Meebo is a multimedia website platform that allows you to use instant message anywhere right through your browser providing access to all the most popular instant messaging services. At the request of some of our readers, this week in the spotlight we take a look at entrepreneur Elaine Wherry, who co-founded the popular internet instant messaging platform known as Meebo, and we’ll break down just how she did it so you can learn from her story.
Summary:
Name: Elaine Wherry
Age: 30-40 (no age confirmation)
Location: California, United States
Claim to fame: Meebo (popular internet instant messaging platform)
Initial cost: Unknown
How She Did It:
Elaine Wherry grew up in the mid-west and later obtained a degree in symbolic systems from Stanford University. She eventually moved out to California where she worked as a Manager for a company called Synaptics. This is where she met Seth Sternberg and Sandy Jen who she co-founded Meebo. Elaine and her partners left Synaptics in 2005 when they launched the first public version of the website. It was one of the first services of it’s kind and it continues to be very popular taking in over 1.5 million logins each day! The site has grown a great deal since its initial launch as new acquired funding from investors has led for such upgrades as support for file-transfers and more instant message clients. Meebo just recently added support for facebook chat and released a iphone application, which many were happy to see!
Lessons Learned:
- You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with your idea. It’s great it you do, but not necessary for success. (Elaine took the concept of instant messaging and put a new spin on it as we saw here, which turned out to have a very practical use for many.)
- Get help if your idea is bigger than one person (Two entrepreneur minds often makes for a more creative space with more possibility)
- Entrepreneurship is something people often grow into (You can work full-time and start a side business/project/hobby to fill some free time, which can then turn into something more. This is the back story to most entrepreneur success stories you read about.)
- Ideas and concepts take time to transform into their full potential (It’s rare to see a product launch and have it be a instant success. Most successful entrepreneurs ran with a idea or a few ideas for a couple of years before they took off. Invest the required time and efforts.)
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Craig Newmark
Be on the lookout for our next entrepreneur spotlight article in this ongoing series. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about the success of this week’s entrepreneur. Also, please let us know if you have an entrepreneur you would like to see featured here in the weeks to come.
Sources:
Related posts:
You are right on about how ideas take time to transform. People often expect instant results or consider their efforts to be failure. Nice job – love these posts!