Yammer is a microblogging service offered for business use, which provides companies with a twitter style of keeping in touch throughout the company. Businesses looking for a quick way to update fellow employees with what different people are working on at any given time will be happy to hear about this new startup launched in 2008. The entrepreneur behind Yammer has already seen much success with their subscription based service model. For this and more we take a look at entrepreneur David Sacks 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: David Sacks
Age: >40
Location: San Francisco, CA
Claim to fame: Yammer (Online microblogging tool designed for private business use within different organizations.)
Initial cost: unknown
How He Did It:
David Sacks grew up in the California area where he would later attend Stanford University to obtain his BA in Economics. David then went directly into Law School at the University of Chicago through 1998. In 1999, David began worked at PayPal where he worked as the Chief Operating Officer for a few years. David would move onto other projects and work over the next several years. In 2008, he founded an internet startup known as Yammer, which has been described as the enterprise version of Twitter. Any company can sign up to use the tool and what they get is a private twitter microblogging experience with fellow employees where they can post work related updates. Yammer has since gone onto obtain over $14 million in funding and currently has over 7,000 businesses using the popular tool.
Lessons Learned:
- Take time to build experience and background before rushing into a market.
- Work to position yourself with people who share your interests.
- Look for ways to put new spins on existing products.
- Subscription based services are one of the most steady business models.
- Always be looking to grow and try new things.
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Dennis Crowley.
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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