day: “find the job that you love and you will never have to work again” and that probably reflects my position today. I am hoping that this state of mind will remain over my future career choices. I also think that maintaining a good work/life balance and some fun along the way are essential; as refreshing your mind on a regular basis helps you set your next goal and dreams.

Share your tips on how to build a strong network in the internet start-up space…

Learning from your own experience and mistakes is the key but learning from others is just as important. Building a strong network in your industry will ease and enrich your journey. Here are some basic tips that I would recommend:

Be open – you have to make a habit to get out there, meet and find out about people, be curious, take a genuine interest in others.

Focus – like any industry, there are lots of people and events you could be exposed to. Pick the ones you think will make the difference and will help you fulfil what you’re trying to achieve. Make a short list of popular entrepreneurship events such as Open Coffee, Glasshouse, TechCrunch and mentoring event, such as Seedcamp. Those can bring you lots of positive and interesting contacts to start with.

Learn and share learnings – make sure you secure good mentors during your journey and try to become a mentor for someone else – it proves to be a very enriching and inspiring experience.

Use the net – if you’re evolving in the Internet industry, then make the most of it. Use online tools such as Linkedin, Facebook, twitter to keep in touch with your contacts and share valuable information.

Nurture your network – networks are like relationships. Cultivate them to make them grow. Like a good aged wine, the value of your network will increase significantly over time, provided you take good care of it. That means, always follow-up with your contacts.

Give one tip on how to build a strong B2C Internet brand?

Think user-customer: put the customer at the centre of your strategy and your day-to-day operations. In the old days, the marketing and customer support “departments” used to be the responsible units for understanding and solving customer needs – today there is no organization that can be built without putting the customer at the centre of its organization.  This should be reflected across all decision made for your product, your brand, the partnerships you’re aiming to build and so on – and always keep in mind, that learning from one disappointed customer is often worth ten delighted one.

Email:  stephanie@rougefrog.com

Twitter: @rougefrog

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebouchet

http://www.rougefrog.com (currently under construction, going live in June 09)

An exclusive with… Errol Damelin, Founder & CEO, Wonga.com

What is Wonga? What is innovative about it?

Wonga.com helps its customers solve their short-term cash flow problems. We provide small, short-term cash advances to anyone who has an unexpected or important expense and wants a fast, convenient and secure solution. Our service enables people to get on with life without being saddled with long-term debt.

Pretty much everything about Wonga is innovative, from our complete automation of loan processing to the 24/7 access and unique flexibility we offer customers. In such a well established market you’re only going to upset the competition by bringing something genuinely new to the table.

Applicants use the sliders on our home page to decide exactly how much cash they need and how many days they want it for. There are no rigid terms and the size and length of loan also determine the cost, which is dynamically calculated up front. People can therefore tailor everything to suit their needs before applying online.

Using our sophisticated risk and decision technology, we provide an instant yet responsible decision within seconds. Those who are approved receive the cash into their bank account within the hour, no matter what time or day of the week.  That means if you successfully apply for a Wonga cash advance at 11pm on a Saturday, you’ll have the cash in your bank account before midnight!

Why did you set up Wonga?

I was looking to solve a really big and difficult problem, after selling my previous company. I was keen to do something very significant that was consumer-focused and disruptive in a major market.

The vision behind Wonga was giving people a genuine alternative to traditional sources of credit. We wanted to satisfy massive demand for short-term cash and do it faster and more conveniently than previously thought possible.

We also spent many months working out how we could offer a solution in a completely responsible manner. Part of the answer was technology, but the service is also extremely transparent and free of banking jargon. As a result we’ve already helped tens of thousands of very happy customers.

What is your personal background prior to Wonga?

In a word, varied! I guess I’m a serial entrepreneur and somewhat of a globe-trotter too. I was born in South African but have now lived and worked on three continents.

