Going Into the World!

Randy Conrad wasn't himself when he left Boeing. There were different departments in this large airline. For example, Boeing 747 includes a design team that designs only Boeing 747, a procurement team that procures parts, and a maintenance and management team.

Normally, one type can be divided in this way because it exists for at least 10 years. By the time Conrad retired, all the departments had been organized at once, with his motoring gone. In his case, he was advised to relocate to Chicago's labs because he did not belong in the same factory.

I've lived in Seattle for over 20 years, but it wasn't easy to organize everything and move to another area. Contrary to the opposition of the family, he eventually quit for a little bit of comfort and retirement money.

At first, it was quite a lot of money, combining 21 years of retirement and consolation. I started a company I had in mind called Classmate.com, and I was excited to work with it.

It didn't start with the idea of doing something great. It was a long time before the Internet boom started, so I had a chance to get 100,000 members after a few years, with good ratings.

Randy Conrad has been under a lot of stress lately. It's already been five years since I started Classmate.com, but I've often felt like something's stuck and there's no change.

It is not easy to survive two to three years without any income. Conrad was fine at first, but things got worse with some kids growing up.

When the member first broke through 100,000, he was able to get $200,000 in venture funding. However, I spent less than a year advertising servers and so on.

However, I was worried because I could no longer raise funds because I did not see a specific revenue structure, but I was able to start putting banner ads in last year and earn enough money to run the site, but it seemed to catch my attention.

"Did you put in a banner ad for nothing? The number of users rarely grows. It seems to be diminishing. I'm worried. ’

Display ads side-by-side, downward, or on a specific webpage that seemed to interfere a little with browsing the site.

It seems like an advertisement with a lot of photos, so it rises slowly. No one likes advertising, but sometimes when I look at the bulletin board, I hear that I want an ad free service.

"You're not just advertising our site. There are a lot of banner ads these days. ‘However, it is because there is no way that money can come from anywhere else. I'm using advertising as a revenue model, but I can't miss it. Many other sites also make ads their primary source of income quite well.

“Ms. Grant, this is Johnston Investment Bank.” The employee returns the phone.

“Yes, this is Randy Conrad. ”

“Hi, I'm John Kim from Johnston Investment Bank. Can I talk to you for a minute? ”

I got the report and planned this business in my own way. This site needs some innovation. I started out a little early, but I decided that I was standing at a crossroads between hitting and falling by similar competitors.

Knowing the industry, friendfind.com or similar sub-sites are gradually turning up. However, the current subscriber cannot be ignored. He made up his mind and called.

“Yes, I'll meet you there. See you then."

I made an appointment the next day because it was not far away from Seattle. It is said to take the horn out in a short run.

“Nice to meet you. John Kim says,” I saw Conrad coming into the restaurant, and I got up and welcomed him.

Conrad is a calm, middle-aged man who doesn't seem to have founded a venture.

“My name is Randy Conrad. You're younger than I thought. ”

I said my title was director, so I thought I'd be in my 30s or at least in my late 20s.

I carry two business cards, one for the boss and the other for the move. When I don't have to reveal that I'm the boss, I deal with it as a director. Now that the assets that run are quite good, it's funny to have a boss from the beginning in such a small thing.

Seems I don't need to get to the point from the beginning since I met Conrad in person. Neurowarfare and persuasion are important when negotiating with someone practical and assertive, but it is better to start with small stories around you than with someone like Conrad.

“I heard that people I know used Classmate.com to find their past relationships. How did you come up with that and jump in? ”

I opened my mouth with praise and a gentle float.

“Haha. It's no big deal. I grew up in Oregon. I went to college there, and then I started my first job in Seattle. Of course, I lost contact with my friends when I was in school. So ~..”

Conrad boasts of his past in the air. Having heard the backstory was kind of fun and also helpful in judging a man named Conrad.

“Oh, you're amazing. It's a very interesting story.” I didn't pay for compliments, so I fought hard.

“Was I talking to myself? Haha.” Conrad gets a little awkward with all the excitement. I'm in my mid-40s, and I'm more of an engineer than I am an entrepreneur. I felt something like that.

“No. I'm always welcome to talk about this, haha. By the way, you want to know why I contacted you?” Gently change the subject.

“I'm curious about that. As an investment company, are you interested in investing in my company?

I'm getting ready to get down to business. I pretended to be interested in investing and naturally asked about internal affairs of the company, but I answered them gently except for sensitive areas.

“Conrad, may I make you an offer?” I fixed my mind and spoke out.

“Yes?! Proposal? I'm curious.” I'm serious about lowering the tone, so I look at myself a little more carefully.

“Here's a report I've been working on. Take a look.”

In the past week, I have done business analysis in my own way, including competitors' trends in my reports. Classmate.com is at the forefront, but still remains in a steady first place, and it does not provide outstanding better service than the startups.

This is it! 'If it is not competitive to say, if the right services like the companies I sell to Microsoft come out, they can be left behind in half a year.

“No! Does this make sense? I can't believe I'm about to be spotted on Friend.com! This is too speculative.” When I read the report, Conrad got excited without me knowing.

‘As expected, you are not a worn negotiator. Hate and dislike, as it turns out. Hehe.’ I pressed it once, and now I have to float it.

“Ah, calm down. Well, it's a possibility. But right now, Conrad's company comes first. I'm just talking about the possibility that this could happen.” A little soothing before continuing the conversation had to be calmed down by words.

“Conrad, you don't know me very well, but I've already been through three companies. He was originally a publicly traded member of Yahoo, developed a travel search engine, founded a company called OneClickTrip, and acquired 300,000 members in just a few months.

