Drew Curtis is at the helm of Fark, a news aggregation site known for clever and snarky headlines, founded 11 years ago. Drew owns 100% of this news site and operates it virtually. The quarterly get-togethers with his staff, who work all across the country, help bring the team together for some power-strategy discussions and camaraderie.
In this "Lessons Learned" segment, Drew talks about what drives him to run his business. He also talks about the lessons he learned from his first startup, an Internet service provider, which failed. He started that venture when he was 23-years-old.
One of his key pieces of advice is to acknowledge what's not working and move on. Many entrepreneurs are eternal optimists and often hope things will get better. "If you see something going off the rails... don't ignore it," he said.
Drew also talks about the upside and downside of working virtually. "Tax laws are incredibly inept," said Drew, explaining that his staff work from home and so don't really fall under any jurisdiction besides the U.S.
Drew also talks about whether he would raise funding today, even though he's lasted 11 years without it and is profitable.
(Full disclosure: Drew is an investor in Vator)
Good interview, I love hearing about entrepreneurs who don't reside in the major tech areas of the world but still do quite well in locations like Kentucky and Toronto where I'm based from.
I never really heard the Fark story before so it's interesting to know that its purely a virtual company, and the founder owns 100% of the business. I definately think this is a trend we will see more of from future web companies.
I think that Drew was smart for investing into Vator, and thanks for doing this interview!