Try Things, Do More – Interview With Paul Edmondson, Founder of HubPages.com

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Paul Edmondson knew he had a great idea, but even he didn’t expect such rapid growth. Edmondson is the CEO and Founder of online publishing site HubPages, which launched in August 2006 and now has over 100,000 registered users. It gets more than 5 million hits a month, mostly from search engines like Google and Yahoo. Authors create content-rich pages with easy to add text, photos, videos, and RSS feeds and earn money from Google Adsense, Amazon, and Ebay. To reach the masses, Edmondson and his colleagues have created the site so that no technical knowledge is required. And it’s free. Definitely a killer startup.

In this interview I ask Paul Edmonson how he knew he was on to something and what prepared him to go out on his own.

LD: What gave you confidence that HubPages would be successful.

E: We thought if we made a great product and built a community that people would use the service. We had a simple plan. To try things. To do more of the stuff that worked and to stop doing the things that didn’t. Nearly 6 million people visited HubPages.com last month. One of the things we did well was monetize Hubs, so we introduced a new ad optimization product called YieldBuild that served nearly 200 million ads last month as well.

LD: What in your education prepared you to run this type of business.

PE: There’s the education I received in school that helped get me started in the software industry. I started playing with computers in the fifth grade and making simple programs at school. In college I took programming classes that gave me enough skills to write software, and design databases. School is part of the education, but so much of what I learned to start this business is more about getting after it, asking questions and good old fashion trial and error.

LD: What in your experience working for others prepared you to go out on your own?

PE: My time at Microsoft was a very helpful learning ground. I’m always trying to learn new things and when I see someone do something effective, I try and incorporate into my skill set. Whether it’s about customer support, how to build a product, or even how to give feedback to an employee these are all skills that get developed with experience.

LD: What do you wish you’d learned in school to support your entrepreneurial efforts?

PE: I think part of being entrepreneurial is learning what you need to get the job done from all sorts of sources. School is good for broad strokes, but I think you really have to do it to learn it, at least for me.

LD: What has been the biggest surprise since you started HubPages?

PE: It’s incredibly challenging to build a great product or service, to hire talented people, to manage the finances and grow the business. While I knew it would be an incredible challenge, I didn’t really know how tuff I really am. I think the adversity that you go through with a new business teaches you about yourself in a way you would never know.

LD: What is the biggest myth about raising capital and getting funding for a new venture?

PE: I heard from several people that if five people pass on your pitch, it isn’t fundable. If I gave up after five people told me no, then we wouldn’t be funded. I think it’s important to keep trying, listen to the feedback and then refine your pitch. If five people say no, keep asking.

LD: Do you have any advice to young entrepreneurs?

PE: Start you own company. Today. Just get out there and start doing it.

LD: What is the most striking difference about working for yourself vs. working for someone else?

PE: Ahhh, the hours. Working for a company you start is an incredible commitment. While I’ve always been game to put in extra time when needed, when it’s your own company, almost everyday and weekend require extra time…But it’s worth it.