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From YouTube: Startup and Entrepreneur Roundtable - Luke Skerman
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A
I'm
Luke
squirming
I'm,
the
CEO
of
niche
com,
I'm,
going
to
try
to
in
three
minutes
give
you
my
12-year
entrepreneurial
journey,
so
I
came
from
San,
Francisco
and
I
wanted
to
go
to
a
great
college
and
did
all
this
research
and,
in
the
end,
I
ended
up,
choosing
Carnegie
Mellon
and
when
I
got
to
campus.
There
are
some
people
that
just
kind
of
randomly
chose,
and
there
are
some
people
that
were
methodical
about
it.
But
when
I
took
a
step
back,
I
realize
it
was
such
an
important
decision.
A
You're
gonna
spend
four
years
of
your
life.
Make
friends
made
family.
Do
all
these
things
from
school
and
the
process
was
lacking
the
students
that
user
generated
reviews
that
insight?
That's
what
was
missing.
Yes,
there
was
the
statistics
and
the
facts
like
us
news
or
college
board,
but
that
that
user
generated
content
like
a
yelp
react
like
a
tripadvisor.
So
for
the
first
five
years
in
business,
we
started
capturing
that
user
generated
content
combined
with
facts
and
stats
in
publishing
physical
books.
A
We
sold
over
500,000
books
for
the
first
five
years
in
business,
millions
of
dollars
in
revenue,
but
the
users,
our
students,
wanted
information
online.
So
we
started
selling
online
subscription
access
from
07
209,
and
that
was
good.
But
what
really
happened
was
that
the
advertisers
really
wanted
to
get
in
front
of
these
users
and
the
users
didn't
really
want
to
pay
for
content.
So,
finally,
we
opened
up
the
website
made
it
free
in
2009,
and
traffic
has
been
booming.
A
So
last
year,
thirty
percent
of
every
high
school
senior
in
the
United
States
created
a
college
prowler
count
on
our
website.
Last
year
we
also
rebranded
the
company
as
niche
calm
and
our
vision
got
a
lot
bigger.
So
my
favorite
definition
of
niche
is
a
place
employment,
status
or
activity
for
which
a
person
or
thing
is
best
fitted.
We
want
to
help
people
make
great
life
decisions,
so
we
started
with
colleges.
A
Now
we
have
coverage
on
every
one
hundred
and
twenty
thousand
schools
in
the
United
States,
that's
kindergarten,
middle
school
charter,
parochial,
we
have
every
neighborhood
and
city,
and
now
all
the
data
is
starting
to
connect.
So
people
that
went
to
Mount,
Lebanon,
High
School
went
to
Carnegie
Mellon
and
live
in
shadyside.
This
has
never
really
existed
before
in
the
United
States.
We
have
40
million
reviews
and
opinions.
We're
based
in
shadyside
will
finish
the
year
at
about
35
people.
Revenues
have
quadrupled
in
the
last
four
years
and
it's
going
very,
very
well-loved.
A
Pittsburgh,
the
cost
of
living
is
low,
we've
been
able
to
retain
our
employees,
and
it's
just
provided
everything
that
we've
ever
wanted.
Today's
event
is
a
perfect
example.
Having
a
true
seat
at
the
table
with
the
mayor
is
exactly
what
we
could
ask
for.
We
love
being
in
Pittsburgh.
We
love
having
our
business
here
and
we
love.
We
love
everything
that
the
startup
community
is
embodying
right
now.
Thank
you
for
having
me
today.