Woot.com is online store that offers one new product each day for only 24 hours before ending the sale on a specific item. The one deal per day business model has since grown quite a bit in popularity and can be seen on several other sites now as well. For pioneering such a business model and netting over $100 million in revenue during the process, we take a look at entrepreneur Matt Rutledge this week in the spotlight. We’ll look at just how he did it and highlight what lessons any upcoming entrepreneur can learn.
Summary:
Name: Matt Rutledge
Age: 30+
Location: Dallas, Texas
Claim to fame: Woot.com (Online store that sells one product per day with a new offering each day)
Initial cost: <$1000
How He Did It:
Matt Rutledge was born and raised in the Texas area where he went to school and attended college. Rutledge would later start his own small business as a wholesale consumer electronics reseller. He came up with the idea for woot in early 2000 when he was looking for a way to rid himself of overstocked inventory. Taking his love for blogging into account, he came up with the idea to start a website/blog style combo site that would offer one deal on one product at a time per day with a different product offering each day thus helping to solve his overstock problem. Woot launched in 2004 and has since become a mega success for deal seekers alike. What started out as a simple side project has since become Rutledge’s primary business who now also employs his brother. Woot reported registered users surpassing 1.5 million members with revenue exceeding well past the $100 million marker!
Lessons Learned:
- Simple ideas can grow over time. The key is taking action (Matt set out with one goal in mind and accomplished something far greater)
- Figure out how to leverage your existing skills/experiences to venture into new markets
- Don’t be afraid to try something completely new (Rutledge created a whole new business model in the process)
- Define your business model up front – it will keep you on track!
- Never be satisfied – Keep learning and always be looking towards your next idea!
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal.
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 me know if you have an entrepreneur you would like to see featured here in the weeks to come.
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