[ibimage==22071==Original==none==self==null]
Prosperent recently relocated from Colorado Springs to Denver. We talked with CEO Brian Lovett about why they moved, how things are going in Denver, and what's coming in the months ahead.
Prosperent is one of the fastest growing performance advertising networks, serving up millions of ad impressions per day. Prior to being founded in 2009 by a group of entrepreneurs determined to simplify affiliate marketing, Prosperent has been involved in the performance marketing/affiliate marketing industry for a number of years and has grown frustrated by the lack of tools and data available from other networks. They set forth on a mission to simplify the process of monetizing web pages with dynamic and targeted performance marketing products.
What's the story behind Prosperent?
We were affiliate marketers ourselves for close to ten years. In working with these companies, we found that they give you a mountain of data, but no good way to use it. I started working with Mike, and he started creating custom tools so that I could use that data and market more effectively. Eventually, we decided to start a company around this idea, that there was an actual need for it and others could benefit.
When was this?
We got started in Novmeber of 2009.
What have been your big successes over the years?
I think it was lucky for us that we when we got in to this, there was real need for our product. We were profitable right off the bat and have remained profitable since then. We have over 8,000 people currently using our products. We’re getting to that point of reaching a critical mass and things are really starting to take off.
Your company has been around longer than a lot of the startups in town. What do you think has contributed most to your success?
One of the keys is really being agile and failing quickly. We’ve had products in the past where we had to either shift directions or ditch it, and we made those decisions very quickly.
How about some mistakes that you've learned from:
We had a product called prosper links. It was a great concept but it was difficult to figure out a good way to execute. We spent all of this time on it and ultimately ditched it. The other one - and this is difficult – was transitioning from the startup phase (out of it). You have to learn to become managers, step back, and give up control over certain parts of your company. That’s a difficult thing to get in to. As a founder you have to do 10 different jobs, and then eventually give some of that up so you can go out and sell your company.
Running a startup, you can't really prepare for it. You hire people, and then you find out what rules you have to create. I swear we have half of our rules because of one person we hired that we had to start creating guidelines around.
As soon as you start taking on employees, you learn that the interaction has to be different, the company culture has to be different. You have to build that culture but within the confines of a growing business. It’s not necessarily the skillset, but how someone fits into your culture that’s important. You can have someone who’s fantastic at what they do, but if they don’t fit your culture it’s not going to work. I think that is difficult. That was one problem being in the Springs, we didn’t have other companies we could discuss those things with – we were winging it.
Tell us more about your move, and why you relocated.
Several reasons. There isn’t a very big tech community in Colorado Springs. We were one of the few startups there. Without a tech community, it was difficult to find talent. There was also no sense of community or culture around the tech industry.We were looking at Boulder and Austin, and those are both expensive places to relocate people to. Denver seemed to have everything we were looking for.
You've been here just over a month. How's it going? First impressions?
It’s been amazing so far. The first event we went to was your Built In Brews happy hour, that was just a couple of days after we got here. It was really cool to see that much of a tech community – we were really excited, this seemed like the place to be. We had some great conversations with people we met there, and potential business opportunities have come up from that. It’s exciting that has happened in the first month of us being here.
What advice do you have for newer companies?
Fail quickly, give up control, stay lean. I think for us, we don’t have a lot of costs, and we keep it that way so that we don’t need outside funding. You should be able to turn revenue and you should be able to please your customers.
What resources do you recommend?
For Denver, I think the Built In Brews is a great one. There are some books that we joke are required reading – "Good to Great," "Rework," "Delivering Happiness," and "Leadership and Self Deception" to name a few.
Learn more about Prosperent in their company profile, on their website, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter @Prosperent.
This week we also visited Active Junky and MedPassage. Learn more about the Startup Tour and read past weeks' posts here.