I love taking on challenges that others have deemed too difficult or impossible, so Wonga is not my first foray into founding a business. I have previously built and sold a hosted supply chain software company and, before that, I helped create an advanced steel wire production business.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

Real businesses with real customer traction and business models that scale. There aren’t many of those around though!

What are the pros and cons of the current market? 
It’s obviously tough out there but that potentially means great opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to cut costs, attract exceptional talent and disrupt incumbents that built businesses in a strong economy.

Why did you base the business in London and not the US or Europe?

Despite the best efforts of the government to make the UK less attractive to entrepreneurs, consumers get a particularly rough deal here when it comes to credit. We felt this was an important enough problem to solve to launch in London. Traditional lenders like high street banks have largely forgotten they are there to serve customers and we felt it was a market crying out for a superior solution.

Did the fact that you have had a successful exit before make securing funding for Wonga much easier? 
A successful track record helps for sure. But it’s also obviously important to have a great idea, a genuine passion for it and some serious rationale for why it can scale. You also need to be prepared to work hard, with complete focus, and find the right people to help you make your dream a reality.

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a CEO? 
At Wonga, it was probably not starting with enough of our core processes in-house on day one.

What is the difference between an average a great CEO? 
I’m a big believer that passion, integrity and vision are critical. Without these three things leadership doesn’t sustain itself. Hard work and total commitment are also absolutely necessary.

A great CEO will know where they’re going at all times, be able to stay focused on what’s really key and bring all the other stakeholders – the team, customers, partners, investors and others – along on the journey.

Successful entrepreneurs also need to assemble a brilliant team of people and make sure that they all share their vision and want to work like demons to achieve the vision.

Finally, for all these positive skills, you need to be aware of your own shortfalls and work on improving areas of weaknesses. You never stop learning so anyone who thinks they cannot improve will trip up eventually.

Share your tips on how to build a strong network in the start-up space…

Get involved in the community and focus on giving instead of taking. Make sure that you’re having meaningful conversations rather than a one-way stream of requests. 


Give one tip on how to build a great internet business?

Make sure you’re idea harnesses and exploits the full power of the internet. It should be the reason your business will succeed, not just a channel for exploiting an existing business concept. In the case of Wonga we set out to deliver the first truly online loan service in a market where many financial websites are merely marketing tools for an offline product. That allowed us to deliver unrivalled speed and convenience benefits to our customers.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

To begin with, one needs an uncompromising commitment to attract and retain top class people. That is easier said than done if you’re at start-up stage, so you need to have the skills to locate top class talent and convince people that your vision will become reality – and that they can be a part of it.

Not everyone will work out, but you can’t start by accepting second best. We hire for intelligence and attitude and constantly ask ourselves whether the team is optimal.

Don’t be constrained by relevant industry background and look for genuine initiative and passion wherever you can find it. At Wonga we’ve benefitted from having many people from outside of the financial world, so we see things from a different perspective.

You then need to ensure your team knows what to focus on and communicate regularly to keep everyone moving in the same direction.

HYPERLINK “http://www.wonga.com”

What is Wonga? What is innovative about it?

Wonga.com helps its customers solve their short-term cash flow problems. We provide small, short-term cash advances to anyone who has an unexpected or important expense and wants a fast, convenient and secure solution. Our service enables people to get on with life without being saddled with long-term debt.

Pretty much everything about Wonga is innovative, from our complete automation of loan processing to the 24/7 access and unique flexibility we offer customers. In such a well established market you’re only going to upset the competition by bringing something genuinely new to the table.

Applicants use the sliders on our home page to decide exactly how much cash they need and how many days they want it for. There are no rigid terms and the size and length of loan also determine the cost, which is dynamically calculated up front. People can therefore tailor everything to suit their needs before applying online.

Using our sophisticated risk and decision technology, we provide an instant yet responsible decision within seconds. Those who are approved receive the cash into their bank account within the hour, no matter what time or day of the week.  That means if you successfully apply for a Wonga cash advance at 11pm on a Saturday, you’ll have the cash in your bank account before midnight!

