Andrew Warner

by @percival 1 Year, 275 days ago #

I had to attend about a dozen tech events in LA before I got to meet Andrew. Each time I tried to meet him he was always surrounded by folks, looking to share ideas or ask questions. To many, Andrew is considered a true showman of the Los Angeles tech space. Like a carnival ticket caller, he brings you in to share his own experience and that of others.

His website Mixergy initially took on the electronic invite space, when that failed Andrew changed it’s focus to connecting us all through compelling content and events. Since Andrew almost got me sued because of an interview I did with him, I figured he owed us at least 5 questions.

Info

Name: Andrew Warner
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Blog: www.mixergy.com

Five Questions with Andrew

1. What brought you out to Los Angeles?

I came to LA after selling my previous internet company. I wanted to have fun. Till that time, my life was 100% work. I had no life–and I was proud of it. But at some point, I realized that I needed something else. So I came to LA to hang out. Every morning I’d wake up and ask myself, “what do you feel like doing today?” and then I’d go do it. No responsibilities, no obligations, no constraints. It was wonderful.

2. Hey that sounds *VERY* LA. And since then you’ve become well known for hosting literally 100s of mixers, how did this all get started?

Even though I swore never to work again because I was so burned out, I found myself wanting to be around business people. I wanted to talk business with smart people. So I started throwing parties that eventually became known as Mixergy. It was my way of meeting doers.

3. Andrew, you say that your own startup Mixergy was a failure. You’ve since changed the offering to adapt. What was the biggest take away from all this?

At the time I started throwing parties, the only invitation site I could find was evite. I said to myself, “evite is a terrible site. It doesn’t let me find out anything about who’s coming to my events. It doesn’t let me stay in touch with guests. It’s junk.” So I hired some developers to build out an invitation site. I thought it’d be easy because everything I touched in the past seemed to become a hit, but it bombed. I found myself throwing more and more money at the invitation site without any idea of how I’d earn revenue from the site. One of my big lessons is to keep costs down next time.

4. You’ve interviewed many great minds from our industry, people like Tim Ferriss and myself. Who was your favorite interviewee, and why?

There are two kinds of people who I think make good interviews.

The first is the person who has a systematized way of looking at the world. It’s easy to use what they teach. Tim Ferriss is a good example of that. He really thought through every step of making his book, “The Four Hour Workweek” into a best seller. He gave me a list of steps that anyone can follow to promote a book or any other project. It’s a very useful interview.

The second type is someone who’s open. When Mark Jeffrey told me about feeling depressed when his past company was collapsing around him, I could identify with that because I’d been there. Even listeners who never had a failure could relate to his story. So when he told me what he did to rebuild himself and create a hit business, it drives home the message that a failure doesn’t have to define you. That it can pave the way to something better.

5. What’s next for Andrew Warner?

I want to connect with as many ambitious people as I can. I want to keep interviewing them on Mixergy. I want to keep meeting them at my events. And I want to keep learning from them.

Andrew thanks for taking the time to chat with us, you can learn more over at Mixergy.com.