Andy Swan

Note that this speech was “the morning after” Louisville won national championship.  It was speech on entrepreneurship to audience of local business leaders (suits).

I talked about our history, current state (Voomly + SwanPowers) and challenges and opportunities in the local entrepreneurial community.

It went well.

Win.

I’ve been asked that several times over the last month.

The answer really has two parts:

1. I have always been, and will always be, inspired by the prospect of empowering individuals to do big things with their passions and knowledge.
   
   It’s my natural state. When I hear someone talk about what they know…what they love…and I see that twinkle in their eye…. I want them to do something with it. For themselves. I want to be a part of it. 
   
   Digital goods and services are knowledge, experience and passion transfer mechanisms. The scalability that an individual can achieve through digital mediums is unbelievable….it’s literally greater than the power that Julius Ceaser wielded in his prime.
   
   Combine these with the innate goodness of “price” (which by definition demands an exchange of real value) and you have a winning thesis: Empower individuals to create and sell premium digital content from their knowledge, experience, and passion.
   
   In other words… Voomly is a business-manifestation of myself.
   
   

2. We regretted selling our first company.
   
   DaytradeTeam was a subscription-based business where clients gained access to expert traders’ knowledge and content.
   
   After spending 7 years building the company, the subscription platform, the client base, the content-delivery mechanisms…. we sold it. It was a good deal with a good buyer and we felt really good about it.
   
   But we soon grew to regret it.
   
   Because we realized that we left so much on the table. We realized that we had built this system for ourselves only. We benefitted from it, so did our clients, so did the buyer. But no one else.
   
   We realized, after the fact, that we had built a platform for creating a very meaningful subscription-based business….and only released it to one user…ourselves. “That could have been so powerful for experts in other niches. Damn it!”
   
   So here we are. The platform is ready & growing. So is the user-base.
   
   We can’t wait until a single Voomly Seller is bigger than DaytradeTeam was. It will happen.
   
   I hope it’s you.

   Give it a shot. I’ll help you create and promote your business. It’s what I do.

p.s. Yes I eat my own dog food!  Swantastic Startups, for help with your startup.