The Fanpop Blog

No, I’m not talking about Heroes, the awesome new show on NBC, I’m talking about my personal heroes. One of the perks of starting a little company is that you have an excuse to reach out to people you’ve admired from afar. I’ve gotten to talk to and meet Paul Graham, the founder of Viaweb which later sold to Yahoo! and the man behind YCombinator. If you haven’t heard of Paul before, I highly recommend reading his inspirational essays. During the early stages of forming Fanpop, his essays were extremely helpful and insightful. They give very practical and tangible tips for anyone thinking about starting a tech company.

Another person’s writings and advice that inspired me was Guy Kawasaki, the managing director of Garage Technology Ventures and the chief evangelist for the Macintosh at Apple Computer. His blog, Signal Without Noise, was a constant source of entrepreneurial wisdom and guidance. The thing I loved about his book, The Art of the Start, and blog was how real and matter of fact they were. He calls bull shitake when he sees it. He cuts through all of the fluff and got right to the point. His down-to-earth Hawaiian personality was clearly evident throughout his writing. It was so refreshing to hear such honesty and candor. Check out this keynote speech he gave that gives you and idea of how cool this cat is.

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In whatever spare time I have outside of Fanpop, I’ve been trying to keep up with my reading. I’ve been reading Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay for the past few months because I can’t seem to find any breaks to finish it (I knew I shouldn’t have started a 626 page book if I didn’t have time to read it!). It’s a fantastic book by the way. The other book I am in the midst of finishing is Chris Anderson’s eagerly-awaited book The Long Tail. I had already read many of his articles and some of the pre-published book on his blog and was really excited to get my hands on a copy. The wait was well worth it especially in light of the Fanpop launch.

The gist of the book is basically about how technology and innovation has changed the game. Over time, the invention of things like the Gutenberg printing press, the Sears catalog and the Internet, that distribution and customization have allowed the diversity and variety of supply to meet the breadth and myriad of demand. It’s been fascinating to read Anderson’s analysis of the power of the niche and how meeting the needs and demands of the few can be as impactful creating a huge hit for the many. It kinda makes me think of how Google is perfect for the masses in the fat tail because it’s so simple and convenient. I see Fanpop as letting people create hundreds and thousands of little Yahoo’s and filling out the long tail. We were confident that there was a need for this type of platform when Papa and I conceived of the idea for Fanpop. But seeing it in action has blown both of us away. We had no idea that there were so many fans of rats or hamsters. I’m finding out about bands I’ve never heard of from near and far like Kaiser Chiefs and Cud from the UK or the Dutch band the Gathering. I’m learning about books that I should be reading like the “A Song of Ice and Fire” and “His Dark Materials” series.

The more we saw Fanpop grow this first month, the more we realized that there’s a real need for community portals like these for anything and everything. So many of these fans don’t really have a place to share and commune about their passion. We’re just happy we could help them find a home and even better to help others discover new interests that they may never otherwise have been exposed to. I mean I just found out that Nicole Kidman is starring in the movie adaptation of the His Dark Materials series which I had never heard of until Fanpop!

We firmly believe that by creating the right platform of tools and features that allow for a community of fans of any given topic of interest, that people will be drawn and the mavens and pied pipers of each of those communities will lead them here. We’ve already seen that happen for many different spots through forums and blogs all over the world. From fans of pigeons to Gaia Online, people are spreading the gospel of Fanpop every day. We couldn’t ask for better ambassadors than the devoted fans themselves. Fanpop wouldn’t be what it is without the passion of the fans.

I can’t wait to see what new bands, books, tv shows or places to travel you all will open my eyes to next!