Myspace is a social networking website offering community based services similar to Facebook. Long before the days of Facebook though, MySpace ruled the social networking world. A website that was once #1 in the space still remains strong despite the aggressive competition that has since developed in this space. Not only does MySpace remain a success, but it helped to shape social networking as we know it today. For this and more we take a look at entrepreneur Tom Anderson 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: Tom Anderson
Age: 39
Location: California
Claim to fame: MySpace.com (A social networking community for all ages similar to Facebook)
Initial cost: <$1000
How He Did It:
Tom Anderson was born in 1975 in California where he would grow up and attend the University of California. Anderson obtained his Bachleors Degree in English in 1998 and his Masters Degree in Film in 2000. In 2003, Tom came up with the idea to create a website that would allow musicians to share their music with others on the web. So he set out and found few web developers to help him create MySpace. The site quickly grew in popularity attracting the younger crowd from all different interest backgrounds. Tom Anderson quickly realized this and began a project to alter the site and it’s purpose to create one of the first social networking sites. MySpace exploded in growth in 2005 and quickly became the go to site for social networking online. In 2005, MySpace was purchased for roughly $580 million from Anderson who still serves as the CEO. Sites like Facebook have since emerged in the social networking space claiming the #1 spot, but MySpace still maintains strong profits with record breaking membership numbers. MySpace is currently ranked #17 worldwide in the Alexa database.
Lessons Learned:
- No one know for sure what the next big thing will be: The only way to know is to try.
- Even if your idea seems simple – give it a go! You never know what it could morph into.
- Traffic matters for any internet business. Invest in the time and work needed to build traffic.
- Continuous improvement is vital to any success.
- Don’t be afraid to try something never done before, but don’t let others doing something already stop you either!
- Take action! At some point you have to put down the book and actually do something to make something happen.
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Marc Andreessen.
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.
Sources:
Tom Anderson is widely known to be a PR creation and he made less than a million dollars from it’s sale.