Entrepreneur Interview: Lindsey Port, GLO Gaming : Business Info ...

Business Name:
GLO Gaming

Website URL:
http://www.glogaming.com

Year Founded:
2011

Number of Employees:
10

What does your company do?
GLO Gaming is a scalable advertising platform that specializes in the placement of brand assets in the online and mobile gaming space to maximize engagement, shareability, brand loyalty, brand recall, brand perception and performance.

Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level?

In May 2011, within two weeks, we received two campaigns upwards of $400K each. ?At that point, I didn?t need to raise any angel or seed money and I was able to focus on turning from a one person start-up company working from home, to an established team of employees with an office in Midtown Manhattan. ?Setting up payroll with ADP definitely made us feel like a ?real company.?

What processes or procedures have you implemented that have helped grow your company?
Hiring a bookkeeper has been crucial. ?She definitely keeps all of the finances in order but has been pinch-hitting as our de-facto HR dept as well. ?CRM tools such as?salesforce.com?come in handy when managing our sales team and pipeline. ?Emphasizing stellar customer service has resulted in a lot of repeat business from clients such as Microsoft, Ann Taylor LOFT and 2K Games, who have each run four campaigns with us since going to market in March.

What is most rewarding about running your business?
Seeing my sales people close deals. ?They work very hard at what they do and watching them succeed is extremely rewarding.

What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?
Staffing up when there is a large influx of business has been a challenge. ?It is hard to find good talent and the interviewing process takes a lot of time. ?We have been in need of a planner for about two months and I haven?t had time to look at candidates because I am busy writing proposals and stepping into the roles normally performed by five people. ?I only recently made it a priority once things slowed down a bit to post the open positions online.

If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?
If I were starting over, I would not hire friends or inexperienced people. ?At a startup, each role is vital and so is every dollar. ?I hired a friend who I thought would be successful doing sales in the digital media industry and quickly realized that I was too busy to teach him every detail about the industry, our company and media solutions, how to sell, how to present to a conference room full of buyers, and how to introduce him to all my contacts.

I learned that when you can only afford one salesperson, you need to be efficient about that expense and the rate of return on investment. ? You need someone with a Rolodex of established relationships and a small learning curve who can generate business quickly. ? The fact that he was a friend also came with all sorts of nepotism, too.

What advice do you have for other business owners?
Don?t keep your business ideas a secret. ?It?s good to get lots of feedback early on. ?Take advantage of your network and reach out to people and ask lots of questions. ?I have found entrepreneurs love helping fellow entrepreneurs. ?And I personally do, myself.

Please list any favorite books, tools or resources (software, website, etc.) you would recommend for others:
?Screw It. ?Let?s Do It? by Richard Branson and ?The Art of the Start? by Guy Kawasaki. ?I considered both my ?bible? when I started my first company and I still reference them ALL the time.

What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
I am a closet geek. ?I can program in PHP and run queries in MySQL. ?I was forced to learn programming during the development of my first company,?intheglo.com, which was a complex video-based web platform. ?A client once referred to me as the ?Megan Fox of Programmers?.

Source: http://businessinfoguide.com/entrepreneur-interview-lindsey-port-glo-gaming/

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