Derek Sivers on a different way to be an entrepreneur | Hacker News Reader

Derek Sivers on a different way to be an entrepreneur

blog.businessofsoftware.org

108 pointsneilgd14 comments

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

You mean email spam? IANAL, but if there isn't an "unsubscribe" mechanism, they are possibly in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (at least in the US).

Ever thought of unsubscribing if you don't want the emails? That's what most smart people do.

I have had personal email contact with Derek numerous times, and although we haven't met in person I consider him to be a mentor. He has helped me work through some very specific Rails application architecture issues, and he answered my questions via email in a prompt and thoughtful manner.

Derek has actually done plenty in the past decade, but it looks like you haven't taken the time to find it. He is one of the smartest entrepreneurs out there, and all you have to do is read or listen to interviews to appreciate the depth of his business thinking. Some of the most interesting and effective business, marketing and customer service hacks that I have come across were unearthed from Derek's many talks and interviews that are available online.

Derek, thank you for doing great work for both the music and startup community, and keep doing things your way!

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.

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