Cheezburger Founder Ben Huh and the Importance of Making Smaller Bets
The founder and CEO of Cheezburger talks to Entrepreneur.com about rebounding and lessons learned.
By Andrea Huspeni •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
For an entrepreneur to have a chance at success, numerous changes, mistakes and failure must occur to grow the business. While a necessity, these measures can take an emotional toll on a founder. Ben Huh is no different.
As the founder and CEO of Cheezburger, a social humor and meme network, Huh has had to make numerous decisions throughout his career to keep his startup moving along and on the correct path. A recent one was back in 2013 when Huh made forced to make the choice to cut more than a third of his staff to deal with the changing landscape of how media is viewed and digested.
Related: LOLCats, FAIL and Dog Advice: What Does It All 'Meme'?
"Eliminating these positions was a difficult decision," said Huh at the time. "For Cheezburger to fulfill its promise, we need to be nimble and innovate on one platform optimized for any device, everywhere. Bringing our team in-house and streamlining operations will help us realize that vision."
While this was an essential step, it wasn't easy.
"It was the most difficult week I've ever experienced," Huh told Inc. "Often, when faced with a problem, you want to run in the other direction. It's like seeing a lion in the jungle. But I have to do what is best for the company, even if it sucks emotionally."
While challenging, Huh learned from mistakes and adapted to a new strategy.
Related: Failure Is Part of the Game. Getting Back Up Is the Magic Sauce. (Motiongraphic)
Check out the video to learn how Huh plans to move Cheezbuger forward.
