Dream of making it as a successful entrepreneur?  Looking for some success stories of fellow entrepreneurs who have turned their ideas into a full-time job?  Well, look no further as you have found the first post in what will be an ongoing series designed to highlight people who have done just that.  Each week we will highlight a different entrepreneur who recently made it big.  We’ll tell you who they are, how they did it, and offer some helpful tips so you can do it too!  This week  in our first post of the series, we will take a look at Kevin rose, who happens to be the mastermind behind the popular user-based news site digg.com.

Who Is He:

Name: Kevin Rose
Age: 32
Location: California, USA
Claim to fame: Digg.com (user controlled news site)
Initial cost: $6000.00

How He Did It:

Prior to his major success, Kevin worked for G4/TechTV as a production assistant and later a co-host of The Screensavers tv show.  Kevin came up with the idea for the digg.com website in the fall of 2004 when he had the idea for a user community based news website.  He hired a freelance web developer and paid him $12 per hour to create the site ($1000 spent total for site creation).  He paid an additional $1200 for the domain name, $99 per month for server space, and some additional miscellaneous costs totaling $6000.00 for the initial start-up.  The site when live to the public on December 5, 2004.   In October of 2005, Kevin received $2.8 million in venture capital from some investors and more recently another $28.7 million from Highland Capital Partners.  Today, the site gets all kinds of media and internet attention alike with millions of visitors every month!

Helpful Tips:

• It’s alright to have an idea that you don’t know how to create on your own.  (Sites like craigslist, elance, and others offer a wide selection of hourly freelance works to do the parts you are unfamiliar with.)
• The cost to bring your idea to life is reasonable (In this case, Kevin hired someone to assist him and created his entire vision for $6000.)
• Don’t be afraid to try (None of his success would have been possible if he hadn’t invested a little of his own money and time to try something a little risky and new.)

Be on the lookout for our next entrepreneur spotlight article.  In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think.



Sources:
Valley Boysk
Interview With Digg Founder Kevin Rose