Evan Rudowski, entrepreneur at Innovatrs and co-founder at SubHub, tells us how he became an entrepreneur. He began his career in the mid-1980s at Newsday and New York Newsday, where he helped develop and launch some of the earliest online newspaper efforts in the United States. He subsequently became business development manager at News Corporation’s iGuide Internet venture in New York. From 1998  to 2001, Evan was managing director of Excite Europe , where (prior to his move to the UK) he ran Excite’s City.net travel service, turning it into the number one travel site on the web.

SubHub provides hassle-free website publishing for people who want to make money from their content. The company’s managed membership software  makes it quick and easy for you to build and manage your own membership site and charge for access to your own premium content, such as articles, members-only forums, digital downloads, video and audio.

Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, become an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job?

Evan: That was easy. The cozy corporate job gave me up when the dot-com bubble burst. I became an entrepreneur by necessity. However, I had always been entrepreneurial even within the companies I worked for. I was lucky to get into online before most people, so I could always make my job up as I went along, since not too many people had done it before. When I moved to London, my boss was 5,000 miles away — something I’d recommend to anyone. So I’ve been lucky to have been always able to chart my own course, even whilst employed. The only challenge becoming a proper entrepreneur is that nobody guarantees you a pay-cheque while you figure out what direction you’re headed in.

Innovatrs: What was the original @ha Idea and how has it evolved?

Evan: The idea at first was to build membership websites. Early on we thought we might be the content publisher. Over time we evolved to become the platform provider on top of which other publishers could build their services. We also expanded to focus not only on subscription and membership, but to support a wide range of methods for making money from content online. We may even get back to publishing content ourselves one day.

Innovatrs: What were your first steps after you fleshed out your @ha idea ? What was your first crisis or hurdle?

Evan: We had to figure out how to fund it. Like any entrepreneurs, we wanted to fund it whilst giving up as little equity as possible. This led us to consider regional development grants and eventually to Cardiff where we set up the company. The funding environment in Cardiff is quite helpful and it enabled us to wait on equity funding until we really felt it would be beneficial.

Another key hurdle was building the technology, since my co-founder and I are not technologists, but it’s a technologically-driven business. That’s an ongoing challenge, as the technology of the internet constantly evolves along with customer expectations.

Innovatrs: Is this your first business? Did any past experiences or good advice help you navigate the entrepreneur’s road to masochism?

Evan:Prior to SubHub I had established a consultancy called Atlantic Leap, which helped US internet companies expand into Europe. This was successful, but frustrating too as advising someone on expanding their business is a lot different from building one yourself. Entrepreneurs like to build things.

My main advice is to connect with other entrepreneurs regularly for support, advice and experience sharing. Entrepreneurship can be lonely and it’s not always possible to share your feelings with your employees, business colleagues or even your spouse.  A supportive community is a big help. For the past seven or eight years I’ve been a member of EO, the Entrepreneurs Organization, which is a global entrepreneurs community. It’s been invaluable to me.

Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?

Evan: Most of my failures have involved being inauthentic. Whenever I try to change myself to meet the expectations of others, I find I am more likely to fail to meet those expectations anyway. So I have learnt to be true to myself first. All the effort to satisfy others only creates interference on the way to achieving one’s goals. They are diversions. So I stay focused now on what’s important to me, not others.

This doesn’t mean disregarding or disrespecting others. It doesn’t mean being belligerent or antagonistic. An entrepreneur must be a good listener in order to win over supporters and customers. But they must be won over with authenticity. They must become your supporters because they genuinely believe in you. That means you must believe in yourself first.