Founders Prove that it Can be Done Without Venture Funding
When Ian Bell and Dan Gaul met in 2001, it wasn’t with visions of grandeur, but rather with Bell having the coolest cell phone.
The two would go on to build one of the largest product review sites online, Digital Trends.
In present day, DT sees 30 million unique visitors per month and has over 100 employees in 4 cities.
“Our philosophy now is that technology is the oxygen that we breath.” – Ian Bell
For Bell and Gaul it was important from the beginning that reviews be as non biased as possible and hold to their unique voice; in a crowed online market, that core value has helped them to build a loyal following.
The two were determined to do it their own way, and so in 2006 they started Digital Trends with a $50,000 small business loan, by 2009 the business had quickly grown to 75 employees.
“If we help people make better decisions around buying product, learning about product, then we’ve done our job.” – Dan Gaul
When asked about legacy, the founders explained that to their purpose, as simple as it is, comes down to making people’s lives better, by helping them make better decisions.
It sounds like getting recognized in a Digital Trends sweatshirt at Best Buy and getting to play with the latest gadgets is just an added benefit.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul sit down with me, Jeremy Ryan Slate, on the latest episode of the Create Your Own Life Show.
Original post appears on GritDaily.com
Jeremy Ryan Slate
CEO, Co-Founder, Command Your Brand Media
Jeremy Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast, which studies the highest performers in the world. He studied literature at Oxford University, and is a former champion powerlifter turned new media entrepreneur. He specializes in using podcasting and new media to create trust and oping leader status. In iTunes, he was ranked #1 in the business category and ranked #78 in the Top 100.
Jeremy was named one of the top 26 podcast for entrepreneurs to listen to in 2017 + 18 by CIO Magazine, top podcast to listen to by INC Magazine in 2019 and Millennial Influencer to follow in 2018 by Buzzfeed. The Create Your Own Life Podcast has been downloaded over 2.5 million times. He’s also a contributing editor of New Theory Magazine and Grit Daily.
After his success in podcasting, Jeremy and his wife, Brielle, founded Command Your Brand Media to help leaders use the power of podcasts to change the world.