185: Creating a Collage with Borders | Kevin Borders of Collage.com

Kevin Borders - Collage

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Background on Kevin Borders of Collage.com:

Kevin Borders grew up in White Lake, Michigan, and first met Collage.com co-founder Joe Golden in middle school. Kevin holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and a Ph.D. in computer science engineering from the University of Michigan.

Prior to making Collage.com his full-time focus, Kevin served his country by working as a computer security researcher at the National Security Agency. Kevin holds several patents for network security. Kevin lives with his wife Jennifer in Arlington, Virginia.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • [2:00] Kevin Borders is the co-founder of Collage.com, which sells custom photo products online via dropshipping. Buying the domain name for Collage.com cost them around $200,000.
  • [5:21] Collage.com started because Kevin created an anniversary gift to his girlfriend consisting of a thousand photos that he wanted to put together.
  • [6:45] The main market of Collage.com is gifts and their most popular product is the photo blanket.
  • [9:27] In the fall of 2010, they launched the website Collage.com.
  • [10:30] In 2019, their revenue reached over $10,000,000.
  • [13:45] Kevin worked for NSA doing cybersecurity research while building up Collage.com on the weekends.
  • [18:30] He never predicted that Collage.com would eventually grow and have millions in revenue in the coming years.
  • [19:35] Back in 2011, they had their first deal that sold hundreds of photo products. It was at this time that they knew they were on to something good.
  • [23:00] Kevin shares a story of one of their most harrowing experiences in the business.
  • [28:39] Kevin discusses the challenges of getting into the print products industry.
  • [31:16] Writing an apology letter with a photo of everyone in the company and letting the customer know what really happened, helped them bounce back from the fiasco that happened.
  • [37:03] Finding a good business partner is most recommended by Kevin, especially for first-time entrepreneurs.
  • [47:16] Mismanagement and lacking strong leadership can be the cause of the downfall of LivingSocial and Groupon, according to Kevin.
  • [51:44] Kevin points out one example of how they were able to improve their conversion rate.
  • [57:08] He learned that it’s better not to show that you’re upset with other people because it doesn’t really help.
  • [1:00:36] When they landed the deal with Good Morning America, it was surreal for Kevin.
  • [1:05:25] The day to day activities and tasks for Kevin.

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Fabulous 4 Questions:

  1. 📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman
  2. 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Shure SE215 Sound Isolating Headphones
  3. 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Google Docs
  4. 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Hiring talented and innovative executives

Key Point from the Interview:

  • “It’s really important to have a culture of honesty and transparency with your customers. Because it’s just shortsighted to try to cover up mistakes that you’ve made, people are going to find out.”

Resources Mentioned:

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