Interview With Kieran O’Neill – Founder of Playfire, HolyLemon and PSU

By: Michael Dunlop     Topics: Entrepreneur Interviews

Kieren is 21 years old and is a serial internet entrepreneur with three huge successes online so far! Kieren sold his first website online for $1.25 Million at the age of 19 and now has launched a new gaming social network which he raised over $1 Million in venture capital investment for!First off – can we have a little background information on you Kieran – Where you live? How old you are? (if you don’t mind answering) What motivates you? What inspires you?

I live in Camden, London and work in Soho. I turned 21 a few months ago. I’m motivating by the desire to buildisomething big – a service that millions of gamers love and use. I’m inspired by other great entrepreneurs, reading stories of how they overcame challenges, and by talking to users and seeing how much they love the site.

Other Questions:

1) Tell us about your main project, Playfire ? Why did you launch Playfire ? Where are you at now with Playfire ?

Playfire is a social network for video game players. It allows them to meet similar people to play with online, chat about the latest games, and banter and compete with friends in a fun way. We set up the company in December 2007, raised funding in February 2008, launched into public beta in June 2008 and are now working on growing it and making it even better! We’ve currently got 45,000 users testing out the service and giving us more feedback than we know what to do with!

 

2) I understand that at just 19 years old you sold your website HolyLemon.com for $1.25 million, why did you create HolyLemon and how did you feel selling it 3 years later for such a high amount of money and at such a young age? What did your parents think?

It started off as a website to showcase funny animations I made using Flash. Curiosity then led me to experiment with SEO, hosting other types of content, and making money through advertising. It evolved into a video sharing website and really look off, at one point with over 150,000 visitors a day. When I was approached about selling it, I was hestitant; I’d heard many stories about interested parties been keen at first but then end up letting you down. It worked out for the the best, however, and we ended up doing a deal that worked for both parties. It was quite funny – the negotiations took place during exam time at university, so I had to fly back and forth studying/doing coursework between negotiations!

My parents were very proud and supportive. I think my mum was a little shocked!

3) I also understand that you raised over $1 Million in venture capital investment for Playfire, a lot of young entrepreneurs come up with BIG ideas, what advice would you give a young entrepreneur trying to raise capital for their business?

I’d say try and do it without rasing capital first. It made sense for Playfire as the founding team had a track record, and were building out an initial version on our own. However, if there is any way you can execute the idea without raising money – do it. It takes a long time, and is the most expensive form of capital available. Also, you have to give up ownership, the most important thing there is, to people you don’t really know.

If, however, raising money is the only way, then I’d say:

– Do as much as you can first, especially things that show initial traction or a scalable revenue model
– Talk to angels and other successful entrepreneurs. They’re genrally more receptive to early stage deals versus the VCs who tend to prefer more developed companies.
-Get introduced to investors by pepole they respect / entrepreneurs they’ve previously invested in. Much better than going cold. Therefore, your strategy for meeting investors should be to meet funded entrepreneurs.

4) What advice would you give a young entrepreneur wanting to create their own social networking website?

Don’t pick gaming, hehe On a serious note, the space is very crowded, so you’ll have to do something REALLY special to stand out. Pick one niche, and go really hard at making exactly what your target user wants.

5) Playfire is your third hugely successful website, most entrepreneurs only ever get one big success, what do you think has been the secret to your multiple success’s?

Working really, really hard each time, and staying focused on building things that users want.

6) You have achieved so much as such a young age, how do you manage your time between collage and business?

I’ve been forced to take time out of university to focus on Playfire full-time. There’s no way you can run a investor-backed business while still at school/uni. However, I did HolyLemon and PSU while at school. The secret there is to automate as much of the time-consuming tasks as possible, freeing you your time to focus on what really creates value. This is crucial. Think about what will have the biggest impact on your success, then spend all of your time on this.

7) Do you have any suggestions for coping with set-backs, negative experiences?

Take time to deal with it, then keep on fighting. Motivation gets your started, but habit keeps you going. Keep into a positive habit routine and don’t let the bad things phase you. Also, knowing who you can talk to when things to wrong is important also. Try and build a group of friends/family who you can talk to when needed.

8) How do you keep your business focus – Do you have any suggestions for entrepreneurs who are experiencing challenging times?

Pick one thing, that solves a real problem, where that solution makes a lot of money. Stay true to that formular, and you’ll have no problem, no matter how hard times get.

9) Is there anyone that you look up to and model yourself on? (You can name more than one person)

Bob Goodson, on how to help others without keeping a tally. Richard Branson, on how to build a company that’s about having fun. Max Levchin, on how to obbsess about a problem and use data to solve it. Elon Musk, on the fact there’s no reason why you can’t go after the biggest problems the world faces.

10) Do you have any favourite business related or personal development related books that you can recommend to other entrepreneurs?

Purple Cow by Seth Godin is the only book you’ll ever need on branding/marketing (it’s short too!). Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug on web usability. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki on personal finances. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie on how to get ahead in life.

11) What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Don’t eat yellow snow. Errr, I mean… Help out other people you meet without asking for anything back, and that help will always come back with interest.

12) You are one of the most famous Young Entrepreneurs in the world today – based on your experiences, what advice would you give to a Young Entrepreneur starting their first business today?

I doubt I am one of the most famous! From walking past the newspaper stands and seeing tabloid headlines, fame doesn’t look like much fun

But based on my experiences, I’d say keep costs super low, find a business model that makes a lot of profit, work extremely hard on that one thing, and don’t stop for anything.

13) What do you like best about the Internet?

It’s cheap to build things, so anyone can have a shot!

14) What do you like least about the Internet?

It’s cheap to build things, so anyone can have a shot!

15) Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?

To keep building disruptive companies, and give back as best I can.