Viralogy

Contact: neil [at] neilpatel.com
Twitter: @neilpatel
Websites: http://www.quicksprout.com/, http://www.kissmetrics.com/
Career: Founder of Kiss Metrics, Crazy Egg, and ACS, Angel Investor, Blogger

I first met Neil at a Mixergy event hosted by Andrew Warner  in Orange County.  My friend kept saying, “Wow look, it’s Neil Patel.  That guy is so awesome!”  I was intrigued, so I introduced myself to the guy and he seemed much quirkier/dorkier than I expected.  Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being dorky (I feel I’m a dork too), but with so many people hyping up the guy, I thought he would impress me with his amazingness.  After we chatted, he didn’t give me his business card but tells me to go leave him a comment on his blog.  “Whack..” I thought.

I get home, Google Neil Patel, and am immediately BLOWN AWAY!  This guy is the founder of Crazy Egg, a service that FD was sincerely thinking of purchasing, and his blog gets over 200 comments per post!  He’s had clients such as Tech Crunch, and has made an SEO presentation over at the UCLA Startonomics event.

And to further solidify Neil’s awesomeness, check out this challenge he issues to Jason Calacanis.

The first part of this interview will be focused on entrepreneurship; the second part will focus on Neil as a blogger.  After watching, I highly encourage you to reach out to Neil because though he’s a super busy and successful guy, he takes the time to respond to all of his emails.

Conversation Breakdown:

2:05 - Would you advise someone to become an entrepreneur in this economy?

Neil feels that most millionaires come out of a recession like this one because people who survive this recession will do the best and be able to survive anything.  You’ll also be able to find the best business partners in this recession.

2:51 - Tell me about your entrepreneurial origins

Neil has been an entrepreneur all of his life.  In High School, he was the “black box dealer,” a distributor of car parts and accessories, and in college he began to do internet marketing for companies.

4:07 - Do you feel the entrepreneurial spirit can come naturally or can someone learn it?

You can learn it, and the way to do it is to just jump in there and start creating companies.  The younger you are and the younger you start, the more likely you will succeed in the long run.

5:49 - How many times have you failed Neil?

Neil has started roughly 9 companies, 2 that have done well, and a 3rd that he is currently raising venture capital for.  This means that he has had 6 companies that failed.  What’s even more intense is that he raised over $1 million from friends and family, all of which he has had to pay back because of previous failures!

6:30 - How did you first company succeed?

Neil’s first internet company was a job board where he was trying to compete against Monster.com, but he ultimately got ripped off by internet marketers and failed.  He then took it upon himself to learn internet marketing, which then lead to the creation of ACS.

7:30 - What can people learn from this.  Is it luck or is it hard work?

Neil believes that success is all about luck.  You have to leverage opportunity, and when you see it, you have to grab the bulls by the horn and just give it your all.

8:18 - You have a crazy amount of comments on your blog, what’s the trick?

Neil responds to every single commentor, which makes them want to come back and keep commenting.  You also have to write very, very detailed content.

9:00 - What do you think of people who are teaching us to write 600-word or less posts?

If your content is good enough, then people are going to sit down and read it.  Also, if you have a clean, slick design, the content won’t look overwhelming and people will read it.

9:50 - Would you say the traffic from your blog comes from the success of Crazy Egg and ACS?

The traffic comes from the successful startups, speaking at conferences, guest posts, and continually branding himself online.

10:46 - There are some young entrepreneurs who try to mask there age and pretend to be older, what do you say to that?

Use your age to your advantage.  Show that your a young guy, but at the same time, have worked hard and achieved x, y, and z.

11:24 - How did you get Techcrunch as a client?

Neil literally just emailed Michael out of the blue, and a year later, Mike accepted Neil’s offer to build Techcrunch’s traffic.

12:26 - What was the most effective way to contact these people?

It was as simple as email for Neil.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but you’ll be surprised at how many people are open to responding back to your emails.

13:04 - How are you balancing your time?

Neil just works a lot of hours.  He stays organized, and always makes room in his schedule to help others.

13:54 - Do you feel it is necessary to neglect certain people in the startup life?

Unless your friends are in the startup world, it’s going to be extremely difficult to stay close with all of your high school and college friends.  Surround yourself with people who are successful and that you want to be like.

“Dime con quien andas, y te digo quien eres”

15:48 - What advice would you give to bloggers who feel that they have plateaued and can’t get more traffic?

Focus on writing detailed content, and your readers will come.  Write detailed content that will actually help, or teach someone how to do something useful.

16:45 - Any last advice for young aspiring entrepreneur?

Just go out there and “do it.”  Just like how Nike used to be