At the same time there has been a growing desire inside of me to get back in the game.

In fact, it was early last summer..just a few months after leaving Pepperjam that I knew that I wanted to throw my hat back in the ring as a CEO so I went on a multi-month junket talking to friends and colleagues I met over the years – I presented them with some of my ideas and asked for advise. After they gave me advise…I considered it carefully…and then moved on to the next person. For some of the people I met with….like Josh Kopelman from First Round Capital (founder of Half.com) I continued to ask more and more questions. Others like Michael Hourigan (COO at Thomas Peak Capital), Bobby Soper, (Mohegan Sun), Corey O’ Brien (Elected Official / Entrepreneur), David Siminoff (Silicon Valley Legend / the Wall Street Journal called him the smoking Gun), and several others…..I continued to leverage these amazing advisors as sounding boards over several months as I developed and refined my ideas.

When all was said and done I’m not certain which ideas were absolutely mine and which ones came from my friends and advisors….all I know is that I definitely drove the process and I’m beyond proud of the end result.

Yesterday I officially launched ReferLocal.com.

Here’s the consumer pitch….

ReferLocal is a member-only local digital advertising platform featuring exclusive deals and offers from local businesses. Unlike other local deal Web sites that focus narrowly on 50-90% off daily deals at local restaurants or spas (no worries – we offer daily deals at those locations too!), we take the concept of deals to the next level by opening up the opportunity to all types of local advertisers, including plumbers, lawyers, dentists, hair stylists, landscapers, wealth managers, casinos, arenas, sporting venues, yoga instructors, karate schools, locksmiths, colleges and universities, accountants, air conditioning technicians, florists, photographers, chiropractors, dog walkers, contractors, painters, optometrists, clowns, tutors, pet groomers, and just about any other local or professional service business looking for new customers in your neighborhood.

Here’s the advertiser pitch….

The post Announcing the Launch of ReferLocal.com – A Plug-And-Play Local Digital Advertising Platform for Traditional Media Companies appeared first on Kris Jones.

In my case 2011 turned out to be the most significant year of my professional life – To many of you this will come as a surprise as I sold my former company (Pepperjam) in 2009, which was a reasonably significant professional success and about 1 1/2 years prior to that published my first book.

Why wouldn’t the acquisition of PJ to a publicly traded company or writing a book be the coolest or “most significant” years of my life?

Clearly both were great years…and there have been many others that have been very important to my professional life.

However, past accomplishments (while significant at that time) are little more than stepping stones to future opportunities and achievements.

In fact, if you consciously and effortfully leverage past experiences and achievements….one by one by one…..you build incredible momentum that serves to position yourself for even great future accomplishments.

Think about it.

Many entrepreneurs who enjoy successful exits end up never being seen again. That’s unfortunate. It’s an opportunity lost.

Other entrepreneurs achieve a certain level of “success” and have great difficulty managing it. In some ways – I too have experienced the difficulty….at least as it relates to managing expectations of others. One of the most challenging things is

The truth is – life isn’t about any destination per say, but about the journey.

It’s about the experience.

It’s about what’s possible, not what’s already been accomplished.

As I look back on 2011 here are a few of the most significant experiences I cherish, the milestones reached (personally and professionally), and a few of the things that I accomplished professionally that make me especially enthusiastic about 2012.

January 2011

– Meet with numerous prominent venture capitalists to raise money for a new venture I’m carefully contemplating; numerous investors take interest and are very supportive
– Begin discussions with several major prospective business partners, including one that quickly asks me to stop talking with other investors….that partner (Times Shamrock Communications) ends up leading a major investment in my new start-up, which would later be called ReferLocal.com.

February 2011

– My wife Robyn gives birth to our third child (a boy!!!) – Jackson Martin Jones; that makes three under three……two boys (Kris Jr. and Jackson) and one girl (Lauren)

March 2011

– I start expanding my

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Here’s the full keynote:

The post Kris Jones E-Commerce Day (Erie, PA) Keynote 2015 appeared first on Kris Jones.

In particular, French Girls App took its business to an entirely new level with hundreds of press mentions and lots of investor (and acquisition) interest.

One of the highlights for me was sharing the stage with Singer / Actress Christina Milian on stage in Las Vegas at the Collision Conference (same founders as Web Summit) – one of the top technology conferences in the world.

At the event we were interviewed on stage by Bloomberg journalist Katie Benner (now with the New York TImes) in front of about 4,000 people and tens of thousands more watched online.

The title of the interview was “Celebrity Investing.”

Check out the 17 minute interview below:

The post Singer / Actress Christina Milian and Investor Kris Jones at Collison 2015, Las Vegas appeared first on Kris Jones.

The interview went into significant depth on a range of topics, including my personal and professional life; how I built Pepperjam into a major digital marketing company; to how I’ve used social media to build my personal and professional brand.

Most recently the team at WVIA have repurposed content from my show into much more consumable short educational clips.

Here’s a clip from Northeast Business Journal Talks on how to improve your Internet marketing through effective storytelling and personal engagement.

The post Improve Your Internet Marketing Through Storytelling and Personal Engagement appeared first on Kris Jones.

Startup Grind is the largest independent startup community, actively educating, inspiring, and connecting 215,000 founders in over 185 cities.

Startup Grind nurtures startup ecosystems in 70 countries through events, media, and partnerships with organizations like Google for Entrepreneurs.

Not only was it a thrill and honor to be interviewed by rock star entrepreneur Anthony Maher, but it just so happened to be one of the most in-depth and revealing interviews I’ve ever given in my life.

I hope you enjoy it!

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