Wharton grad talks on startup company

Wharton graduate Joshua Kopelman wanted to put Half.com -- a dot-com startup company that he founded -- on the map.

So, he went out and named a town after it.

Kopelman, who graduated in 1993, addressed a gathering of about 35 students and faculty in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall on Wednesday as part of the Young Leader lecture series organized by the Wharton School.

The recipient of the 2000 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, Kopelman spoke about entrepreneurship in general, founding Half.com and what it takes to create a successful startup company.

Half.com allows sellers to place new or used items for sale on the web site at discounted prices. If the item is bought, Half.com gets a commission on the sale.

"The idea for Half.com was really simple," Kopelman said. "We thought, 'Who really reads a John Grisham or Stephen King novel more than once?' Instead of letting the novels stack up in their garages, people could now sell it online and find customers instantly."

Kopelman then spoke about the importance of originality, stressing the need to find a unique solution to an urgent and pervasive problem in order for a concept to succeed.

"If the problem is pervasive, then your solution will have a ready market," he said. "And if the problem needs an urgent solution, then you will have a ready demand for your solution."

Kopelman described the work ethic of people involved with startup companies, stating that most employees worked over 110 hours a week, earned significantly less than what they did at their previous jobs and were still passionate about their work. He also spoke about the importance of creativity in the development of such a venture.

Kopelman started Half.com after leaving Infonautics, an online database for reference materials which he worked for while a student at Penn.

Kopelman's company generated national buzz when it paid to rename the town of Halfway, Ore., a town with a population of 345, to Half.com, Ore. This move spurred a rash of media coverage that would otherwise have taken millions of dollars to replicate.

Other marketing stunts included signing up the only two manufacturers of fortune cookies in the country to print Half.com coupons on the back of 1.5 million fortunes every day for two years.

"In fact, we're currently in the process of negotiations to change the name of Haley's comet to Half.com-et," he joked. "It's ideas like these that generate the necessary publicity."

Kopelman encouraged the students in attendance who wish to create their own startups to begin forming a strong support network.

"Surround yourself with people who have complementary skills," he said. "Look for advisors and mentors and learn something from everyone you hire."

Half.com was purchased by online auctions giant eBay for $374 million in mid-2000. Today, it boasts of a product database of over 120 million items.

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