When I started half.com, our three biggest competitors were Borders, Tower Records and Blockbuster Video.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The best companies in the world have all had predecessors. 'YouTube' was a dating site. You always have to evolve into something else.
I started one of the first online video companies way back in 2003.
The online video business started in both China and the US around 2005/6, when broadband penetration grew big enough.
When I was at AOL, I was always on the web media side while much of the company was focused on the ISP business. We focused on big categories like celebrities and sports, and we created brands around that category like AOL Celebrities, AOL Movies and Fanhouse.
Our platform is a one-stop shop, from marketing and promotion through to ticketing. But even in the early days, in 2006-07, when we were mostly carrying shortform video, we became the premier movie marketing platform.
I shopped a lot on 1stdibs.com when I first started modelling. Just whenever, I've always been on and bought all my furniture on 1stdibs.com.
The best businesses that all of us have in the entertainment business are cable content channels, which have a dual revenue stream.
Someone asked me the other day what my favourite record shop was, and I said YouTube.
Most companies that are great at something - like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores - do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business.
Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo - there's a common theme. None of these companies ever sold. By staying independent, they were able to build a great company.