Welcome back to Demo, Blurb!

The final session of Demo2009's last morning is a panel, moderated by Chris Shipley, with the theme "Leading Capital Efficient Companies". It features four CEOs from previous Demo-launching companies, one of whom is Eileen Gittens of Blurb.

Following their appearance three years ago (Demo2006), Blurb is now up to $30 million in revenues, and reporting many good things are happening, including being profitable! The company has a special place in the heart of this blogger, as their launch and the excitement surrounding it -- including gaining "DemoGod" status -- made for great material in one of my first columns for The Hard Copy Observer, as well as one of the first posts to this blog. (see "A Tale of Two Conferences: Lyra Symposium and Demo 2006".)

Gittins talked about the devlopment of their global print network, that I convered in that column. Advantages include never actually touching the product (book), thus no inventory, no cost of goods, etc., just as they spelled out for me in preparing that early column. Success has depended on dedication to a few key concepts like quality, metrics, and hiring of a few, but very senior people.

BTW Gittins was joined on the panel by Joel Bomgar, Founder & CEO, Bomgar Corporation; Paul Pluschkell, Founder & CEO, Spigit; and Dr. Wade W. Ren, Chairman, Founder & CEO, Diigo.

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