Starting an online magazine and brand seems to be the craze today, but fifteen years ago, this was quite the opposite case.
Our guest today, Ricardo Poupada, had a very different vision which led him to form AskMen.com, one of the top leading men's lifestyle magazines online. He envisioned a destination where men all around the world could come to become a better man, and has since expanded AskMen to the UK, Australia, and more.
Instead of following the popular trend that other magazines were pursuing, Ricardo and his partners focused solely online and strategically hacked their way into growing a large following. After fourteen years of being in the digital media industry, Ricardo decided to step away from the company to take some time off.
Today, Ricardo comes on the show to share his journey of how he came up with the idea of AskMen after graduating college, how he grew the website to over 100,000+ monthly visitors (equivalent to 1M+ today) in just a few months, what he'd do differently today, what he has learned after being in the media game for 15 years, and much much more.
Highlights of the Episode:
- How he and his partner got the idea of AskMen at a cafe shop
- How they came up with the name AskMen (and it's probably not why you think!)
- How Ricardo hacked the system on Yahoo to get over 100,000 visitors a month
- Why the digital magazine is not the business Ricardo is betting on, and why disrupting traditional ones have the most potential.
- How focusing sharply on direct ROI helped AskMen get off the ground, and why all startups should as well
- How Ricardo jumped into early technology trends before to gain a competitive advantage over his competitors
- What are the mistakes he made building AskMen and what he would do differently today
- How Ricardo raised his first seed round of funding for AskMen
- What is the #1 criteria Ricardo looks for when investing in strat ups
- Ricardo reveals 2 secret sauces that he used to understand exactly what your customers want
- Crucial lessons he learned taking AskMen to an international audience
- The advantages of being small in the beginning and how to capitilize on being lean
- What happens on the inside when a company gets acquired by a parent company
- What is the one piece of career advice Ricardo would leave to his children and grandchildren
Links Mentioned in Episode:
Quote of the Episode from Ricardo:
"Fortune favors the bold"