A Chat with Pixsy’s CEO Chase Norlin
This week, AltSearchEngines (ASE) welcomes the CEO of Pixsy, Chase Norlin. Norlin has spent the past fourteen years in the emerging technologies and online media space. Prior to Pixsy, Norlin served as Senior Business Development Executive at ValueClick, where he managed publisher distribution and emerging technologies for the ValueClick display ad network, paid search, and comparison shopping divisions.
Prior to ValueClick, Norlin was Senior Business Development Consultant to InfoSpace, charged with publisher distribution and emerging applications for the paid search division. Norlin also developed Sony’s first online photo sharing venture and founded the web’s first video sharing company. He has also served as an EIR at Boeing Ventures in launching Boeing’s online photo and video licensing division.
Norlin received his BA from UC Berkeley and MA from The University of Chicago and is a regular speaker on digital media, online advertising, and search.
ASE: What is Pixsy’s special niche and how was it uncovered?
Chase Norlin: Pixsy is the leading provider of private label video, image, and news search to websites, application developers, and devices. Our unique focus is our flexible and scaleable partner platform that enables anyone to create rich multimedia experiences off of our technology. These rich multimedia experiences create new engagement, traffic, and monetization for our partners.
ASE: How did you become involved?
Chase Norlin: I co-founded the company along with my partner, Rich Lerz, as a result of unique experiences in the online video space and at ad networks like ValueClick and Infospace. As a pure B2B distribution company, we focus entirely on servicing our partners who utilize our technology. Having been in the business now for many years, with extensive customer testing, we’ve developed unique features and products that inherently appeal to site and application owners.
ASE: Describe a typical day in your life as CEO of a startup.
Chase Norlin: The CEO of a startup requires way too much for me to describe here in a few sentences. Bottom line: you need to constantly be creating value and prioritizing the optimal ways to achieve that. In addition to core business activities, you have a billion distractions, hundreds of daily emails, speaking and travel engagements, competitors firing away at you, etc. This is a war and you need great troops and ammunition to defeat your enemy.
ASE: How is searching with Pixsy different than using other search engines. What might one find that would please and surprise?
Chase Norlin: We are entirely different in the way that our product solves our customers’ problems. I really can’t go into more detail here as that’s our secret sauce. This is why major brands like Lycos, Travelocity, Fox, and hundreds of others utilize our technology.
ASE: Please give us some cool sample searches.
Chase Norlin: I’d rather show you some great customer implementations. Here’s a great News Search implementation that Lycos has built off our technology - http://news.lycos.com/?itemid=78243965&ctid=1&catid=5.
ASE: Do you partner with any other alternative search engines?
Chase Norlin: We power search for many of them.
ASE: How much marketing do you do/what’s your target demographic?
Chase Norlin: Pixsy has spent zero dollars on marketing, which attests to the strength of our business model and technology. Additionally, our platform enables almost any website, application, or device to customize a media experience that is uniquely targeted to their audience.
ASE: On the personal side… Please tell us about yourself.
Chase Norlin: I’m originally from New York but since 7th grade have been a West Coaster. Grew up in Aptos, California and went to Berkeley undergrad and The University of Chicago for grad school. I have an incredible wife who is a successful artist and blogger, and a miniature Boston Terrier that’s been on “Planet’s Funniest Animals.”
ASE: Who inspires you in the business sector? Personally? Why?
Chase Norlin: Great question. Honestly, not particularly inspired by business leaders, I’m more inspired by innovators and creators. Creating something from scratch and getting it off the ground is the hardest and more rewarding accomplishment one can engage in I believe.
ASE: When I’m not working I’m ________ (please fill in the blank).
Chase Norlin: When I’m not working I’m shopping for clothes that have skulls or military emblems on them, as it’s important to wear garments that strike fear in your adversaries.
ASE: If you weren’t the CEO of Pixy, what would you be doing today?
Chase Norlin: Founder/CEO of a new venture that will revolutionize the pizza industry.
ASE: Where do you think search will be in one year?
Chase Norlin: Search will ultimately become a push and personalized medium, where customized data and media will be delivered to users based on preferences. The days of “Pointcast” are coming back (e.g. look at services like myYahoo and Pageflakes and Netvibes). Expect that to get even bigger. Ultimately, the Internet is about utility, getting what you want quickly and with minimal effort.
ASE: Thanks for joining us, Chase. Best of luck to you and Pixsy!
AltSearchEngines is looking for a sponsor for this feature. Your company’s logo, tag line, and link would appear here after every profile. Please email: Charles@ReadWriteWeb.com for more information.
