Brett Farmiloe, the founder of Featured.com, has had a diverse and fascinating entrepreneurial journey. From surviving on Hot Pockets during a cross-country RV trip to building and selling successful businesses, Farmiloe’s journey offers valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs.
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What is the Hot Pocket Challenge?
Farmiloe’s entrepreneurial spirit was evident early on when he embarked on a unique venture right after college. He sought to create a career education website and secured an unusual sponsorship: an unlimited supply of Hot Pockets.
“It was like the movie Supersize Me, where the guy eats McDs for 30 days straight. It was Hot Pockets breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us,” Farmiloe recalls.
This experience taught Farmiloe an essential lesson about the entrepreneurial journey: sometimes, you must sacrifice to get your ideas off the ground. The Hot Pocket challenge, while extreme, provided the means for Farmiloe and his friends to travel 16,000 miles across 38 states, interviewing 300 people about their career paths.
The Journey from Accounting to Marketing
Despite graduating with an accounting degree, Farmiloe found his true calling in marketing.
His career path included:
- Creating a career education startup called Pursuit of Passion
- Working on a mobile app company (which he admits was a “big failure”)
- Collaborating with actor Hugh Jackman on a charitable coffee company
- Running a successful marketing agency for 10 years
These diverse experiences ultimately led to Featured.com, a platform that helps small businesses gain visibility and credibility online by sharing their expertise.
The Birth of Featured.com
Farmiloe identified a common challenge among his agency’s small business clients: gaining visibility and credibility online. This realization sparked the idea for Featured.com, a platform that connects experts with publishers, allowing them to share their knowledge and get featured in articles.
“The thing that small businesses typically don’t have is a bunch of resources, but they have an abundance of knowledge to share,” Farmiloe explains.
Featured.com operates on a freemium SaaS model, allowing experts to answer three questions monthly for free, with a paid subscription for unlimited submissions. The platform serves as a marketplace, connecting publishers who need content with experts eager to share their knowledge and gain exposure.
Scaling a Marketplace Business in the Entrepreneurial Journey
Farmiloe also shared insights on scaling a marketplace business like Featured.com:
- Focus on the “hard side” of the marketplace first (in this case, publishers)
- Leverage personal networks to develop relationships with key players
- Start with small trials to prove the value
- Prioritize retention of valuable partners
- Aim for network effects as the platform grows
Key Advice for the Entrepreneurial Journey
Drawing from his experiences, Farmiloe offered three key focus areas for the entrepreneurial journey:
- Strategy: Develop a clear vision and plan for execution
- People: Ensure you have the right team aligned with your goals
- Capital: Secure the necessary financing to execute your strategy
One key takeaway was Farmiloe’s emphasis on the importance of financial management. He advised visiting entrepreneurs to closely monitor their burn rate and runway and suggested regularly assessing these metrics to make informed decisions about growth and potential outside investment.
Building a Great Company Culture
Featured.com has been recognized as one of Arizona’s top workplaces. Farmiloe attributes this success to three pillars:
- Significance: Rally employees behind a clear vision and mission
- Trust: Give employees the freedom to execute their jobs
- Measurability: Provide clear metrics for success to motivate and guide employees
The Future of Content in the Entrepreneurial Journey
When asked about the future of content, Farmiloe acknowledges the uncertainty brought by AI and changing business models. However, he believes that human expertise will remain crucial:
“I think readers still want to hear from other people and hear about real-world experiences. As a writer or contributor, the more unique experiences you can share, the more you’ll stand out in the future of content.”
Farmiloe predicts that in the next year, we may see the emergence of new business models for publishers, with experts playing a vital role in making these models sustainable.
The World Pillow Fight Championship
As a final note, Farmiloe shares his dream of reviving the World Pillow Fight Championship, a fundraiser for firefighters in his hometown. This lighthearted goal showcases Farmiloe’s ability to blend fun with purpose, which has served him well throughout his entrepreneurial journey.
Brett Farmiloe’s story is a testament to the power of perseverance, adaptability, and creative problem-solving in entrepreneurship. His experiences offer valuable lessons for anyone looking to start and grow a successful business.
