Hudack: "My job is to make myself obsolete"

Blip.tv CEO and co-founder Mike Hudack shares lessons learned at Vator Splash NY

Mike Hudack, CEO and co-founder of Blip.tv, just shared his entrepreneurial lessons with the audience at Vator Splash NY, talking about the site's very first almost apocalyptic failure, the benefits of urinal chats in raising funding and the primary role of the CEO.

--Hudack first introduced his own startup, Blip.tv, as the next-generation television network. "If today's television networks weren't started in 1939, like NBC, what would they look like if they started in 2005?" While there is already a large variety of Web shows--sitcoms, how-to shows, dramas--Blip.tv supports producers in the distribution and advertising selling side of programming. Some shows on Blip.tv make a half billion dollars per year. In total, the site sees 140 million video views monthly with 30 million viewers.

--When Blip.tv launched in 2005, the startup sought to be the next stage after blogging. Originally a knowledge management platform, the team decided to strip down the site to its basic platform, add video, and launch in a week with the hopes of attracting hundreds of users. They attracted two.

--After a failure of a launch, Hudack found himself pacing around for over an hour, talking on the phone with other team members, and asking the same question over and over: "Do we keep going or cut our losses?" Obviously, they kept going; the site continued rebuilding over the next month, implementing new feature requests, adding comments, tweaking the terms of service, etc. The site had a revival-relaunch at a blogger BBQ in New Jersey, picking up 300-400 users after a demo of the updated site.

--"You will never build a business doing this part-time," a friend said early in the history of Blip.tv, convincing Hudack to quit his job and continue with family funding.

--Families can't fund startups forever, and Hudack had been meeting with several investors. At his 25th meeting with one investor, Hudack still hadn't sealed a commitment. The investor and Hudack concluded the meeting and both went to the restroom together. Standing at the urinals together, the investor asked Hudack, "Are you quite serious about this?" Without asking questions, Hudack replied in the affirmative. When the investor finally decided to go forward with the funding, he told Hudack that he chose Blip.tv over another potential startup because Hudack "had a good handshake and would look him in the eye." (And washed his hands, too.)

--"Your idea is ultimately worthless," was the lesson Hudack learned. "There are a million people with the same idea as you. There are a couple hundred group buying sites, but it is Groupon that managed to turn down a $6 billion acquisition offer." (For more on that, keep an eye on VatorNews' very own Faith Merino, who is tracking down 12 Groupon knock-offs for the 12 days of Christmas.)

--Hudack says the CEO has three jobs:

1. Have a vision and articulate that vision to investors, the press and everyoneat the company. Everyone has to believe and the CEO has to believe, because for startups, "everything is a roller coaster."
2. Capitalize the company and keep it capitalized.
3. Surround yourself with people that are better than you, smarter and harder working. "My job is to make myself obsolete. If I left the company, the company would still go."

--Someone in the audience said he was trying to raise $50,000, which Hudack thought almost laughable. "You shouldn't raise $50,000. Double or triple what you think you need," he said. "Blip.tv first raised a half million dollars, our latest was $10 million, but every time we saw the number in our bank account we thought, 'How do I spend this?'" Six months down the road, you realize it was very easy to spend.

--The initial Blip.tv startup team was made up of five people, which "everyone advised us not to do." Some refused to invest in a starting team that big because they were afraid members would take away equity when they quit further down the line. Four and a half years later, the original five are still at Blip.tv.

--"I failed way more times than I've succeeded. I don't think I've succeeded yet.