Bryan Zmijewski, the CEO of Lucky Oliver, visited us in September and made several observations in a larger discussion about when to add a “real CEO.” His short answer is later rather than sooner:
Starting off you don’t need a CEO. You just need someone who can get you across the first hurdle. Then you can find someone with the next skill set to help you reach the next milestone.
Most CEO’s will not come in this early. If they do, they will require a 200k salary with equity. As a bootstrapper, it is your job to grow the company to a certain size and excite about the concept so that you attract partners, executives, and employees.
Lucky Oliver is “a community of photographers, designers, and artists who buy and sell “stock photos.”
Update Aug-17-09: Lucky Oliver www.luckyoliver.com closed it’s doors May 15 2008. Here is an excerpt from a letter Bryan Zmijewski posted on the site
It’s with great disappointment that we have decided to shut down LuckyOliver on May 15th. All who purchased tokens must use them to license images before May 15th, 2008. Working with the creative minds that make up LuckyOliver has been a rewarding experience- two years went by fast. I want to thank our talented staff for working through long nights, our investors for giving us a shot at growing a business, our legal and business advisers for lending an ear, our customers for their positive encouragement, and our contributors who provided us with a wealth of knowledge and tough criticisms. We really appreciate all the hard work Carnies put into making LuckyOliver a special place for people to find great imagery.
Other Links for Bryan Zmijewski
- Lucky Oliver Shutting its doors
- Bryan Zmijewski on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanzmijewski
- Bryan is now Chief Instigator at Zurb: http://www.zurb.com/team/bryan-zmijewski
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