Why did you set up Wonga?

I was looking to solve a really big and difficult problem, after selling my previous company. I was keen to do something very significant that was consumer-focused and disruptive in a major market.

The vision behind Wonga was giving people a genuine alternative to traditional sources of credit. We wanted to satisfy massive demand for short-term cash and do it faster and more conveniently than previously thought possible.

We also spent many months working out how we could offer a solution in a completely responsible manner. Part of the answer was technology, but the service is also extremely transparent and free of banking jargon. As a result we’ve already helped tens of thousands of very happy customers.

What is your personal background prior to Wonga?

In a word, varied! I guess I’m a serial entrepreneur and somewhat of a globe-trotter too. I was born in South African but have now lived and worked on three continents.

I love taking on challenges that others have deemed too difficult or impossible, so Wonga is not my first foray into founding a business. I have previously built and sold a hosted supply chain software company and, before that, I helped create an advanced steel wire production business.

What is hot in the start-up world right now?

Real businesses with real customer traction and business models that scale. There aren’t many of those around though!

What are the pros and cons of the current market? 


It’s obviously tough out there but that potentially means great opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to cut costs, attract exceptional talent and disrupt incumbents that built businesses in a strong economy.

Why did you base the business in London and not the US or Europe?

Despite the best efforts of the government to make the UK less attractive to entrepreneurs, consumers get a particularly rough deal here when it comes to credit. We felt this was an important enough problem to solve to launch in London. Traditional lenders like high street banks have largely forgotten they are there to serve customers and we felt it was a market crying out for a superior solution.

Did the fact that you have had a successful exit before make securing funding for Wonga much easier? 


A successful track record helps for sure. But it’s also obviously important to have a great idea, a genuine passion for it and some serious rationale for why it can scale. You also need to be prepared to work hard, with complete focus, and find the right people to help you make your dream a reality.

What is the biggest mistake you have made as a CEO? 


At Wonga, it was probably not starting with enough of our core processes in-house on day one.

What is the difference between an average a great CEO? 


I’m a big believer that passion, integrity and vision are critical. Without these three things leadership doesn’t sustain itself. Hard work and total commitment are also absolutely necessary.

A great CEO will know where they’re going at all times, be able to stay focused on what’s really key and bring all the other stakeholders – the team, customers, partners, investors and others – along on the journey.

Successful entrepreneurs also need to assemble a brilliant team of people and make sure that they all share their vision and want to work like demons to achieve the vision.

Finally, for all these positive skills, you need to be aware of your own shortfalls and work on improving areas of weaknesses. You never stop learning so anyone who thinks they cannot improve will trip up eventually.

Share your tips on how to build a strong network in the start-up space…

Get involved in the community and focus on giving instead of taking. Make sure that you’re having meaningful conversations rather than a one-way stream of requests. 


Give one tip on how to build a great internet business?

Make sure you’re idea harnesses and exploits the full power of the internet. It should be the reason your business will succeed, not just a channel for exploiting an existing business concept. In the case of Wonga we set out to deliver the first truly online loan service in a market where many financial websites are merely marketing tools for an offline product. That allowed us to deliver unrivalled speed and convenience benefits to our customers.

What do you think are the main ingredients of building the best team?

To begin with, one needs an uncompromising commitment to attract and retain top class people. That is easier said than done if you’re at start-up stage, so you need to have the skills to locate top class talent and convince people that your vision will become reality – and that they can be a part of it.

Not everyone will work out, but you can’t start by accepting second best. We hire for intelligence and attitude and constantly ask ourselves whether the team is optimal.

Don’t be constrained by relevant industry background and look for genuine initiative and passion wherever you can find it. At Wonga we’ve benefitted from having many people from outside of the financial world, so we see things from a different perspective.

You then need to ensure your team knows what to focus on and communicate regularly to keep everyone moving in the same direction.

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