Broadcast.com is a successful web radio company that is now owned by Yahoo! as part of their social entertainment services on their website. Broadcast.com was really the first business to capitalize on internet radio, which made the success of one entrepreneur all the more grand in the end for him. For this and more we take a look at entrepreneur Todd Wagner in the spotlight this week. We’ll look at just how he did it and highlight what lessons any upcoming entrepreneur can learn.
Summary:
Name: Todd Wagner
Age: 50
Location: Texas
Claim to fame: Broadcast.com (A web radio community)
Initial cost: <$1000
How He Did It:
Todd Wagner grew up in Indiana where he attended Indiana University graduating in 1983. He went onto obtain his law degree in Virgina, but would then move to Dallas, Texas where he obtained his CPA for accounting. Wagner worked in the legal field for the next several years. In 1995, he launched Broadcast.com with a fellow Indiana Alum offering live broadcasts of different sporting events and radio shows through his home PC. Wagner grew the site as a small business over the next few years and would sell it in 1999 to Yahoo! for about $5.7 billion making him and his partner billionaires over night. He worked with Yahoo! on the site through 2000 until he then decided to leave the company for other interests. Wagner has since gone on using the success of Broadcast.com to start 2929 Entertainment, which is a shell company for several smaller media based businesses that he currently owns now.
Lessons Learned:
- Taking risks on emerging markets have the potential to pay off in big ways.
- One should work to identify how you can leverage existing services or products in new ways.
- The internet is a great resource for entrepreneurs starting out (Todd ran his site service from a home pc)
- Don’t be afraid to venture out and try new things – you never know the potential of an idea until you try.
- Remember to have a clear vision and a well organized plan to back it up.
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Rob Malda.
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 and his entrepreneurship characteristics. 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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