Darren Herman

Innovation within the advertising industry is accelerating each day. Fortunately at The Media Kitchen, I get to see dozens of emerging companies each month and get a real sense of where the market is on an insiders point of view. Andy and I came across each other just before I had joined The Media Kitchen and I got to preview what he was building and it’s exciting. I believe they are offering some truly unique services in terms of serving up audiences… not pages. Read through this interview, I bet you will find it interesting.

Please welcome Andy Monfried…

1. State your name, title, and years at your current company:
Andy Monfried, Founder/CEO of Lotame Solutions Inc., and 18 months.

2. What are you currently up to? If entrepreunering (my word), tell me about your startup.
I am dedicated to providing publishers and advertisers with knowledge about how to most effectively leverage the fastest growing segment of media today—social media. That is why I started Lotame. We focus exclusively on providing publishers with advanced monetization techniques and offer advertisers the most effective tools for targeting.

3. Why are you doing this? You could be doing so many other things in the world, what about this particular idea strikes you?
After my previous employer, Advertising.com, was bought by AOL, I began consulting both major media buyers and planners, as well as advertising agencies about how to use the Internet as a successful vehicle to promote their brand. Over the course of a year, I found that it was a challenge to harness the true potential that user-generated content offered. Further, there were no mechanisms in place to accurately target branded campaigns or effectively monetize inventory on the publisher side. There was a specific need, in terms of data surrounding social media that I felt I could address.

4. All startups should be addressing a problem in the market. What is that exact problem and how are you solving it?
Currently, the problem facing the marketplace is that there is an overabundance of inventory within user-generated content that needs to be effectively monetized and more accurately targeted. We form a true partnership with our publishers by guaranteeing them revenue on a monthly basis. In addition, we help them overcome the hurdles of frequency issues and time-spent unique to each user.

From an advertiser standpoint, we build completely customizable audiences that allow brands to touch people not pages. We aim to be their sole point of contact for aggregating social media outside of MySpace and Facebook.

5. Have you thought about your business model yet? I’m assuming so, so tell us a bit about it.
Our business model is one of the most unique in the industry. First of all, we only deal with and focus on social media. Second, we guarantee our publishers revenue on a monthly basis, which definitely sets us apart. We also share all our learning’s and knowledge with our partners before, during, and after campaigns. We aren’t an ad-network, but rather pride ourselves on being the premier aggregator of intelligence across social media. No more “black box” technology like others in the industry employ. Our model allows our partners to build audiences from the ground up, by focusing on unique data points inherent to user-generated content. We make the process of buying social media as seamless and as easy as any other purchase within a media spend.

7. As an entrepreneur, what are your thoughts on competition? How do you view competition?
I welcome competition. It’s the driving force behind any successful endeavor, business or otherwise. When I see others in the space working hard, it validates everything our company stands for

8. If your competitor called you up to have coffee and discuss shop, what would you do? Would you go? What would you divulge?
I would have coffee with anyone, anywhere, at anytime and talk about any topic.

9. Is the current state of the economic market playing to your favor? If so, why? If not, why?
Almost everywhere you look all signs seem to indicate that ’08 is going to be somewhat of a rough time economically. We are well aware that the economy is going to affect how everyone does business. We have set realistic goals for growth over the course of the upcoming year and are focusing on monetizing inventory for our publishers to provide them with new streams of revenue

10. How much of your time is spent working? How much is spent with family? Have you found the entrepreneurial quality of life yet?
As I mentioned, we are undergoing major expansion and growth so it’s hectic to say the least. I spend half my time at our headquarters in Maryland and the other half at our NY location. I definitely put in way more than your typical 9-5 let’s just say that.

When it comes to family, there’s nothing more important to me. Honestly, my wife and kids are the ones who provide me with unwavering support and give me the strength to do what I do. My wife also has an entrepreneurial spirit and runs her own children’s clothing line. Despite our work, we always make family time our highest priority.

On a personal level, I also consider each member of the Lotame team as family. The company is one of the greatest and most rewarding endeavors I have undertaken, and I am both proud and excited to watch it continue to grow and mature.

If you have any questions for Andy from this interview, please feel free to post them below in the comments area… and we’ll make sure they are answered