Exclusive Interview with Mike Speiser, CEO Bix

by Allen Stern on November 17th, 2006

Bix Bix was acquired by Yahoo! earlier today. I had a chance to chat with Mike Speiser, CEO of Bix about what exactly Bix does and to find out more about the acquisition. He was not able to share details of the transaction which is understandable, but he was able to share where he sees Bix going now that it has the backing and the team at Yahoo! to help. I am calling Bix, Contest 2.0. It certainly is different than the other contest models currently available to both individuals and to companies. His thoughts around necessary characteristics of successful startups is quite good and if you plan to create a startup, its must listening.

Highlights of our discussion include:

Brief bio
What is Bix and what were your motivations for creating it?
Is Bix the next evolution of YouTube?
Who are the competitors to Bix?
What is the makeup of the userbase at Bix?
Out of curiosity, how much of the content is adult oriented?
Can you share some details of how the talks went with Yahoo!
Why do you think Yahoo! chose Bix over the other competitors in the space?
How do you think Bix will help Yahoo!’s social network?
What changes do you anticipate for the Bix team? Will all of the employees remain?
What do you think will change for Bix now that Yahoo! is in control?
How was the firm valued — what went into the calculation?
What advice can you give to those wanting to be acquired?
What do you think the greatest mistake you have made with Bix has been?
What do you think a startup needs to be successful?
Where does Bix go from here?