Founder Profile: Dan Martell, Flowtown

Serial entrepreneur Dan Martell

Dan Martell never really set out to become an entrepreneur. Instead, he was more concerned with building things. The New Brunswick native started learning how to program when he was in college, and once he knew how to code for the web, he realized he could build anything he wanted. “To me, it’s never been about ‘entrepreneurship’ really – I just like to build things that solve my problems,” he says. And build things he did – including his startup Spheric Technologies which he sold in 2008.

Fast-forward to his days as an online marketing guru. Because he was friends with so many small business owners, he would often get questions about setting up blogs, or Google ads, and all of the other social media tools that were starting to become mainstream. All of these questions led Dan to co-found another company, Flowtown, which is focused on providing web-based tools that allow small businesses to measure their online marketing efforts. “Flowtown turns e-mail addresses into social profiles, allowing you to heighten engagement and retention with existing customers and contacts,” Dan says.

Now based in San Francisco Dan is once again dealing with the daily trials and tribulations of running a startup. He says his team, including co-founder Ethan Bloch, has encountered many challenges from idea to reality. From building a product people would pay for, to hiring A+ team members (Dan says he refuses to compromise on hiring rock-star staff). And even though he’s a marketing guy, it’s still a daily battle to get eyeballs on their product. “We can never have enough traffic to our site,” he says.

Dan also supports young startups who are building things he’s excited about – most recently he invested in Plancast along with other prominent Angels, among them Dave McClure. So what’s his advice to young entrepreneurs trying to get an idea off the ground? Focus on the customers. “Everyone is talking about product market fit, customer development and lean startups lately,” he says. “My thoughts are that you need to be extremely customer focused and watch how they use your product – then ask them ‘why’?” He suggests getting out of the office and learning what problems your customers are having, and solving them. And he quickly identifies three qualities he thinks every entrepreneur should have: be a risk-taker, have the ability to sell, and be relentless.

So what’s next for this serial entrepreneur and investor? Well, his number one priority is focusing on the product. “We think there’s a huge opportunity to leverage the social data and social graphs to help small businesses increase revenues,” he says. And while he admits that he has some ideas on how to do that, a lot remains unknown. But, Dan believes in the power of his audience, and the power of other entrepreneurs. “We’re confident our customers will tell as as we talk to them daily.”