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Fotolia

Podcast Interview – Life After Business

by Ryan on July 24, 2018

I recently connected with fellow entrepreneur Ryan Tansom for an interview on his podcast, Life After Business, to talk about my entrepreneurial journey – the failures, the successes, fundraising, changing business models, finding your stride, and more.  You can listen to the full discussion here:

https://lifeafterbusinesscom.castos.com/episodes/-16085

and here’s a nice summary (copy / pasted from the GEXP Collaborative Life After Business website):

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The co-founder of HAAWK, Inc. Ryan Born joins me for today’s episode. Before HAAWK, Ryan was the founder and CEO of AudioMicro, Inc. AudioMicro was a media rights management company. Its most successful venture was AdRev. Ryan explains what that service was and why he felt it worked.

We take the journey with Ryan through AudioMicro’s beginnings, the pivots, the changes in the media rights industry, and what life was like after AudioMicro changed owners. This episode is a great example of the struggle and the hustle many entrepreneurs face on a daily basis.

What you will learn about:

  • Ryan’s early career as a CPA.
  • His time with WireImage and what it taught him.
  • The only two things that generate wealth.
  • The changes in the media rights industry.
  • The problems Ryan saw with the system.
  • How AudioMicro and microstock changed the system.
  • How Ryan raised the capital for AudioMicro.
  • The mistakes he made early on in the business.
  • Ryan’s advice for building an effective pitch.
  • Why EBITDA is important and not important at the same time.
  • Other factors that buyers look at during a sale.
  • Why you need to break even as soon as possible.
  • The struggles AudioMicro had in the beginning.
  • The list of avenues AudioMicro tried that didn’t work.
  • Why you need to choose your investors wisely.
  • How AdRev worked.
  • Why Ryan didn’t hire an investment banker for his sale of AudioMicro.
  • The indicators that it was time to sell.
  • The dance Ryan and his investors did to get offers.
  • How getting the best offer is like playing poker.
  • The benefit of having a knowledgeable team around you.
  • What happened after AudioMicro sold.
  • The beginnings of HAAWK.
  • The thing Ryan is doing differently with HAAWK.
  • Ryan’s parting words for the audience.

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FREE Stock Photo Subscriptions for Startups & Bloggers – Courtesy of Fotolia

by Ryan on July 8, 2011

Photo montage

Attention startups and bloggers, our good friends at Fotolia have reached out with a special offer to all my startup and blogger friends. It’s a 14-day stock photo subscription (3 downloads / day) at Fotolia.com.

Here are the codes (first come, first serve):

U4NP3OQ4
S48KFOS3
DWZ58NCX
WTQ98KOP
CXXA83OQ

***If you’ve gotten here late and the codes have been used up, feel free to comment on this post or contact me and I’ll see if I can get some more codes.

Directions on using the codes:

1. You must register on Fotolia for a NEW account here –>

https://www.fotolia.com/stock-photos-for-bloggers

The codes must be used with a NEW account, and not an existing account. The codes only work with NEW accounts which are registered via the link above.

2. Locate images you like and place them into your cart. When images are in the cart, ready for download, make sure you check the option XXL subscription (not credits, as you’re not buying w/ credits).

3. Please note that once you entered the code and it works, you should not have to enter it again so if you log in the next day, no need to enter it again, just login to your account w/ username and pwd.

4. Please DO NOT create multiple accounts just to game the system.

5. Send me your feedback on the product and if you like your experience, consider upgrading your account to a premium, paying subscription.

Lastly, Don’t forget to thank the good folks at Fotolia for the credits.  Perhaps send them a thank you tweet @fotolia or be a fan on Facebook.  Fotolia’s a big supporter of startups and their CEO, Oleg Tscheltzoff is a serial entrepreneur and investor in many North American and European startups including Beyond the Rack (Guilt Group / Hautelook of Canada), Status.net, and Producteev (crazy traffic), among many others.  Thanks to Fotolia for the stock photos and to Oleg personally for being such a big supporter of the startup / blogger ecosystem.

Cheers!

UPDATE:  The codes are all used up but there are 5 more codes here (first come, first serve) –>

http://imagecollect.com/blog/2011/fotolia-promo-code/

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Four New Brands at AudioMicro, Inc.

by Ryan on February 24, 2011

ChooseTattoos Logo

Cartoonsy Logo

ImageCollect Logo

InfoGraphicStock Logo

Today is a good day.  We’ve just released 4 brand new marketplaces live on stage at the Launch Conference in San Francisco.  The new sites venture outside the audio space and into cartoons, celebrity pictures, infographics, and tattoos yet operating the same micro stock business model as we do at AudioMicro (i.e. crowd sourced content for as little as $1).

I’ll be posting video of the Launch presentation shortly.  In the meantime, full details on the new sites can be found in the press release below and on our new corporate site.  Check it out here.

Important to note is that our newly developed Content Management System (CMS) is available under white label.  What this means is that not only we can quickly and easily clone and deploy new content marketplaces at will, but our technology is available for you to do so as well think WordPress for Content Licensing.  If you’ve got content of your own that you wish to distribute simply drop us a line to get the process started.

Back in May of last year, we wondered what would come next after the launch of Audioo, well now we know.  It’s amazing to look back on the past 10 months at what we’ve been able to do.  We’re very much looking forward to the future.

