Monkeys, if you're not familiar with Mixergy - every day they feature an interview with a successful entrepreneur that walks through how they built their business, what their challenges were, what they've learned, etc. It's a fantastic resource for both entertainment and education.
Today's Mixergy is our own head chimp, Patrick Curtis. I've embedded the video below - enjoy a glimpse behind the scenes of our favorite forum and learn how Patrick built the largest Wall Street community on the internet.
You can also view the interview and transcript on Mixergy.com here: https://mixergy.com/patrick-curtis-wall-street-oasis-interview/
Wow 85-90% margins, win!
Whens the IPO?
I say we acquire DealBreaker before we go public. Both Eddie and Bess on the homepage = Epic Synergy.
Awesome job Patrick, I'm like 26 minutes in right now, gonna watch the whole thing.
Quick question, is our WSO profile going to work on JD Oasis? or are they completely autonomous?
Never heard of the website before, but it looks very cool -- thanks!
Awesome! I love those mixergy interviews.
Just finished, really cool to see how the whole thing operates!
Also, I was a bit surprised that some of the media coverage wasn't mentioned when you guys talked about the site's success since November. Certainly there's Uncle Eddie's Playboy article, but you guys have both also been in DealBook this year, right? Has that not lead to as much site traffic as I'm imagining? I would definitely say that they're indications that the site has begun to "arrive" so-to-speak. Regardless, congrats, it was really cool to hear the site's story in full.
First off, thanks for the support....I'm not exactly used to interviews like that.
@ Nouveau Richie - yes, jdOasis will be completely standalone. As far as the media coverage, it has certainly helped but no major spikes in traffic from any one source, just a steady / gradual climb. Those Dealbook articles are more likely helpful in that they help our Google Pagerank and SEO with a link back to WSO, not on actual immediate traffic generation (I think they sent less than 500 visits each). As far as hiring Bess goes, you don't think I already tried this? :-)
@ zeropower - hopefully no IPO, ever.
Feel free to ask anymore questions in here, will do my best to answer. Patrick
Patrick... dude you have really aged since 2008! jk. Time to watch interview will post my thoughts.
I've been on this site as long as just about anyone that ever posts. That said, I found it thanks to some posts on the Vault Boards.
Are any of your original friends in the industry still on the site? Not trying to out anyone, more curious than anything else.
Great interview, btw, and obviously a great site.
Actually, now that I think about it, none of my original group of friends are very active posters...and none of them were ever really "super-users". The majority of them still work in the industry...
BUTa bunch of them did help by making a few comments in the first few weeks which is when the site really needed them...
The interviewer is really annoying, I dunno if I'll be able to finish it.
Is it just me or does he sound jealous of Patrick's success?
I echo this.
Its about finals week for me here, don't have time to watch the whole thing
Anybody care to point out some highlights? like time in the video?
This was great, glad I took the time to watch it.
Patrick, congrats on the success and thank you for creating WSO. I recently got a new job and I definitely owe WSO a ton for the help I was given through PMs, forum topics, and blog posts. I felt really confident and prepared going into my interviews - I'm sure it showed to my interviewers and played a huge part in me getting an offer.
I'm all about this post. I too am livingthedream
don't think Andrew is jealous guys...he's interviewed much more successful entrepreneurs than myself and he himself was a very successful entrepreneur. see the about section of his site: http://mixergy.com/about/
I think what comes across is that he likes to have a healthy skepticism to try and dig into exactly how and why each entrepreneur did what they did each step of the way.
I've seen a lot of his interviews and they are great because they give so much detail and often contain actionable advice you can apply to your business.
Just my thoughts...
Patrick
great video, a bit long, but definitely worth while. His take away points hit home and concluded it well.
Kudos for sticking with it patrick... great site. wish i found it earlier. enjoy the sun.
Interesting to hear the behind the scenes of the progression, I remember ibankingoasis and it sure has come a long way.
Great interview Patrick. Yes, I watched the whole thing.
Great interview. I thought Andrew did a great job asking detailed, relevant questions.
Congrats on living the dream Patrick.
Is there any other advice you can give to the 25 year old's (like me) who want to be where you are 5 years from now?
P.S. How is Buenos Aires?
@Patrick it was interesting finding out that you do not look like your user profile picture...
Lol congrats again and I can say for a fact that this site and community helped me land 3 FT job offers from a semi-nontarget/ semi-target.
Great video. It was interesting to learn about the progression of WSO from the beginning to now.
43,000 members! Congrats Patrick!
Great interview, I only clicked intending to watch for a second to see what patrick looked like and i am up to the half hour mark. I think the interviewer is very talented at digging into a business and drawing out very specific details that help the viewer get an idea of what starting a business like this is really all about. My only criticism is that he really needs to create a better background and to wear something other then a t-shirt...he looks like he is about to shoot a drivers lisence photo at the DMV.
This site has come a long way since i first started posting back in the day and even since I predicted it would not last through the financial crisis in early 2008 (bad call)...congrats!
hey guys, thanks for all your kind remarks:
@ CatsLHP - yes, it has come a long way from iBankingOasis...in fact, I thought it would be funny to look back: http://web.archive.org/web/20070406172735/http://www.ibankingoasis.com/ I think the images to the blocks are messed up but even the logo is funny
@ Babyj - my main advice is to start something soon. A lot of people spend so much time analyzing stuff, building business plans, etc. that they never actually get started. If you're trying to build something on the side, no reason you can't start a community / blog about something you're passionate about tomorrow.
@ Bondarb - how dare you doubt me...joking. If we weren't bootstrapped and had taken any money, hired employees, etc, we probably would have been done in 2008
patrick were you classmates with skins1?
maybe...no idea who skins1 is in real life...why, he get his MBA from wharton?
yes
@Patrick - cool seeing it in the wayback machine. Here are a few cool posts from the homepage back then:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/a-summer-experience-at-goldman-sa… http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/seven-guerilla-techniques-i-learn…
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