Young Entrepreneur Interview: Neil Patel on Overcoming Challenges

Exclusive interview with Neil Patel, expert blogger and founder of CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics.

Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. He started his own online marketing company in his early 20's and has worked on projects with large corporations like Amazon, AOL and HP, as well as many small start-ups. Neil was named a top influencer on the web by the Wall Street Journal and has contributed articles for Mashable and TechCrunch.

How did you get your start as an Entrepreneur and what drew you to Entrepreneurship?

I got started as an entrepreneur when I started to sell products to my fellow classmates while I was in high school. I would find these products on eBay and resell them to people.

I was drawn to entrepreneurship because I didn't want to work for someone else.

How has support from your family and friends been throughout your journey?

They have supported my throughout my journey. Whether things were bad or good, I have always been able to count on friends and family supporting me.

My parents gave me advice throughout my career. Whether it was telling me that people were screwing me over or that I need to do something differently with my business endeavors... they constantly guided me. In addition to that I have also had some rough patches when I first started out and I needed cash, my parents helped me out and never asked for the money back.

What's been your method for gathering funding and team members for your start-ups?

I typically gather funding from tapping my network. The best place to get funding is from people that you already know.

As for team members, we get them for a variety of places. Sometimes they apply for a job on our site or we find them on the social web and every once in a while friends refer us potential team members.

How have you gotten clients, customers and VC's to respect you as a young entrepreneur?

I've gotten people to respect me by just helping people out. From giving VCs free advice to giving my customers advice that was best for their business even if it wasn't the best for them. I always put other people first, and over time it has helped me gain respect.

I have [gotten respect], but respect is something I don't really shoot for. All I care about is helping other people and making sure my business is really helping people out.

What's been your favorite entrepreneurial venture/project so far?

KISSmetrics. It's my current startup and we are helping people delight their customers with our analytics product. Other than that I really enjoy blogging at Quick Sprout during my spare time.

How do you balance working on multiple projects at the same time?

I just work on 1 project at a time, KISSmetrics being my current one. There isn't enough time in the day to do multiple projects.

How do you motivate yourself/what motivates you to give it your all every day?

I enjoy what I am doing, that's how I stay motivated. I really love entrepreneurship and I love creating software companies.

In addition to that I love learning from other entrepreneurs. When I see people like Elon Musk changing the world as an entrepreneur, it motivates me to keep pushing forward and create a company that solves a big problem.

What aspects of entrepreneurship do you like/dislike the most?

I dislike how it is like a roller coaster. There are tons of ups and downs. One minute you can be on top of the world and the next minute you could be filing for bankruptcy. But that's the price we all pay for being an entrepreneur.

Where do you see your future for the next 5 or 10 years?

I see myself working on the non-profit field. One of the reasons I am an entrepreneur is to make money so I can use it to help change the world. Hopefully I can make enough so I can really impact the world.

What advice would you give college students and other young entrepreneurs starting their journey?

Keep on pushing forward. You will fail and hit roadblocks, but just learn from those mistakes and try to avoid them again. Just don't give up!

Puneet Lakhi is the co-founder of http://www.EntreRev.com, a premier news and social networking site for young entrepreneurs. He is a seasoned digital marketing expert, having worked in marketing consulting and at online marketing agencies on projects for ESPN, Fidelity, Nokia, Reebok, American Express and more. At EntreRev.com, Puneet is in charge of site development, online marketing and building quality content.