Interview with the Beermat Entrepreneur

I was fortunate enough to interview Mike Southon, the Beermat Enterpreneur along with Dr Alan Rae on the 22nd March 2007. Mike runs a great site over at http://www.beermat.biz/.

Mike and his fellow partners, are an excellent example of a new breed of small business who exploit “The Web Pitch”. In other words, using rich Web 2.0 technologies to promote their business. In discourse with Mike, got me thinking.

Over the last eight years, I have spent a “serious” amount of time building and supporting corporate networks. Organised, resilient, scalable networks that are still being used and evolving for my former employers. Such networks, connect hundreds upon hundreds of people and costs several thousand pounds to maintain. Yes, I’m a proud father, looking back at his legacy with a sense of pride. However, the 21st Century ushered in Web 2.0. In today’s “disposable” society, you no longer need a fixed network, or a string of expensive licenced applications to run your business.

Small businesses or entrepreneurs, are agile enough to “pick and mix” and choose a wide variety of ‘free’ or cheap technologies available on the web. Readers, do you have any idea how much this messes with my brain!!?? This is COOL.

While we were sleeping, the Intenet changed. My ‘beloved’ technology doesn’t matter anymore. The barriers of understanding all this “tech stuff” are removed. Its now easier for the average Joe, to setup business, use web tools, network and reach an audience of millions, than it is to program his DVD recorder!

But… Like all technology, it does have a limited shelf life. Early pioneers like Beermat, are reaping the rewards of the time they invest in the Web 2.0 playground. Can your business afford not to?

61 Interviews with Founders of Web 2.0 Websites

Want to know some of the secrets which make a great web 2.0 startup? Well why not learn from the founders of the most well known web 2.0 companies. Below is a collection of 61 interviews

Alex Giron, founder CSSBeauty
Alexander Kirk, founder of Blummy
Amy Bohutinsky, of Zillow
Benjamin Bejbaum, founder of Dailymontion
Bill O’Donnell, founder of Kayak
Chris Hughes, founder of Facebook
Christoph Janz, of Pageflakes
Christopher Janz, founder of Pageflakes interviewed by SEOmoz
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist interviewed by Netsquared
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist interviewed by SEOmoz
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist interviewed by SFgate
Dave Pell, founder of Rollyo
Dave Pell, founder of Rollyo interviewed by Technosight
David Sifry, founder of Technorati
David Sifry, founder of Technorati interviewed by SEOmoz
Eric Costello, Client Development Lead for Flickr
Eric Rodenbeck, Mike Migurski and Tomas Apodaca, founders of Mappr interviewed by Emily Chang
Garret Heaton, founder of HipCal interviewed by SEOmoz
Garrett Camp, Co-founder of StumbleUpon interviewed by Centernetworks
Garrett Camp, Co-founder of StumbleUpon interviewed by ReadWriteWeb
Geoffrey Arone, co-founder of Flock interviewed by ZDnet
Jacob DeHart, founder of Threadless interviewed by Folksonomy
Jason Fried, founder 37signals interviewed by Web20show
Jeffrey Kalmikoff, Creative Director of Threadless interviewed by Juxaviews
Jen Mazzon, founder of Writely interviewed by SEOmoz
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia interviewed by SearchEngineLand
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia interviewed by Goodexperience
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia interviewed by Wikinews
Joshua Schachter, founder of Del.icio.us interviewed by Rands In Repose
Joshua Schachter, founder of Del.icio.us interviewed by ZDnet
Justin LaFrance, founder of StumbleUpon interviewed by SEOmoz
Kevin Burton, founder of Tailrank interviewed by Emily Chang
Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson, founders of Digg interviewed by Talkcrunch
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg interviewed by Philoneist
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg interviewed by Playlistmag
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg interviewed by ZDnet – part 1
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg interviewed by ZDnet – part 2
Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of LinkedIn interviewed by Sleepyblogger
Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of LinkedIn interviewed by SEOmoz
Mark Fletcher, founder of Bloglines interviewed by Bloxpert
Mark Fletcher, founder of Bloglines interviewed by Searchviews
Martin Stiksel, founder of Last.fm interviewed by SEOmoz
Mike Davidson, founder of NewsVine interviewed by SEOmoz
Mike Reining, Co-founder of BlinkList interviewed by Emily Chang
Mike Tatum, founder of Wayfaring interviewed by SEOmoz
Nick Wilson, Co-founder Performancing interviewed by Centernetworks
Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable interviewed by Netsquared
Robert Kalin, founder of Etsy interviewed by SEOmoz
Ron Hornbaker, founder of Propsmart interviewed by SEOmoz
Sam Shillace, founder of Writely interviewed by Emily Chang
Seth Godin, founder of Squidoo interviewed by Emily Chang
Seth Sternberg, founder of Meebo interviewed by SEOmoz
Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, founders of Reddit interviewed by Talkcrunch
Tariq Krim and Florent Fremont, founders of Netvibes interviewed by Emily Chang
Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media interviewed by ReadWriteWeb – Part 1
Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media interviewed by ReadWriteWeb – Part 2
Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media interviewed by ReadWriteWeb – Part 3
Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, founders of Myspace interviews by Spiegel
Various Web 2.0 founders interviewed by Michael Arrington