

Derek Sivers on a different way to be an entrepreneur - neilgd
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2011/08/derek-sivers-at-business-of-software-2010-video-and-transcript-of-talk.html

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marcamillion
You should definitely watch the talk if you can, very insightful.

But here are some Highlights in case you don't want to:

\- CDBaby, pre-sale, was throwing off about $200K net profit/month.

\- CDBaby nearly had an employee revolt.

\- One of the things that encouraged Derek to sell was he heard a recorded
meeting (that the employees prolly forgot was being recorded) where his main
guy in charge was saying "Fuck Derek" and all the employees chanted
"Yea!"...among other niceties.

\- Derek moved to LA for four years in 2002 and left CDBaby on Autopilot

\- Derek learned to program so that he could create the storefront himself to
sell his CDs.

\- Derek got many offers to sell, but turned them down.

\- The final offers he got were from a distributor he worked with, Amazon and
a VC firm (I suspect he meant Private Equity, but I could be wrong).

\- His terms to sell were: "I'm out. I keep my database. I keep helping
musicians."

\- Many times during the negotiations, they nearly died but because he kept
another party in the loop (Amazon) he had a strong negotiating hand, so he
could get all his terms.

\- He sold CDBaby for ~$22M.

\- All the proceeds went to a 'charitable unit trust fund', that pays him 5%
per year (approx $1M) and then gives everything to a charity when he dies.

~~~
sivers
Thanks for the summary, Marc! All points confirmed accurate.

~~~
marcamillion
Thanks for the confirmation :)

It's good to see entrepreneurs actually talk about 'the real factors' behind
the sale.

I think you are the first person I have ever heard that has publicly said "I
began to dislike the place and the employees - not the customers", which is
something I have always wondered about.

If starting & building a company is so exhausting, why aren't more
entrepreneurs saying they sold because they were tired and wanted to move on?

It's almost as if they are ashamed, or is there 'peer pressure' from the buyer
to make sure to keep the transaction acrimonious. Not sure what it is, but it
was good to hear a 'real' perspective for a change - not the PR/polite spin.

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michaeldhopkins
That was a good story, but the transcript had many typos and automatic
transcription errors that should be corrected.

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getsat
Wow, I had no idea about the near employee revolt at CDBaby. Derek is one of
my favorite speakers.

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kirillzubovsky
Great talk, very down to earth. Great reminder that good business are
sometimes very simple ones.

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wallacrw
Just read the book: quick read, entertaining. One of those books where you
probably already know what's in it, but it still helps to read it and see how
things played out in someone else's real life.

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marcusestes
I wish he would have gone through with the Golden Ticket / CD Wonka idea.
Would have made for a great story.

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subpixel
I look forward to watching, but...

Thumbs down for forcing me to watch this video in my browser. I have other
things to do right now and would far prefer to download this to my phone and
watch it on the train this evening.

~~~
shipit
check out <http://getspool.com>, you can save a video link to your phone over
wifi or 3g.

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noduerme
Sivers and his former company have been spamming me constantly for the last 10
years. Now he's an entreprenurial guru selling self-help advice? If he is, he
oughta get a wig and a rent-a-yacht like everyone else on late night
television. The dude's done nothing in the last decade other than promote
himself. He hasn't written anything I've ever read that didn't reference
himself and his awesomeness at least once every two sentences.

~~~
anon5
Well I am a big fan of Sivers, along with guys like PG, and some others. So
hate these sort of ... ignorant trashing.

>The dude's done nothing in the last decade other than promote himself

He gave his company to charity in 2008 (<http://sivers.org/trust>) that's well
within last 10 years.

>Now he's an entreprenurial guru selling self-help advice?

Yes he is. Just like PG, Dharmesh Shah, Spolsky, he has also chosen to share
his Startup experience, which I feel is very beneficial to lots of wannabes. I
found this piece of his, one of the most brilliant pieces ever ... by anybody:
<http://sivers.org/multiply>

> If he is, he oughta get a wig and a rent-a-yacht like everyone else on late
> night television

Looks like you don't know him at all. He instead lives in a minimal style and
cycles a lot (<http://sivers.org/biking>)

>Sivers and his former company have been spamming me constantly for the last
10 years...

Can't speak for cdbaby.com . But Derek, surely, doesn't spam. He can't afford
to. As he promises to reply to all (<http://sivers.org/contact>). And he does.
Very meaningful replies (I have tried).

PS: For the first time (may be second) in my HN stay, do I strongly feel like
downvoting some one... unfortunately can't.

