Interview with LogoTournament Founder Tyler Quinn

A month ago I posted a link to a great start-up resource, LogoTournament, a crowd-sourcing site that instantly connects you with hundreds of logo designers. The site allows business owners (you) to post logo projects, set a price, and receive hundreds of entries from logo designers all over the world competing for your business. I’ve used the site twice with great results – 100 unique designs for $250-500 in a matter of days. The best part? The site allows you to interact directly with the designers, giving them feedback on colors and design.

I’ve become so intrigued by the business model and the incredible value the site delivers to the average entrepreneur, that I reached out to LogoTournament founder, Tyler Quinn, to get his story.

Elizabeth: So tell us more about you. Where are you from? What do you do? Is this the first company you’ve started?
Tyler: I’m based in Calgary, Canada and my education is in marketing and management information systems. I have been involved with the web on a professional level for well over a decade now. I consulted as a web developer to help fund my education and world travel. Currently I am a partner in a number of Canadian online niche shops. My first business was a law mowing service when I was 12 years old. I was fortunate enough to grow up around successful entrepreneurs, so I saw at a fairly early age what was possible. I have been involved in multiple internet ventures, some have been successful, some not.

Elizabeth: How did you come up with the idea for LogoTournament?
Tyler: I had seen design contests taking place on various internet forums and freelancing sites. They were only used by tech savvy people and were very cumbersome and unlikely to be used by a mainstream business person. I built LogoTournament with my end clients in mind so any businessperson regardless of marketing of technical would experience success with the site.

Elizabeth: How long did it take you to get the site up and running once you thought of it?
Tyler: I spent way too long trying to decide on a direction, but once that was fleshed out it took about 5 months to get the site launched. It should have only been about 3 months, but I kept adding to the scope of the project which was a mistake. If I could do it all again, I would reduce the scope to bare essentials and cut development time to less than 8 weeks. Then I would start adding features after launch.

Elizabeth: Did you recruit others to help or is this something you’re doing all on your own?
Tyler: Although I have experience programming small web applications, I did enlist an expert programmer. We worked together to develop the site based on my prototypes and specifications. I also employ a part-time infrastructure person who is in charge of server administration and performance. Just recently LogoTournament has hired a customer service person to help out with emails and community management.

Elizabeth: Did you seek venture capital, and if so, what was your experience?
Tyler: I did not seek venture capital, and LogoTournament was self-sustaining within in a matter of months. A couple of VCs have expressed interest in LogoTournament, but that hasn’t gone any further than the conversation level at this point. One of them that I spoke with was fairly famous in certain circles so it was very flattering. Although with the web I think there is a lot of opportunity to build profitable niche companies without really needing much money.

Elizabeth: In starting your company, what were the key resources that you used to help you get started?
Tyler: The key resources have been open source technology like Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP, economical web hosting platforms, PPC marketing, readily available global talent, and international payment systems like Paypal.

One of my main inspirations is the book “Getting Real” by 37Signals, and is a must read for anyone building an internet business. I am in agreement with their philosophy of building simple, self-serve, easy to use web applications that do not require a big team to build or run.

I also practice GTD (Gettings Things Done by David Allen) which helps me greatly with keeping a lot of balls in the air without going crazy.

Elizabeth: What makes LogoTournament so special? Why are designers using it? Why are customers using it?
Tyler: Other than the obvious dollar factor, I think designers choose LogoTournament for the sense of community, fairness, competition, and recognition. I believe customers are using it because they can get the logo that the really want with 50-250+ choices, instead of settling on a handful that they might receive from a traditional design firm.

Elizabeth: How many countries are represented among your designers/customers? How did you get the word out - and so globally? What marketing/PR tools and techniques have you used?
Tyler: Our design community is represented by designers from almost one hundred different countries. Our customers hail from over 30 different countries and here are some recent examples browsing through the contests page: the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Israel, Poland, Denmark, Lebanon, Greece, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, and the Dominican Republic. Quite a diverse global crowd, which I think is fantastic. I’ve always been fascinated with entrepreneurship, so I always enjoy browsing through our customer base to see what they all do.

I’ve only done some basic Pay-Per-Click marketing to get things started. I’ve really done my best to offer excellent value and service to customers, which is leading to a significant number of repeat and referrals. Most of the growth now is from word of mouth.

Elizabeth: What’s next for LogoTournament and for Tyler Quinn?
Tyler: My primary focus right now is improving LogoTournament every day for both clients and designers, and increasing the site exposure.

Elizabeth: What lessons have you learned?
Tyler: Launch as quickly as possible. Trim down your concept to the bare essentials. Flesh it out, build it, and get it out there to see how people respond. Stop thinking about it and get going. Test it out before you mortgage your house and quit your day job.

Kudos to LogoTournament and all the web resources that make starting up even easier today. You can check out contests going on now and examples of the great design work at http://www.logotournament.com/.