Startup Celebrity is not gone . . .

So, it’s been a while since I blogged here, let alone added anything on Startup Celebrity.  While Startup Celebrity is a project I still feel very passionate about, after talking to others and getting advice, there are a few things I’ve had to wrestle with before I can move on with it:

1. I need an income

Very much so, I realized that any ability to generate a livable income from the site would take a very long time.  So I have had to pivot myself as an entrepreneur to work on a previous idea, even though it may have also had to generate eyeballs before it could be economically viable, I had to move in that direction.

Nice enough, working on the other idea which was in the UGC space led me to a new idea which has a very obvious and early revenue model.  So I have now put all of my energies into that to get it up and running and get it in front of people.

This is hugely important because I have a family who depends on me and the runway is running out.

2. I realized how many people are In this Space

I didn’t know it at the time, but there are a lot of people in the business of interviewing startups.  Which is a good thing and something I hope to work into.

I still believe that my angle is unique, that of focusing on the people and their stories using the business and technologies as a backdrop, rather than the other way around.

However, the more people I met with great stories and ideas, I came to …

3. Realize I Need to Build Something

There were a few entrepreneurs I met that were working on companies delivering products that I had thought I would build.  It started out as one, and as it happened more, I started to feel a little disingenuous about interviewing these really honest, nice and open people if I thought I might build a competing product.

In addition to that, while at SXSW, I met Andrew Warner, a really nice guy who has a successful exit of his and is doing long-form interviews of successful founders.  I’m sure if you’ve made it here, you’re definitely familiar with Andrew and his site Mixergy.

Between him, and Jason Calacanis, I also began to feel that I would be a better interviewer if I was building something beyond just Startup Celebrity.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the interviews I did, the people I met who were so gracious to give me their time, and the hustle involved with being a “journalist.”

Eventually I’ll come back to working on Startup Celebrity because of what I believe about interviewing founders and getting to know them as people.  I thought of it as entertaining for me, and that’s for whom I’ll do it, but it will be more of a passion project once I get my entrepreneurial chops going with my current new venture.  Hopefully by then, I’ll have a better ability to build out a team of others who want to contribute and build it into what I was hoping for in the beginning.

Thank you for your support.  Please wish me luck, and I look forward to seeing you again when I start it up again.