James McGlinn is a business partner in the all New Zealand online entertainment guide Eventfinder.co.nz. Launched in 2006 when he was 26 years old James and the Eventfinder team have now managed to turn this online project into a multimillion dollar company.

Born in Christchurch and raised in various spots around the country, James studied Operations Management and Computer Science at the University of Auckland and later became a Certified Engineer (PHP4/PHP5). He has since founded his own web applications development consultancy now known as Blink Interactive, and has founded and now facilitates the New Zealand PHP Users Group, an active network of over 600 developers nationwide. Besides web projects James also gets into salsa dancing, snowboarding, rock climbing, and skydiving.

When was eventfinder.co.nz first established?

My business partner Michael Turner launched the site in 2006.  He came to me as a client – I was running my second online business, a web development firm called Nerds Inc. at the time – and I joined the company as a business partner and technical lead shortly after.  Anticipating the traffic levels we’d need to support I rebuilt the Eventfinder platform from the ground up on an enterprise web framework, and within a year I had sold Nerds Inc. and was working full time on Eventfinder.

How many employees do you currently employee there?

As of August 2009 we have 5 1/2 employees looking after design, development, and sales.

How did you cope with the fast growth – it must have been extraordinary to watch and extremely stressful?

From the beginning we knew that we wanted Eventfinder to be a Top 20 website, so our planning from very early on has been oriented around supporting that level of traffic.  I’ve always been into statistics and it’s easy to get caught up in metrics and reporting, especially during the times when you’re seeing one record day after another.  The important thing is to take a step back and balance analytics and capacity planning with new feature development – listening to your users and being agile enough to respond to new opportunities.

Was this all part of a ‘3 year plan’ or did it just take off on you? I mean most small start-up businesses don’t even break even till around the 3 year mark right.

Michael and I have had a 6 year plan for Eventfinder since day one.  We’re actually ahead of schedule in the milestones we’ve set for the business, although it always seems to feel like things aren’t moving fast enough!  I think it’s really important to have a clear vision of where you’re going with any business or project, and that in turn guides the smaller decisions that need to be made on a day to day basis.

I understand it’s free to list an event – how do you make your money online?

It is free to list events, and on a usual day event promoters list between 100 and 200 events on the Eventfinder site for distribution through our network.  As with many publishers we sell advertising space, but we also have a number of other revenue streams for the business.  We provide events content to all the major media sites, many smaller commercial and public sector sites, and print publications.  Recently we launched a ticketing service which allows event promoters to set up digital ticketing for their events at a fraction of the cost of existing services.  We also export the Eventfinder Platform technology offshore through licensing deals for overseas regions.

How do you see the online advertising industry going over the next few years?

Globally the advertising industry has been hit hard by the downturn, and online advertising in particular has had it rough this year.  That said, the trends in media consumption are very clear, with increasing numbers of people spending more time online than watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading newspapers and magazines.  The online advertising industry is still relatively young but I think it’s in a great position now to take advantage of that trend as we move out of the current financial crisis and into a new growth period.  Advertisers will be looking to get their message in front of people where they spend the most time, which is online.

What spawned your love for computer programming and all things IT?

When I was five and living in Devonport we didn’t have a television at home, but occasionally as a treat Dad would bring home a TV and VCR for the weekend.  One night I was excited to see him coming in the door with a TV-sized box, and gutted when it turned out to be 4Mhz 8088 IBM PC from his work.  The machine was huge – it looked like a suitcase and had a 9″ amber screen with two 5.25″ floppy drives.  He taught me how to bring up the help menu for the BASIC programming language and set me loose on it – I was hooked from then on!

I hear you went to the  American   School  of  Kuwait  – is this where you lived for a while?

When I was 11 my family moved to the Middle East for Dad’s work.  We spent 5 years there – in Bahrain and Kuwait – and my younger sister Elizabeth and I went to British and American schools.  The Middle East is a real melting pot of cultures in so many ways, and the opportunities we had there in terms of travel, education and sport were extraordinary.  I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

With online businesses such as eventfinder.co.nz do you think you need to exist much in the ‘real world’ or is having a dominant presence in the virtual world enough?

For the first two years Eventfinder was built with a couple of laptops on the kitchen table, so you can definitely get away with having almost no “real world” presence.  That said, it can be challenging to build relationships and partnerships with other companies or organisations without getting face to face time so it’s important to get away from the computer on a regular basis.

Why do you think eventfinder.co.nz was and is so successful?

The main reasons for Eventfinder’s success have been a clear vision and strategic goals from the beginning, and the effort we’ve put into building strong win/win relationships with our partners.  We’ve also been fortunate enough to attract and retain a small but incredibly talented team, without which none of our success would have been possible.

What advantages do you think you had by starting this particular business in  New Zealand ?

New Zealand is the perfect place for a business like Eventfinder.  The country is small enough that if you put the effort in you have a good chance of becoming the leading business in your field, and it’s large enough that it’s worthwhile for you to then be in that position.

What advice would you give to other young start-up businesses and young entrepreneurs?

Find a mentor you respect and can learn from, someone whom you can use as a sounding board to talk through the issues that crop up as you grow your business.  Be prepared to listen and learn from their mistakes as well as their achievements.  It’s also worth considering how you could give back to your community – contribute to an open source project, organise a support network for local people in your field, or donate expertise to a charity.

And to the start – up community in general?

Always have a clear vision in mind of where you’re going with your business – if you’re unsure of what you’re working towards, take some time away from the coal-face to think it through.  It doesn’t have to be set in stone because you can re-evaluate as often as you need to.  Once you’ve figured out where you want to be in three years, work back from that point and set milestones for yourself along the way – be sure you’re always making progress towards that goal.

Lastly, what can we expect to see out of you over the next year?

I won’t go into too much detail, but at Eventfinder we have big plans over the next year for both our ticketing service and overseas licensing.  With the help of a like-minded friend I’ve recently started a regular drinks night for tech startup entrepreneurs in Auckland and I’m also looking forward to seeing that community grow.  I think the economy will show strong signs of recovery over the next year and I’m looking forward to the opportunities that will bring.

Photo: James McGlinn