Then I acquired my company from Microsoft, and now I'm a director at Expedia. ”

I spoke calmly and seriously about my career as a venture entrepreneur, the establishment of the Johnstone Investment Company and the recent successful venture investment.

You have to have a background or reputation in order to give someone faith and pressure. I sensed a change of heart in Conrad's glamorous career and pressures.

“I think Conrad feels that he needs to make a difference. Right?"

“Ah, yes. Well, that's not true, but" Conrad is naive in the way I strike and change the mood, and sometimes asks questions.

“Now hand over the company to me. And I'm really serious about this. Conrad's company is in a real state of affairs right now. Just a little bit more time and it will be eaten by the successors. I'm going to take over and raise it to be the best company. Conrad's name will always be there, right?” I felt surprised at my headshots for a moment.

I felt embarrassed that my offer was completely different from what I thought it would be, because it seemed like I could receive investment funds.

“Yes, let's think about it. Can we talk about this later?” Conrad considers for a moment, postponing his decision.

“Of course. I'm not asking you to make this decision right here. ”

“It's a company I built and raised by hand. This is not an easy decision to make. Can you give me about a month? ”

Conrad demanded a month. Tsk, it's almost a year in Silicon Valley. I thought he was too soft inside.

“I'm sorry to say this, but if this doesn't work out for you, I will make the same offer to the competitor. If you acquire any of them, you are confident that you can quickly invest your feet and make them the best sites in as little as 6 months. And if it doesn't work for me, I can create a new place myself. ”

The pressure is more intense, so it doesn't look good, but it also shows up on your face.

If you push it in, you'll know you're coming out the back. I finished eating with Conrad again in my daily life, but Conrad is not as excited about it as he was for the first time.

@

“Ah, Mr. Conrad. You called earlier than I expected. ”

I got a call about whether my pressure to contact other competitors was working or accepting an offer a little over a week ago.

That's the best. It's a good choice. As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Conrad is not a businessman. You need someone like me to take the second leap. Haha.That's a self-indulgence.

A slight push and pull negotiation agreed to buy Classmate.com for $2 million in cash.

Opening the lid, it was not as special as I expected, and I was able to buy it at a relatively cheap price because I had not yet created a profitable structure with this business.

Of course, that's a lot of money for Conrad's individual and a little reward for all his hard work.

The OneClickTrip I founded and sold had a clear revenue structure - travel agencies and products - and was already making money. People are looking for travel products to spend money

On the other hand, the Find Friends site is not a place to spend money, so of course, even a good idea does not have a business model in mind.

In that regard, he also counted 2 million dollars generously.

Conrad either wanted to clear his mind, or he was able to cooperate actively and quickly finish the handover.

The company that was building a small size of six people needed reinforcement, so it hired a few talented developers.

He also had to research the direction and profitability of his new business, which leveraged Expedia's planning team. Oh, of course, it's personal, so I didn't give it to you formally, I just needed a little help.

The small banner ads no longer extended to the end of the contract.

"You shouldn't get involved in small things. We need to increase the number of users by at least 2 million. ’If hundreds of thousands of members sign up and use this service for free, I think there is a problem.

He set an enormous goal of 2 million subscribers and pursued his work.

First, we spent more than a month solving server and network problems, speeding up the rise of pages on the site, and reinforcing the technical sector to connect more intelligent searchers.

As a search expert, I could see that there was a lot of improvement, so I looked at my hands and the time of a month passed by.

No matter how good you are, you have to know how to live with it. Now that you've enhanced your capabilities and speed, it's time to let the world know!

I am experienced in this way. Of course, I advertised through connections I knew, such as Yahoo, Expedia and MSN, and actively leveraged my secret method, Comments Alba. Moreover, the computers that were used in the last election are also properly recycled and working. Huh.This is delicious.

“Yes, yes. Yeah, you do that. A little bit out of your mouth, a little bit of chin in your hand... Ah, good.” We are shooting an ad on one side.

“What a model! It's going to be very provocative.” But I called a professional photographer because it's an advertisement for the company and I can't take pictures. I go in as the client owner while taking a picture, complimenting the model I brought.

You create an advertisement with the concept that a wonderful Sunbae waits for you in memory of your past, and you invite Jennifer who is playing to take an advertisement.

“Were you okay? Hehe. This is really fun. So I'm a model now? ”

When I come in and the shoot stops, Jennifer looks at me and runs to hang on to her arm. I did good, right? 'I know that I want to be complimented with that face.

“Wow, you look amazing today! You're our model now. Haha.” It's usually pretty, but today it's all about light makeup and formal clothes and hair, so it's eye-opening.

“Oh, so you're the boss's girlfriend? I'm so... envious.” The photographer turns to Jennifer and looks at me.

After spending 200,000 dollars and literally launching an ad like a bomb, the number of visitors increased differently every day.

As my large ad resulted in a growing number of subscribers, NBC TV was introduced with Classmate.com, and the effect was immediately apparent whether the media could ignore it.

Less than two months later, the number of subscribers lightly broke through 1 million, and some days on the air achieved a new record of 20,000 subscribers a day.

I saw another possibility due to an explosive increase in subscriber numbers.

‘I hope this links something like a personal homepage to Friend Finder. That way we can move the screen to where we're looking right now. Photos and basic information would be helpful. ’

I thought it would be good to link blogs and other features like this to find friends. Beyond that, if there is a service that connects people and ties them together, it is a gold medal.

'Social media that brings people together... I have a feeling about this... Hmm.'

With one foot in this area, it looks like the other food is catching on.