Adam: What is your name and what do you do (Professionally)
Ben Anderson. My official job title is Director of Data Services for CampusTelevideo. My primary duties are in leading the data division for CampusTelevideo. In addition, I travel to colleges and universities and asses the school's need for data services (wireless in the residence halls, faster internet connections, better infrastructure, etc)
Adam: How many hours a day do you spend online?
Nearly everything I do for my job is online. I'm usually online the majority of the work day (8 hours) plus 2-3 hours online personally. At most I would say 10-11 hours per day.Adam: How do you use the internet differently between work and personal?
The majority of my work time is spent on company related sites or programs. Most of what I'm accessing for work is hardware located at customer sites or our company's CRM and Sharepoint. I would say most of my leisure browsing would be related to reading blogs, the newspaper or researching topics or products I'm interested in buying.
Adam: Does your online life ever disrupt your real life?
I think sometimes, yes. With easy access to just about anything you want to know or do, the internet can sometimes be a substitute for personal interaction. Whenever I feel the line between internet and personal interaction fade, I make a point of doing something with friends (in person).
Adam: When did you decide to start your own company? What prompted you to do it?
The start of my company was a stroke of luck. I was interested in entrepreneurship in college and happened to find friends who were interested in the same thing. In a class in college in 2001, we were asked to come up with a business idea that we thought would disrupt the way something is done. For us, the idea surrounded wireless internet (WiFi). A lot of our professors really encouraged us to pursue the idea further and before we knew it, we'd started our own business.
Adam: How would you describe Xwires?
Xwires is focused on providing managed internet solutions to colleges, universities and off-campus student housing across the US. In Lehman's terms, we're providing advice and outsourced data engineering resources for colleges, namely in their residence halls, to assist with faster internet and wireless internet installations. In 2010, Xwires was purchased by CampusTelevideo, a Connecticut company focused on providing television services to colleges. Xwires became a complimentary brand to CampusTelevideo. CampusTelevideo has a well-established presence among colleges, providing television service to over 230 colleges across the U.S.
Adam: How does Xwires as a reality differ from your initial vision of it? Were you able to create just what you wanted, or has it evolved into something different?
The Xwires we originally started is much different than the Xwires of today. When we first started the company in 2002, we recognized that there were a lot of people in the Iowa City area that didn't have access to high speed internet. We started deploying a technology called fixed wireless (like WiFi on steroids) to serve areas 5 to 10 miles outside of Iowa City and people loved it! Unfortunately, the frequency we used to distribute the service operated in an unlicensed band, which means that anyone can broadcast signals within that range. We started running into problems as wireless within peoples homes became more prevalent and interfered with the service we were offering. We started to get worried when the interference got to the point where our customers were suffering and there was nothing we could do about it. That event spurred us to think harder about how we can serve our customers, while also avoiding the interference issue that was plaguing us. We were given an idea to provide internet services to the sorority and fraternity houses on the University of Iowa campus. Our traditional offering was one set of equipment to one customer. Again, with the interference problem, that wasn't a good long term solution. Instead, the sororities provides us the ability to serve between 30 and 50 people with one set of equipment. It just made more sense technically and financially. Once some of the regional colleges heard about what we were doing, they wanted the service as well, and things just snowballed.
Adam: What advice do you have for those that want to start their own companies?
My advice for anyone considering pursuing entrepreneurship would be not to do it unless you're comfortable with taking risk experiencing failure. I'm not talking about risk for risk's sake, I'm talking about calculated risk. Whether your a small company where you're the sole investor or a large company with millions of dollars in venture capital, you're going to be subject to risk. It's how you manage that risk that often times will determine whether your a success or failure. You cannot be afraid to fail, because in one form or another, you will experience small failures all the time. The way you react to that failure is what will set the good entrepreneurs apart from the bad ones.
Adam: What is the weirdest/worst thing that you that has happened to you because of your internet use?
I don't know if I would say this is weird, but the internet provides you access to a lot of things that wouldn't have been easily accessible 20 years ago. A lot of people aren't careful in protecting their 'internet selves'. Criminal records, employees looking for different jobs or people who just aren't what you thought they were. Without recognizing it, a lot of people put themselves out on the internet without thinking about the potential fall-out.
Adam: What is the best thing that you’ve ever gotten from your internet use?
The best thing would have to be the career and knowledge I've gained, all because of the internet!
No comments:
Post a Comment