Darren Herman

I’ve always been fascinated by the news and the media, so today’s interview is about the emerging digital media news site, CenterNetworks. Allen Stern, CEO and Founder, launched the site in 2006 and it’s grown by leaps and bounds since (traffic chart comparing CenterNetworks to AlleyInsider).

I took some time with Allen and talked about the digital media world and what he’s up to. Please welcome, Allen Stern:

1. State your name, title and years in the digital media scene:
My name is Allen Stern and currently I am the Editor of a social media industry resource named CenterNetworks. In its current form, CenterNetworks went live on September 15, 2006. Previously I was responsible for the Internet marketing department at Georgia-Pacific where I worked for nearly nine years.

2. What are you currently up to? If entrepreunering (my word), tell me about your startup.
I am focused on helping startups make better decisions with the coverage and insights provided on CenterNetworks.

3. Why are you doing this? You could be doing so many other things in the world, what about this particular idea strikes you?
I enjoy providing advice based on my lengthy work experience and education to help others learn from my successes and failures. From my early days as a public accountant, to learning everything about nearly all of the programming languages available today to most recently working for a Fortune 100 company running their Internet marketing, I want to share my knowledge with others just getting into the biz.

4. All startups should be addressing a problem in the market. What is that exact problem and how are you solving it?
CenterNetworks isn’t a startup in the typical sense but I’d like to see more startups come out of the gate with a business plan and revenue model. The grow, wait and see approach might not work forever and for everyone. Also wherever possible, diversify the service’s income. And if the startup is working on a freemium model (free + paid upgrades), make sure that you aren’t giving away so much that users have no reason to upgrade. Free should be a taste, paid is the full meal.

5. Have you thought about your business model yet? I’m assuming so, so tell us a bit about it.
Currently it’s advertising-based but I am considering several additional alternatives. It’s all about revenue diversification.

6a. If you’re looking at an ad-supported model, how are you going about it? Do you have in-house ad sales? Using a rep firm? What are the challenges that you’re facing with getting ad dollars?
Currently we use two rep firms (BurstMedia and TribalFusion) and I handle in-house ad sales as well. The challenge is that most agencies pitch the top 10 sites in a category to advertise on. If you are in the top 10, you are golden. If you are number 11 or down, it’s much more difficult. The $1 CPM default ads just won’t cut it without massive traffic.

7. As an entrepreneur or investor, what are your thoughts on competition? How do you view competition?
Competition helps in two ways. First, it forces you to continue to innovate and build better products and services. Second, competition can help to show a market need for your product or service.

8. If your competitor called you up to have coffee and discuss shop, what would you do? Would you go? What would you divulge?
Heck yea, this isn’t 1940. The key is to go into the discussion with a game plan of what you will share and what you won’t. You never know what your competitor might share that could help you as well!

9. Is the current state of the economy playing to your favor? If so, why? If not, why? What is your forecast of the market throughout 2008 and do you see affects? Macro and Micro economic theory would be interesting to hear about.
Overall, there could be a slowdown in online ad spend but I see it being relatively short-lived if at all. Companies realize that they need to shift even more of their budgets to online and while the larger sites like MySpace and some of the portal sites like iVillage will stand to benefit the most, even niche sites like CenterNetworks stand to benefit.

10. How much of your time is spent working? How much is spent with family? Have you found the entrepreneurial quality of life yet?
I typically work on and off (more on) from 5am-midnight. I enjoy studying subway maps from around the world and fine this very relaxing and so I try to spend some time each day researching a new city each day and how their public transportation system works. I find it clears my mind which allows me to focus when I return to work.

If you have any questions or comments for this interview, please post them into the comments section. Would love to start a dialog around Allen’s interview.

Thank you!