Michael Gluck started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 4 – painting smiley faces on coconuts to sell to people on the beach.
Today, Michael Gluck is the founder and CEO of VG Market, a growing and profitable market research company that focuses solely on gaming companies. The company spawned out of Gluck’s work with EA Games. A couple weeks after leaving the company after his contract wasn’t renewed, Gluck had the infrastructure in place to start VG Market at the age of 24 and never looked back.
Since their start in 2007, VG Market has disrupted the video game market research sector by providing a specialized service catered to that industry, which offers unmatched prices and turnaround. Focusing all of their efforts on that specific sector of market research has helped VG Market obtain a large market share and grow into five locations and multi-million dollars in revenue each year. After asking if competitors were quick to adapt their pricing and delivery methods to the new standards set by VG Market, Gluck replied, “Competitors have still not changed their models to compete.” The stubbornness of competitors to adapt has benefited VG Market as they continue to grow.
Gluck stated that coming from the outside would have been impossible, and his work, experience, and contacts from EA were the key to being able to launch and grow VG Market. Gluck wanted to get the point across to young entrepreneurs that with a B2B business, you need to be entrenched in the industry and have a track record before entering the market. “Don’t think you’re going to create this big idea and pitch to a business and necessarily be successful. You have to climb the corporate ladder, starting inside a company. Do your dues, work in the cubes from 9-5, get to know people, and learn how it works. Once you have those relationships – then you can execute on your idea, but if you try to come from the outside it’s going to be like hitting a brick wall.”
He also gave advice to young entrepreneurs about keeping an intense focus on the one thing that they do very well, and stressed the importance of keeping a very low overhead.
Michael Gluck maintains 100% of the equity in his company and has never accepted any outside capital. If you are looking for the right way to build a profitable B2B company, Michael Gluck and VG Market is a great example.
Interview Highlights:
– Straightforward details on how he started VG Market with $5,000 and was able to have $1M in his bank account in 12 months.
– His biggest mistake as an entrepreneur – losing focus and trying his hand in new ventures.
– How he used corporate relationships to launch the business.
– Why working for a corporation is vital to launching a successful B2B company. “If you’re able to create a successful B2B without first going through the corporate system, you’re smarter than I am.”
– On keeping low overhead while launching a B2B: “Don’t create a bunch of shit you don’t need.” “Costs should be food, rent, …don’t start spending money on expensive equipment until…you can budget for it out of revenues.”
Listen to the full interview with Michael Gluck below.
[powerpress]
Michael Luchies is an entrepreneur and passionate supporter of everything entrepreneurship. Michael is Co-Founder of PitchJam and is National Growth and Programs Manager for the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO). He has been covering entrepreneurship over the past 5 years and has been published on Under30CEO, Yahoo!, Yahoo! News, ThinkEntrepreneurship, PitchingGreatness, and other sources. On Twitter @MichaelLuchies.
