At 3:30 this afternoon, MassDevice.com will celebrate one year of being live on the Internet. It’s a humbling milestone, a cause for some celebration and a moment to reflect on how we got here.
MassDevice.com wasn’t really born on March 30, 2009. That happened back in the late fall of 2007, when Brian Johnson convinced his good friend, former colleague and classmate Brad Perriello, to look over a business idea he had churning around in his head.
Since then, we’ve been going full-tilt to develop our vision, attract investors, launch the site and then run the business. At times, it’s been a struggle that tested the limits of our faith, our friendship and our business acumen.
But it’s has also reassured us of our abilities as people, reporters, publishers and businessmen. In many ways, MassDevice has been more successful than we ever could have hoped. But it’s also been harder than we ever imagined, during those halcyon days when money was cheap, the Dow flirted with 14,000 and a global economic meltdown was the sole purview of panicky economists.
The recession may have changed our plans (for one thing, we never raised that juicy A round), but it also didn’t stop us from acting on our belief that if you put out a quality, objective, independent news source, it will attract the right audience.
And it has. Just as we had hoped, and more than we could have imagined, you’ve come to this site day in and day out. Exactly a year ago, we logged 54 visits on our first day. Yesterday we topped 3,000 visits, a decent day but far from our best. That more than 5,400 percent growth rate is all due to our wonderful, loyal readers. Thanks for choosing MassDevice.com.
We’d also like to thank our generous sponsors, who bet on our ability to generate content they were proud to put their names behind. Thanks also to our board of directors, who foot the bill and provide the support, encouragement and advice that keeps us on track and viable.
And a special thank-you to the people who helped us build this company from the ground up: Our interns, freelance writers, web-heads and, especially, our families. Without all of you none of this would be possible.
The following people stand out for special mention: Michael Knapp, who designed the site; Regina Lynch, our indispensable newsletter advisor; and Michelle Hopey, our “SEO queen.” Without these folks we never would have gotten off the ground. Thanks also to Dave Price, the muckraker locked away in a basement in Queens; to our first and fabulously loyal interns, Pietro Fabiani and Hyojin Kwon; to Annie Birde and Mary Ann Cooke, the sales reps who’ve done an amazing amount of work turning this site into a revenue-generating company.
But enough of our sentimental schmaltz. It’s time to get back to work. There’s news to put out.
Warmest regards,
| Brian Johnson | Brad Perriello | |
| Co-founder | Co-founder |
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