One of my goals for 2020 was to wrap up some entrepreneurial side projects so that MarketBeat is the only company that I have an operating role in. There were a couple of little websites that I got rid of and a real-estate investment club that I was part of that disbanded, but GoGo Photo […]
View PostAnnouncing the Paulson Center at Dakota State University

When I was a student at Dakota State University, I paid close attention to the emails that were sent to all students. A lot of the emails were noise from student activities I was not interested in, but every now and then great opportunities were presented that any ambitious student could take advantage of. It […]
View PostThe Two Million Dollar Ideas that Propelled MarketBeat’s Growth and Success.

The setting is Thanksgiving of 2010. Karine and I were engaged at the time and were planning a wedding the following summer. We spent the long weekend at her parents’ farm outside of Emery, South Dakota. The weekend was marked by energetic nieces and nephews, board games, walks on country roads and German chocolate pie. […]
View PostHow MarketBeat Maintains 21% Open Rates While Sending 1 Billion Emails Per Year

A couple of weeks back, I was doing some routine monitoring of MarketBeat’s email engagement metrics and saw an interesting number appear on our dashboard: It turns out that MarketBeat has sent more than one billion emails in 2020 to our 1.75 million email subscribers with an average open rate of 21%. Any spammer can […]
View PostFive Growth Strategies that MarketBeat Leveraged to Increase Revenue by 75% in 2020.

2020 has been a year of growth for MarketBeat. Our email list has grown by more than 500,000 subscribers since the first of the year. We brought on two additional employees. We just crossed $10 million in revenue for the year and expect to see 75% year-over-year growth for the year. While we did see […]
View PostWhy Most People Shouldn’t Try to Build a Mobile App

Every now and then I receive an email from someone that is looking for advice about building a mobile app for their business or non-profit. These conversations usually start along the lines of, “Hey, I have a great idea for an app. Who do I talk to?” or “Do you know any good app developers?” […]
View PostCoping with Entrepreneurial Loneliness

For the last twelve years, I have largely worked in solitude in front of a computer screen. First as a remote employee and then later as a business owner, most of my workday as been spent at home or in a small office with minimal human contact during the day. Even today, there are at […]
View PostWhy MarketBeat Is Choosing To Integrate Local Art Into The Workplace

For the longest time, my team did not want to get an office. They instead preferred working out of their homes, coffee shops, and coworking spaces. It was hard to blame them. Many offices are barebones spaces with white walls, fluorescent lighting, industrial carpet and just enough furniture to get work done. Even newly designed […]
View PostIt’s time to focus on your greatest work.

During the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all learned what life would be like with fewer obligations. Business meetings, church services, kids’ activities and other events all got put on hold and we all found ourselves with a lot more free time. Personally, I went from averaging 10-15 in-person meetings per week to […]
View PostMy Quarterly Update: Q2 2020

Looking back at my most recent quarterly update, it’s amazing to see how much the world has changed in such a short period of time. A little over a month ago, we were attending church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night, our children were in school and we had a full travel schedule planned for […]
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