Job Q&A
by Erik Potter
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Monster.com: How does someone with a degree in psychology end up as the CEO/president of a fishing Web site?

Brandon White: Fishing is my passion, so I just started the site. At first, the site was for a purely selfish reason -- to find out where the Chesapeake Bay's hot fishing spots were. I went to the library one day looking for a fishing site and there wasn't anything so I decided that I'd create a Web page where other fisherman like myself could go to talk fishing.

Mc: Was it necessary for you to be technically proficient when you started the site?

BW: When I started the site I had no idea how to create a Web page. I recruited my partner, the top computer student out of Washington College, and asked him to create a Web page. I told him I'd pay him more than what he was making at his current job to design the page. Eventually, though, I taught myself how to program. I learned HTML, Java and PhotoShop. My partner got us jumpstarted and got the site up in just a few weeks. The key in business is to hire people that are smarter then you are. I did that to compensate for my technical inability.

Mc: What are some of the challenges of being the CEO of a company?

BW: The market is tough right now and many business models are being tested. We believe that we have a viable business model that is not unlike any other media company that's existed over the last 80 years. It's just that our publishing medium is the Internet. There are challenges in keeping your company funded, in increasing the revenue and in the path to profitability. That is the challenge.

In particular, the challenge presented to us is whether or not we here at WorldwideAnglers.com can take a truly fragmented market and aggregate it. Can we make the fragmented fishing market not fragmented? We are all fishermen here so we all are aiming towards the same goal with the same passions driving us. Everyone is a part of the same mission.

Mc: What skills are essential to being the CEO of your company?

BW: I think the psychology degree has really come in handy. Business is about people. It pretty simple: You can't do business if you can't communicate. You also need certain leadership qualities that I think I am lucky to have. Furthermore, you just have to have some gut instinct.

For the sake of the company, it's important for the employees of these Internet companies to really believe in what they are doing. Designing a Web site is not just about designing a Web site; its about designing a Web site that is tailored to your audience. Therefore, a Web programmer that doesn't understand his audience can't build an effective and successful Web site.

Mc: What are your most pressing work responsibilities outside of the office?

BW: I think it's keeping the company's general morale high. It's keeping everyone balanced between work and personal life and health. You have to keep the troops happy so they will produce. My most important responsibility is keeping those employees that are working 14-hour days happy.

Mc: Many dotcoms are folding these days. How much does that weigh on your mind?

BW: I'm scared to death, and I need to have a talk with everyone that says they aren't scared. The market, unfortunately, drives how the funding goes for Internet companies, and we are in trouble if the market falls. I'm also not running around here like a chicken with its head cut off either. It weighs heavily, and it should.

Mc: Let's say your company is one of the lucky ones. Where do you see it in two or three years?

BW: We're a media company so I think that we will eventually expand beyond the Web. There are probably other things that we can do. We are Worldwide Angler, Inc. so I think that there is the ability to leverage our brand on what we are trying to do towards other forms of media, whether it be radio, TV, or real-time events.

Mc: What advice do you have for others looking to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams by entering the dotcom world?

BW: My advice is to do your research thoroughly, no matter which area of the Web you go into. Furthermore, if you are not going to fully commit and give it everything that you've got, then forget it. This is not a place right now where you can do things half-heartedly. This is not a place to get rich overnight. It's a long road. As far as I'm concerned, really successful people don't always have great ideas, they have good ideas and they follow through.