The Media Drop

Recently, I was able to get in touch with Mark Fletcher, who some might recognize as a name behind Bloglines and eGroups (now Yahoo! Groups). I wanted to ask him some questions about himself and the Internet-related companies he has been a part of. He was nice enough to take some time and answer my questions via e-mail, and I’m posting them here for all to see. Thanks again to Mark for getting back to me on this, and giving us some great insight into your career and products many of us have used.

Q: Tell me a little bit about how you got involved with Internet projects such as ONElist? You’ve been around for 20 something years in the technology fields, and I’m curious to know where you got your start.

A: I have always loved computers. My parents got me my first computer, one of the original IBM PCs, in 1982, and I was instantly hooked.

Growing up I wrote a bunch of games for fun, and ran a computer BBS system. Later, I graduated college as the commercial Internet was starting to develop. I worked at Diba, which developed a set-top box to surf the web and was acquired by Sun Microsystems (details here). For fun on the side, I started playing with the ONElist idea out of my home. Its popularity really took off, I created a company around that service, and the rest was history.

Q: Can you tell me about something you were involved in funding or running that you thought was going to be HUGE and ended up back on the drawing board?

A: I thought Diba, with the set-top box, would be a big hit. That company had a great group of people, a lot of buzz, and we all worked really hard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

Q: And as a follow up, how do you get “back in the saddle”, so to say, after you have worked on something that hasn’t worked out as well as planned?

A: If you asked around the technology industry, most people would say that things never work out the way they were planned—there’s always a curve ball! But that’s when the interesting stuff happens—you learn new things, come up with new ideas, and get an interesting story to tell after the dust settles. The people who stick around in this industry are the ones who enjoy a challenge. If you have that orientation, you work through the rough patches. You get mad about it, you work through it, you move on.

Q: Obviously eGroups had major success and eventually ended up in the Yahoo! brand. Did you have the opportunity to stay with the Yahoo!
group, and if you did, why did you choose to move on?

A: I loved creating ONElist from scratch and watching it grow into a successful business (merging with eGroups and being acquired by Yahoo).

It was the business experience of a lifetime, packed into a few short years. I’m proud of our work and the community that exists there today as Yahoo Groups. Yahoo’s a great company, but I was burned out, and I needed some time away from the industry. I also knew that I wanted to return to the start up environment.

Q: Your profile on LinkedIn says that you are “currently focused on solving problems for the modern Internet user and launching innovative new services.” Tell me what that means and how it led to the Bloglines service.

A: The biggest challenge for Internet users today is coping with information overload in all its forms—that includes information you want to find as well as unwanted information that finds you (spam). There are many different ways to address those issues and it’s fascinating to consider the options. At one point I considered creating products to address the spam problem, and some of the unique approaches I came up with in that arena became key technical underpinnings for Bloglines.

Q: Regarding Bloglines, did that start out of a need for yourself or your friends/colleagues, or did you just see it as a solution that had to be out there?

A: Like ONElist, I started Bloglines by creating tools for myself. I was personally struggling with managing tons of online information, and keeping up to date on all of my interests. I was trying to monitor over 100 web sites and having to revisit them time and again to determine if any new information had been posted or updated. I was investing a lot of time and felt like it was starting to run my life.

At the same time, some interesting web technologies like RSS and ATOM started to pop up, making it possible to create an umbrella service that helps people collect and manage lots of information from different sources at a single place.

So I had some great resources to work with, and once I launched Bloglines, I found it had a similar kind of viral uptake among users that validated my personal experience. It was clear that other people were encountering similar problems managing online information, and Bloglines was helping to solve those problems. The company was up and running.

Q: The reaction from pretty much everyone is clear about Bloglines - it’s a huge success. Every day I make sure and check the number of blogs/subscriptions you have on the front page, and enjoy watching it grow. This has to garner a lot of attention from not only VCs but corporations looking to expand their portfolio - do you plan on keeping Bloglines a self-standing product for an extended time, or do you think it would make a great fit in someone else’s portfolio of solutions?

A: I appreciate the compliments about Bloglines, and its great to be regarded as a category leader. The feedback we’ve received from users and across the blogosphere has been quite positive and encouraging. We feel like we’re at the beginning of our journey as a company, and we’re 100% focused on creating a great service, adding new features and making sure Bloglines subscribers have a positive experience.

Q: As a fellow blogger (you run wingedpig.com), what do you see as the biggest value of maintaining a blog? Had you blogged before that site?

A: I started blogging after the Yahoo acquisition. I thought I’d write about some of my experiences with eGroups, things that I learned along the way that might help others. Since the launch of Bloglines, my posts have obviously become much more centered on Bloglines. One of the things I like to do with wingedpig.com these days is to post additional information about what we’re doing with Bloglines. Every Bloglines user is automatically subscribed to the Bloglines blog, which is where we post announcements about new features and other information about Bloglines. Oftentimes, when we post an announcement to the Bloglines blog, I’ll then post additional information on wingedpig.com. I strongly believe in communicating as much as possible with our users, and wingedpig.com lets me add additional information for people who are interested, without overwhelming those who aren’t.

Q: Five year plan - what would you like to be doing and where do you see your company, Trustic, going?

A: Five years is an eternity in Internet time! If I could architect the future, five years from now I’d like to still be involved in creating interesting Internet services. And I’d love to have enough free time to learn acrobatic flying.

Q: Any words of advice for the Internet entrepreneur in all of us?

A: Having started companies before, there are 3 key things I can recommend:

First, pick a problem that you have passion around. Starting a company is a 24×7 commitment and if you aren’t fully dedicated to the idea, it’s not going to work. Second, listen to your users—they’re the experts. The power of an online venture is access to direct, real-time feedback from users. It’s a gift to an entrepreneur, and an incredible tool for building a business. They will tell you loud and clear what is working and what is not. And third, stick with it and be tenacious. Just like you can’t turn the oven on higher in the hopes of making the cake bake faster, entrepreneurs have to understand that while a product or service can be created somewhat quickly, it takes a long time to build an actual company that delights its customers and generates revenues for its employees and investors.

Yet again I’m pleased to receive some great input and feedback from someone in the technology field. My takeaway to the exercises of asking technology, media, or music folks for a few minutes of their time over the last few months has been so very positive. Props again to Mark for answering these questions!