If blogs reshaped the face of the Internet, consider Mena Trott as the poster child of the World Wide Web. Once a casual blogger, she never envisioned parlaying her knack for writing funny little stories into the $90 million blogosphere powerhouse that is Six Apart. Mena and husband Ben Trott were victims of the Internet slowdown in 2001. Out of their high-tech jobs, the San Francisco-based couple had some savings in the bank and decided to launch their own venture. “We thought if we did well we might make a couple of thousand dollars a month, but we thought we’d have to get jobs again at some point. It was the time for us to do something that we liked,” she says.
Mena’s blog, dollarshort, was quickly gaining recognition and the 22 year old wanted to capitalize on its popularity. The duo formed a company, called Six Apart, converted the spare bedroom in their apartment and got to work. They developed an open-source, server-based Web log publishing platform, Movable Type, designed for techies and sophisticated Web users. But the Trotts realized that, as blogging became mainstream, there was a need for a more user-friendly version. In 2003, they created TypePad for people who “just wanted to blog” and not fuss with anything more technical. Essentially, it allowed everyday users to go to the TypePad site, plug in a few required pieces of information and start blogging for money for a nominal fee. There was no coding needed, no big downloads to install…just log in and blog. TypePad gave a blog voice to a whole new audience. Moms, college kids, wannabe writers and everyone in between had access to well-designed, easy-to-read blog templates that they could use to create their own. In preparing to launch TypePad, the Trotts accepted funding to help the business grow, officially hired their first employee and moved out of the spare bedroom and into an office. In 2004, Six Apart embarked on a huge expansion with the development of Movable Type 3.0, intended for use by large corporations. Once established, Six Apart built a framework for advertising, driven by the millions of users frequenting the site. This subsequent innovations and acquisitions, Six Apart was able to acquire other blog companies, solidifying the company as a leading provider of blog platforms. Meet more of The Next Generation @ success
BEN AND MENA TROTT:
Turning Your Passion into a Career
Persevere. It gets dark sometimes and you might not have much of a life with 100-hour workweeks. Be committed to building a business and helping others succeed, and don’t be ashamed of trying to start blogging for money.
Make it interesting. Create a product or technology that you actually use so you can talk about it. “I was able to give concrete examples of why my blogging has really changed my life,” Mena says.
Don’t think you have all the answers. There’s no way you know as much as people with much more experience. Young people have great instincts and talent, but there’s always room to learn.
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