andrewjdumont.com

A Chat With The Big Deal Himself – Neil Patel

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by Andrew Dumont in Startup Life

If you’re in the tech industry, you know who Neil Patel is. If you don’t, you need to… the dude is brilliant. He’s founded two venture funded companies, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics, been named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top influencers on the web, and created a blog (Quick Sprout) that hauls in upwards of 50,000 uniques a month.

A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to sit down with Neil to ask him a few questions. You can check out the interview below, Neil’s answers are written in italic.

1 ) For all the people out there that don’t know you, who’s the man behind the “big deal” and what would you say is your biggest claim to fame?

As you mentioned, I’m the co-founder of 2 Internet companies: Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics. Through these 2 companies I’ve helped large corporations such as AOL, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Viacom make more money from the web.

My biggest claim to fame? That’s a tough one. Probably that I was one of the first Internet marketers to leverage Digg and during my peak I had over 400 stories that hit the homepage.

2 ) KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg, what’s the status on each of these companies and what role do you play?

Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics are both doing well. I don’t spend much time on Crazy Egg these days, as the team there is handling everything. As for KISSmetrics, I spend most of my time there. I am working on building up our beta group.

3 ) On your blog Quick Sprout, it seems like you have many different areas of expertise, but where would you say is your most powerful base of knowledge?

I am not an expert in anything… over the years I have made a ton of mistakes and I kind of have a decent understanding of what entrepreneurs should avoid. Because of this, I like sharing the mistakes I have made and ones that should be avoided.

4 ) You’ve received some pretty incredible recognition in the blogging world, like being recognized by the Wall Street Journal as a top influencer on the web and being named by Technorati as a top 100 blogger. How did you do it? What are your top 3 pieces of advice for all the bloggers out there?

I did it by writing good content and leveraging the social web. Those are the two things I did to become a top 100 blogger and be listed as a top influencer on the web.

As for 3 pieces of advice to bloggers:
1. Write great content, not good content.
2. Respond to every commentor… remember, no man is an island.
3. Be consistent with your blogging. If you blog once a week, make sure you maintain it.

5 ) Tell us a little about Quick Sprout Pro. What’s the idea behind it?

Quick Sprout PRO is a service meant for new entrepreneurs. It gives you a break down of ways you can increase your traffic and grow your revenue.

6 ) You definitely have the inherent mind of an entrepreneur. As all other entrepreneurs know, a common side effect of that is a constant influx of ideas for businesses. What are some amazing ideas you’ve had, but decided not to run with?

I have had a ton of these ideas. You can find them here: http://bit.ly/9ewdRj

I know many of those ideas suck, but at the time I thought they would work.

7 ) Social media is all the fuss right now around the web, but do you think social media marketing will sustain or become saturated?

It will sustain. Just look at sites like Twitter… social media is just in its’ infancy. Wait 5 to 10 more years and a lot of things will change.

8 ) Everybody wants to create the next Facebook, 37Signals, Twitter, etc., but the odds of success to that extent is nearly nothing. Although unlikely, what must someone have in place to take the leap of faith into starting a business of their own?

You have to solve a problem. If you don’t do that you won’t have a big business. No one needs another me-too company, so don’t create one. There are enough problems out there, so pick one you are passionate about and solve it.

9 ) What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve ever received? And, what advice would you like to leave us with?

Network, network, and network some more. You can never go wrong with having a big network. It will definitely come in handy when you start your business.

For more info on Neil and some additional business tips, head over to Quick Sprout.