Ted Dhanik

Two minutes and we have like 34 minutes, 34.5 minutes left to go. You know, let's go. There's no pressure here. Thanks, Dan. Dan's been doing this to me for a long time, many, many years. We've worked together for like, I don't know, like 15 years now or maybe something like that. It's been a long time. Anyways, so yeah, so I started my career in the mid-90s in Silicon Valley.

Two minutes and we have like 34 minutes, 34.5 minutes left to go. You know, let's go. There's no pressure here. Thanks, Dan. Dan's been doing this to me for a long time, many, many years. We've worked together for like, I don't know, like 15 years now or maybe something like that. It's been a long time. Anyways, so yeah, so I started my career in the mid-90s in Silicon Valley.

Worked for a lot of companies back then. They were called the dot-com boom. Some went boom, some went burst, and some did well and some didn't. And so, ended up in some good ones and then moved to LA. And... ended up at some really good ones, was one of the early original guys at a company called Lower My Bills, sold it to Experian, did really well.

Worked for a lot of companies back then. They were called the dot-com boom. Some went boom, some went burst, and some did well and some didn't. And so, ended up in some good ones and then moved to LA. And... ended up at some really good ones, was one of the early original guys at a company called Lower My Bills, sold it to Experian, did really well.

Interesting company because it was the largest lead gen company or creator of, developer of leads for the mortgage business or personal finance. in the world at the time, sold to Experian. They thought it was a really interesting business. Shortly after, it jumped on Myspace at its early days and stayed until about 2008. 2009, I wanted to solve a problem that Myspace faced.

Interesting company because it was the largest lead gen company or creator of, developer of leads for the mortgage business or personal finance. in the world at the time, sold to Experian. They thought it was a really interesting business. Shortly after, it jumped on Myspace at its early days and stayed until about 2008. 2009, I wanted to solve a problem that Myspace faced.

It had about seven billion ads a day. They're going under-monetized, so I built a company

It had about seven billion ads a day. They're going under-monetized, so I built a company

an ad tech company to service that just myspace and then within six months we're servicing the top 50 publishers on the web from cnn to dictionary.com reference.com etc and then took that company public in 2017 in an ipo ran it until about two years ago sold it merged into something else and then i've just been out of tech for two years so you know i got non-tech businesses not so elegant but you know i don't have the itch yet but i will

an ad tech company to service that just myspace and then within six months we're servicing the top 50 publishers on the web from cnn to dictionary.com reference.com etc and then took that company public in 2017 in an ipo ran it until about two years ago sold it merged into something else and then i've just been out of tech for two years so you know i got non-tech businesses not so elegant but you know i don't have the itch yet but i will

When I get the itch to enter tech, it'll be somewhere that's not super consolidated, not saturated. Somewhere there's, you know, it's kind of wide open. So that's who I am.

When I get the itch to enter tech, it'll be somewhere that's not super consolidated, not saturated. Somewhere there's, you know, it's kind of wide open. So that's who I am.

Yeah, so at the time, you know, it was interesting because MySpace didn't really have to attract talent the way that Lower My Bills and some of the other startup companies that I worked for did. I mean, they'd have all kinds of really interesting gimmicks, like somebody's coming to massage you. It's kind of like a poker game, right?

Yeah, so at the time, you know, it was interesting because MySpace didn't really have to attract talent the way that Lower My Bills and some of the other startup companies that I worked for did. I mean, they'd have all kinds of really interesting gimmicks, like somebody's coming to massage you. It's kind of like a poker game, right?

They didn't look like the masseuses in the poker game, though, I'll guarantee you that. But they were, you know, they had things like that. They had a massage room. They had like these really cool, like, you know, weird things, you know, and we cater lunches every day and we had really great benefits and all that stuff. And that was interesting there. And then I was like, lower my bills.

They didn't look like the masseuses in the poker game, though, I'll guarantee you that. But they were, you know, they had things like that. They had a massage room. They had like these really cool, like, you know, weird things, you know, and we cater lunches every day and we had really great benefits and all that stuff. And that was interesting there. And then I was like, lower my bills.

And then... On the other side, for Myspace, it's like Myspace blew up really fast, so people just really wanted to be part of a rocket ship. So you could be a rocket ship, and people are attracted to your energy because you're crushing, and people always want to be part of something that's crushing.

And then... On the other side, for Myspace, it's like Myspace blew up really fast, so people just really wanted to be part of a rocket ship. So you could be a rocket ship, and people are attracted to your energy because you're crushing, and people always want to be part of something that's crushing.

Or you could be part of a company that's got a lot of perks and a lot of really interesting things, so you could attract employees that way. I always feel that the CEO and the executive team should be able to illustrate the core values of the business and the mission really well and that can attract the right people initially. We always had really pretty deep interviewing strategies.

Or you could be part of a company that's got a lot of perks and a lot of really interesting things, so you could attract employees that way. I always feel that the CEO and the executive team should be able to illustrate the core values of the business and the mission really well and that can attract the right people initially. We always had really pretty deep interviewing strategies.