This document outlines Bob Rosenschein's experience as the CEO of Answers Corporation. It discusses both the challenges and successes he faced in starting up and growing the company. Some key points include: - Rosenschein searched for the right business model, eventually finding success with a software subscription model and the launch of Answers.com and WikiAnswers. - WikiAnswers grew rapidly to receive billions of monthly questions and answers and became a top search result. This helped drive significant growth in advertising revenue. - However, startup challenges included risks around brand transition, business models, focus on the web, and design. Execution in all areas from development to marketing was critical. - Lessons learned included

1. Surviving While Getting It Right
Bob Rosenschein
CEO, Answers Corp. NASDAQ:ANSW
MIT Forum — ‫יום היזם‬
1-Apr-2009

2. Why Do It?
• Fame?
• Fortune?
• Be your own boss?
• Change the world?
• Because it’s there?
• … because you have to!
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3. The Fun
• 4 E’s:
 Entrepreneurship, Energy, Enthusiasm, Excitement
• You’ll need:
 Vision
 Sacrifice
 Patience
 Passion
 Single-mindedness
• “Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.”—Arthur C. Clarke
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4. The Fear
• Quotes:
 “Experience is what we call the accumulation of our
mistakes.” –Yiddish proverb
 “Most of the important things in the world have been
accomplished by people who have kept on trying when
there seemed to be no hope at all.” –Dale Carnegie
 “A CEO’s job is hiding the terror behind his eyes.”
–Scott McNeally
 “Life is what happens to you while you’re making other
plans.” –John Lennon
 “Safe is risky!” –Seth Godin
 “It’s difficult to predict, especially the future.” –Yogi Berra
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5. History
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6. Startup
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7. Searching for the Right Business Model
• 1999: ? ? ?
• 2000-2002: Enterprise Software (Atomica)
• 2003: Software perpetual license (1-time)
• 2004: Software subscription
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8. 10/04: IPO
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9. Answers.com
• Jan. 2, 2005—launched Answers.com
• 5 risks:
 Brand (GuruNet to Answers.com)
 Business model (free vs. paid)
 Web focus
 Look & feel (1-page)
 Include Wikipedia
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10. 1-Apr-2009 10

11. 1-Apr-2009 11

12. Traffic Jumped
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13. WikiAnswers: Q&A the Wiki Way
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14. WikiAnswers: Q&A the Wiki Way
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15. Search Engine Results
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16. WikiAnswers Daily Questions (4 week mov avg)
60,800
30,400
15,200
7,600
3,800
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17. WikiAnswers Daily Answers (4 week mov avg)
14,400
7,200
3,600
1,800
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18. Market Share Unique Visitors – U.S.
100.0%
96.1%
92.5%
90.3%
80.0%
83.5%
77.5% 74.7% 77.0%
68.1%
65.4%
60.0%
40.0%
34.6%
31.9%
22.5% 25.3% 23.0%
16.5%
20.0%
9.7%
7.5%
3.9%
0.0%
Yahoo! Answers WikiAnswers.com
Source: comScore U.S. January 2009
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19. Today
• Combined properties:
 33rd in US, with 25.5M unique users (comScore, 1/09)
• WikiAnswers:
 10.9M questions
 3.5M answers
 4,700 categories
 500 supervisors
 Top % growth in 2008 (top 200) & 2007 (top 1500)
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20. Advertising Revenue - Quarterly
$5,000
Thousands
$4,500
$4,000
$3,500
$3,000
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
Q-1 05 Q-2 05 Q-3 05 Q-4 05 Q-1 06 Q-2 06 Q-3 06 Q-4 06 Q-1 07 Q-2 07 Q-3 07 Q-4 07 Q-1 08 Q-2 08 Q-3 08 Q-4 08
Answers.com WikiAnswers.com Total Ad Revenues
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21. Answers Historical Financials
$5,000
Thousands
$4,500
$4,000
$3,500
$3,000 *
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
-$500
-$1,000
-$1,500
Total Revenues Adj. Expenses Adj. EBITDA
* Note: Q1 2007 excludes one-time subscription revenue of $425,000.
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22. Top 10 Lessons Learned
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23. 10. Common Sense… Isn’t
• The dangerous spread of wishful thinking
• Optimism / pessimism / realism
 Knowing the difference
 Knowing when to trust your gut
• “Men and nations behave wisely, once they
exhausted all the other alternatives.” –Abba Eban

24. 9. Products the Market Needs
• Create products people can’t live without
• Balance technology & marketing
• “If we’re not a lot better a year from now, we’ll be
forgotten.” –Larry Page
• “Our goal is to run between the legs of giants.” –Efi Arazi

25. 8. Raise More Money
• … than you think you need
• … and earlier than you need it
• Otherwise
 The pressure grows, and
 The valuation drops
 … exponentially
• “If you have money, you are wise and good-
looking— and can sing well, too.” –Yiddish proverb

26. 7. Do the Right Thing…
• … and ask questions later!
• “You don’t know what you can get away with until you
try” –Colin Powell
• Use the formula P=40 to 70
 Where P stands for probability of success and the numbers indicate
the percentage of information required
 Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut
• Don’t be afraid to challenge the “experts”
• Leadership is lonely
• Be a mensch

27. 6. Focus!
• Do fewer things better
• Core competency must be obvious to you and to
your customers
• “By all means, put all of your eggs in one basket and
then watch that basket!” –Mark Twain
• “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main
thing.” –Barksdale's Law

28. 5. Execution Risks
• Startups need to excel at everything:
 Development, marketing, sales, admin, finance…
• A company is not a democracy or a kibbutz
• Don’t be perfectionist
• “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a
perfect plan next week.” –George Patton

29. 4. Adapt
• Change that business model
• Eat lunch or be lunch!
• Kill the wounded
• Understand market windows and timing…
 But don’t expect immediate results
• “Strength is not absence of weakness, but how we
wrestle with weakness.” –Noah Benshea
• “It takes twenty years to make an overnight
success.” –Eddie Cantor

30. 3. Never Believe Your Own Hype
• Wishful thinking kills
• But we worked so hard!
• There’s a difference between:
 PR success
 Financing success
 Real success
• “Man has an infinite capacity for
self-rationalization.” –Sigmund Freud

31. 2. Choose the Right People
• “It’s the people, stupid!” –John Doerr
• Never just settle
• Understaff with the brightest
• 1 bozo can stop 10 good people
• Ability to anticipate / see around corners
• 3 things to keep employees happy

32. 1. Be Optimistic!
• Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier
• “If you dream, dream big.” –Spencer Tracy
• Don’t think you can change the world—
know you can change the world!

33. Conclusion: Enjoy the Ride
• It’s good to still be here!
• http://jobs.answers.com
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