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AudioMicro Unveils Four New Content Licensing Marketplaces

New Sites Include Cartoons, Celebrity Pictures, InfoGraphics, and Tattoos

SAN FRANCISCO, LAUNCH CONFERENCE, February 24, 2011 – AudioMicro, which offers the world’s largest collection of micro stock music and sound effects, announced today it has developed a white label CMS for content licensing, allowing the startup to quickly clone and deploy content marketplaces.  In conjunction with the announcement, the Company unveiled four new licensing marketplaces, each targeting a specific content vertical:

Cartoonsy.com – a marketplace for licensing cartoons and cartoon animations

ChooseTattoos.com – tattoo designs and tattoo flash from tattoo artists worldwide

ImageCollect.com – micro stock celebrity pictures with over 750,000 images

InfoGraphicStock.com – an experimental market for infographics and data visualization

The four new products were revealed onstage as part of the “2.0 Competition” at the Launch conference, being held February 23-24 in San Francisco.

“We’re already getting some great material from cartoonists, tattoo artists, red carpet photographers, and infographic designers.” said Ryan Born, founder and chief executive officer, AudioMicro.  “If you’re an artist with wholly owned content, upload your work and grab a piece of our growing monthly royalty stream.”

AudioMicro recently closed a round of financing led by Fotolia, Europe’s leading stock photo distributor, which spans the globe with websites in 12 languages, offices in 14 countries, and over 12 million images.

The new Content Management System (CMS) is available on a white label basis.   Content owners, publishers, and entrepreneurs that wish to operate their own marketplaces can contact the Company for details.

About AudioMicro, Inc.

An industry pioneer in licensing music and sound effects through credit-based and subscription packages, AudioMicro acts as a discovery and distribution platform for stock audio content.  Its collection of royalty free music, stock music, sound effects, and free sound effects includes over 225,000 tracks of both crowd-sourced and premium, record label-owned content.  In addition to AudioMicro.com, the company operates content licensing marketplaces for cartoons, tattoos, celebrity pictures, and infographics, as well as the voicemail sharing service Audioo.  The company is venture-backed by DFJ Frontier and Fotolia LLC.  For more information, visit AudioMicroInc.com.

About the Launch Conference

The Launch Conference (http://launch.is), February 23-24 2010, at San Francisco Design Center’s Concourse Exhibition Center, is serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis’ latest venture, attracting over 1,000 leading technology innovators and investors and over 140 startups.  40 new companies and products will launch for the first time on stage, selected to present from more than 500 applications received from around the world. Another 100 early-stage startups will exhibit in the Demo Pit.  Conference profits will be awarded equally to the 40 selected participants along with other award recognitions at the conclusion of the conference.

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Fotolia Invests in AudioMicro

by Ryan on February 1, 2011

Logo fotolia Pictures, Images and Photos

Today marks a major milestone in our company’s history.
AudioMicro has taken on an investment from Fotolia, the leading micro stock photo library in Europe and the # 2 / # 3 player in the world.   Fotolia, which is backed by private equity firm TA Associates, also owns Flixtime.com, a movie maker site that turns photos into videos, and Photoxpress.com, a subscription stock photo service.  Full details on the investment can be found in the press release below.
In collaboration with Fotolia, we plan to incubate and launch new web projects, as well as cross promote our products and services. At the end of this month, we plan to launch 4 new websites, each targeting a specific new content licensing vertical. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes on these new sites for many months now.  Stay tuned for a launch announcement on the 4 new sites!
I’m also doing a little business development for Fotolia.  If you or your company ever have a need for stock photos, we can supply you access to over 12 million images at unbeatable prices and with un-paralleled service.  If you presently license photos from another supplier, contact me ASAP to start saving.  We have a number of packages from free, to low priced subscriptions, to full on custom API access, depending on your size and needs.
I hope that 2011 is your best year ever!
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AudioMicro Receives Fotolia Investment

AudioMicro and Fotolia To Partner in Content Licensing Ventures

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 1, 2011 – AudioMicro, which offers the world’s largest collection of user-generated royalty free music and sound effects, announced today that it has received an equity investment from Fotolia, Europe’s leading micro stock photo site.  Existing investor DFJ Frontier, a West Coast seed and early-stage investor, also participated in the financing.  In connection with the financing, Oleg Tscheltzoff, co-founder and chief executive officer of Fotolia, has joined AudioMicro’s board of directors.

Fotolia and AudioMicro will collaborate on new projects, each targeting a different content vertical.  They intend to launch four of these projects by the end of next month.  Fotolia, which is backed by TA Associates, also owns Flixtime.com, a site that turns photos into videos, and Photoxpress.com, a subscription photo service.

“AudioMicro is a leader in crowd-sourced stock music and sound effects,” said Tscheltzoff.  “We’re pleased to partner with them to accelerate their business.”

“Fotolia’s investment and partnership is a great endorsement of our vision, and recognition of the traction we’ve gained,” said Ryan Born, founder and chief executive officer, AudioMicro.  “We’re delighted to work with the Fotolia team.”

About AudioMicro

An industry pioneer in licensing music and sound effects through credit-based and subscription packages, AudioMicro acts as a discovery and distribution platform for stock audio content.  Its collection of royalty free music, stock music, sound effects, and free sound effects includes over 225,000 tracks of both crowd-sourced and premium, record label-owned content.  AudioMicro also operates the Audioo voicemail sharing service.  The company is venture-backed by DFJ Frontier.  For more information, visit AudioMicro.com.

About Fotolia

Over 2 million people prefer Fotolia for affordable, royalty-free images, graphics and HD videos. With the introduction of the Infinite Collection, Fotolia became the first worldwide microstock organization to offer both crowd-sourced and professional images on one site. Founded in New York City in 2004, Fotolia spans the globe with websites in 12 languages and offices in 14 countries. With over 12,000,000 files to choose from, find it on Fotolia. www.fotolia.com

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Media Contact:

Brian Danella

Prequent, Inc. (for AudioMicro, Inc.)

+1 (408) 275-6455 office

+1 (650) 743-6606 mobile

brian[at]prequent.com

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