Join me behind-the-scenes of the original design competition company 99Designs with Australian CEO, Patrick Llewellyn. As of October 2014, 99designs has hosted more than 340,000 graphic design contests and paid out more than $85 million to its community of 905,000 designers around the world … and it all started in a little office in the inner-Melbourne working-class suburb of Collingwood.

You’ll be amazed at where the idea came from. It’s inspirational stuff.

In 2010 Patrick moved to San Francisco to open a U.S. office and oversee U.S. and international expansion. Shortly after being appointed CEO in January 2011, Llewellyn guided 99designs to a $35 million first-round capital investment led by Accel Partners (Facebook, Dropbox, Etsy). He has since launched 99designs’ European headquarters in Berlin as well as localised-language sites across Europe and Latin America, and has grown the company from a handful of staff to 106 in San Francisco, Melbourne, Berlin, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

Over at 99Designs.com, small business owners can launch design competitions for all kinds of business touch points – from logos to book covers, online advertising to shop signage. Starting from just $99, you can reach out to designers from all over the world and then pick your favourite entry – it’s as easy as that!

And grab your free Power Pack upgrade worth $99 just for being a listener of this show.

In this interview, I get to the bottom of this incredible success story.

PLUS, I answer a listener question about the best ways of accessing podcasts, and I deliver a short but sweet Inspirational Quote of The Week.

It’s time to hit PLAY on Australia’s #1 marketing show!

Episode Timeline

• 5. 00 Did you know that 60% of online access is now via smartphones? Make sure that your website is mobile friendly with help from Netregistry.
  
• 6.45 A shout out to American Airlines for being responsive on Twitter and looking after my son and his mates.
• 8.30 Get your free power pack upgrade with 99Designs and launch a contest for some awesome design work today!
• 9.00 What are the best ways to access your favourite podcasts?
• 11.15 I’m hosting a free webinar for my forum members in December – all about “speaking from stage”.
  Join the Small Business Big Marketing Forum today and be part of it!
• 13.30 Introducing this week’s guest, Patrick Llewellyn, CEO of 99Designs. What is life really like in Silicon Valley?
• 17.00 Should you head over to Silicon Valley, or is your business more suited to home ground?
• 19.00 Patrick talks raising $35 million of capital for 99Designs.
• 21.00  The beginnings of 99Designs. How the company started and how it has evolved.
• 27.00 The advantages of using a contest platform to create design assets.
• 30.00 How does Patrick respond to the idea that 99Designs takes work from graphic designers?
• 36.15 How does 99Designs acquire new customers today?
• 49.00 Why Patrick admires MailChimp – what are they getting right?
• 53.00 What are Patrick’s favourite apps and gadgets?
• 54.30 My top 3 learnings from chatting with Patrick
• 56.00 Inspirational quote of the week!

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode

• Netregistry: Get your online marketing sorted!
• www.99Designs.com/sbbm: For logo design, brochure design, and more. Grab your exclusive listener upgrade at this link.
• Join the The Small Business Big Marketing Forum today!
• Crank My Marketing

Tweetables

My Top 3 Learnings

This week’s top three learnings from my chat with Patrick:

1. Look for things in your business that get traction and create offers around them.

2. Put an emphasis on design. How is your logo, website, and signage looking, and how can you improve it?

3. Don’t be taunted by anything or anyone. You are capable!

Over to you!

Let me know YOUR #1 takeaway from this episode by leaving a comment below.
My guest and myself personally read and respond to every comment.