What I learned from GIPHY founder Alex Chung

I had the coolest opportunity to host a fireside chat with GIPHY founder Alex Chung. What a humble, intelligent, creative, honest person! He had no issue with talking about how to start a start-up, venture capitalists, angels and all the stuff that makes my head spin about business.

Alex is from the Seattle area and has been behind a number of start-ups... it's the nature of the industry.

His company is basically a Google for GIFs. (Make sure you say it with a hard G -- we're not talking peanut butter here.) His company is worth at least $600 million... but to him, it's just on paper. He joked that he still lives in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City.

Don Sheu & Alex Chung

The event was hosted by the Korean American Coalition, Twitter Devs of Seattle, PuPPy, and TUNE. What incredible groups of people!

These are the kind of events I live for - don't get me wrong, I love helping organizations and causes but helping facilitate real, genuine conversations is what building community is all about. Plus I don't get a ton of anxiety trying to be funny.

Alex talked very openly and honestly about what it takes to start a start-up. He is so successful and brilliant but he was able to give us a few takeaways that even the dullest bulbs can understand. I say that because when you're surrounded by a bunch of techies you tend to feel a little inadequate with a journalism degree.

Alex is not afraid of failure. Once you listen to Alex, you may start wondering if you've been playing it too safe. I mean, here's a guy who's had a number of start-ups with the understanding and acceptance that many will fail. Does it stop him? Nope. 

Alex believes work should be fun. Alex will tell you that building a start-up is much like creating a band. You should surround yourself with people you like, people you want to go on a road trip with, people you like to have fun with. I know most of us can't always pick who we work with but I am going to try to go a roadtrip mode.

Alex says money isn't really all that it's cracked up to be. I mean, that's what I took from it. If your company is worth $600 million or $600, what does that change? The valuation of a company is what it's worth on paper. That being said, Alex is doing aiiight but the company so far hasn't really generated revenue. Don't worry, it's coming. I mean, Alex thought what I did for a living was cool... and the whole time I was thinking, "man, I wish I could be in charge of a multi-million dollar GIF company."

Special thanks to Matthew Benuska for the pics!  

BTW, there's a tech talk November 30 at TUNE on Cassandra for Analytics!