Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapping to $10M from Colorado: AdCellerant Co-Founders Brock Berry and Shelby Carlson (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: I can totally see that. The follow-on question from there though is that the wounds of the media industry are very deep. Their monetization problems are very deep. Their existential crisis is very deep. To what extent do you view that issue as a threat to your long-term sustenance?

Brock Berry: It’s an interesting question. We are continually diversifying our business. Today, we work with radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, and some small agencies. Beyond that, we work with companies that can be labeled as non-traditional. These are media channels that are not easy to define but they work with local business owners. We have, at least, the group of five.

The sector that is running though the most tumultuous expense and revenue decline is the newspaper industry. It’s certainly a big part of what we do, but we are always diversifying outside of that. We also see a future where these software tools will probably be used by companies far outside of these sectors as they continue to evolve.

Sramana Mitra: I’m quite connected to a very large media group. It’s one of the largest. They have gigantic traffic – 200 million users on their major online property. Monetization seems to be a real problem. This story is repeated everywhere all the time, at least, in the United States.

It’s not quite the same in the emerging markets. The emerging markets still have thriving newspaper businesses. Definitely, the developed world has gone so digital, these newspapers are not really finding themselves in a viable condition right now.

I’m intrigued by what you’re saying, but I also have a question mark around what’s going to happen to this industry and consequently, what’s going to happen to you. I understand what you’re saying, but what if this whole sales force goes away?

Brock Berry: You bring up a good point and it’s very difficult. India and the Asia-Pacific markets are experiencing a nirvana state for print advertising. They’ll see similar growth and trajectory in radio and TV. As they become more connected, those markets are immune to the same things that are affecting United States.

In those markets, we’re going to continue to de-risk ourselves by diversifying globally. Beyond that, I can’t necessarily say that I can predict what’s going to happen to newspapers. I do believe that the audiences that they posses and the strength and local DNA that they have in their small market has a future.

Sramana Mitra: It has value.

Shelby Carlson: It has great value.

Sramana Mitra: Whether it has a future or not, we don’t know. It has value for sure.

Shelby Carlson: I think the future will look very different. These media companies are actually so deeply invested in the small to medium-sized businesses that that stabilization of whatever they will look like in the future will remain. As you said, there is value there. It’s going to morph, but it will be different. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in 10 years.

Sramana Mitra: Very interesting. You are above $5 million in revenue in two years. That’s a very good growth rate. In terms of your own business, how large a team do you have?

Shelby Carlson: We’re a team of 25 now and we’re looking to do about $10 million this year.

Sramana Mitra: These 25 people are all in Denver?

Shelby Carlson: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: That’s also great. We love businesses that are building in geographies that are from elsewhere.

Shelby Carlson: We all like to stay together.

Sramana Mitra: You are doing this organically. Do you want to continue as a bootstrapped business or do you have interest in raising money and scaling faster?

Shelby Carlson: We’re not sure yet. We’re keeping our options open. We’re focused on executing on our idea.

Sramana Mitra: Congratulations. Wonderful execution. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapping to $10M from Colorado: AdCellerant Co-Founders Brock Berry and Shelby Carlson
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