Best Success Story

We’ve raised money, which is awesome. We’ve built a phenomenal team thus far which is (I think) a definite success; not all teams can stay that.

A lot of publishers [are using Branch]. USA Today used it for March Madness. PBS, for example, invited some Obama biographers during the election to chat about Obama’s family tree. It was a really interesting conversation [to watch] unfold… Publishers are really into using [Branch] as a way to create content for their editors. And so they’ll invite you know two or three or five of their editors and they’ll just have a conversation on there to create content.

In some ways we still have a lot left to prove. We have a product that has traction, but making it more accessible and making it more refined, and making it more sticky will take time … [There is] a lot left to do.

Biggest Startup Challenge

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“You have to build this ‘thing’ that you believe is cool and interesting and is going to bring something to the world, but convincing other people … is another challenge entirely.”

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Initially, the challenge is figuring out whether the product has merit and value; how we can build it into something bigger. You have to build this “thing” that you believe is cool and interesting and is going to bring something to the world, but convincing other people and investors and people to sign on as users, press, whatever; is another challenge entirely.

Building a platform like this, from my end, was interesting too, because I didn’t have much experience building these kinds of computer platforms. So it has been a learning experience.

And as we started building a team, I think building a company and building a team has been a challenge, not only from a hiring perspective, but keeping communication alive and making sure everybody is satisfied and growing and building a good company culture.

I don’t think our challenges are any different from any other company. It has been an interesting ride.

#1 Tip for Entrepreneurs

First is persistence —  stay at it… There was this great quote I heard Chris Dixon (Investor at Andreessen Horowitz, Partner and Co-founder of Founder Collective) say, “No intelligent person I’ve ever met has not succeeded eventually.”

All it takes is persistence. You try the first time, you try again. A lot of what I’ve been learning is straight out of experience and persistence. People are just persistent in what they do, and they succeed that way.

Another thing I’m learning slowly is how much time management is a huge part of being proactive. I encourage people to brush up on those skills, because coming from college I was a notorious procrastinator. I think trying to figure out how to get some time management techniques would be helpful, too.

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