"MarketingSherpa's Entrepreneur of the Year recognition calls out a member of the online subscription industry that we believe can be an inspiration to other marketers by demonstrating that you don't have to be a huge brand name or have endless supplies of money to market yourself," said Eric Stockton, President of MarketingSherpa.
This is the eighth year that MarketingSherpa has awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year at its Selling Online Subscriptions Summit which is held annually in New York City. More than 200 top executives of the paid online content and subscriber services industries attended this year's Summit in May.
"I am honored to have been selected for this award. I have been relying on MarketingSherpa case studies and summits for years," said Paul Allen, CEO, FamilyLink.com, Inc. "They have been my favorite single source for Internet marketing know-how since I discovered them in 2001."
The award is presented each year to an individual who has had great success leading an online company without major corporate backing. Past winners include companies such as TheLadders.com and AskTheBuilder.com.
"We chose Paul Allen this year because of the rapid growth he's been able to achieve with WorldVitalRecords.com, and the way his team uses a combination of tried-and-true subscription marketing efforts and emerging tactics, such as developing a Facebook application that's been downloaded by 3.5 million people," Stockton said. "He's also passionate about his business – online genealogy – and about the online subscription business model, and about the potential of Web 2.0 technologies as a significant opportunity for subscription marketers."
Allen has founded several companies, including Ancestry.com in 1997 and MyFamily.com in 1998. He also founded 10X Marketing in 2002 and FundingUniverse in 2004. His latest venture is FamilyLink.com, Inc, a family of services that includes WorldVitalRecords.com, FamilyLink.com, and We're Related on Facebook.
FamilyLink.com, Inc. was founded in 2006 and currently has more than 30 employees dedicated to creating and implementing innovative tools to connect families. The company's subscriber base has grown as a result of its aggressive affiliate marketing program and its co-marketing deals with partners. Since the company was founded in 2006, more than 35 different companies and organizations from across the world have partnered with FamilyLink.com, Inc. Allen credits his employees and the company's partners for FamilyLink.com's growth.
"Each company milestone we've reached happened because of a collaboration with our partners," Allen said.
