Daniel and Mark have been business partners since 16 years old. They have built several research and development projects which were sold. Meanwhile we maintained our development shop SynapseCS.com which built ‘beta’ or ‘alpha’ web projects for companies that got funded but did not have the tech expertise. With the money we made we would always build whatever we cared about from wine to mobile. In 2007 we sold our productivity suite SynapseLife on eBay. The buyer of SynapseLife commissioned SynapseCS to build 16 websites. We thought “who the hell needs 16 websites.” As the relationship progressed we realized that this individual also had 22,000+ other domain names and was making well over $10 million a year in click revenue. Still the thinking was “why does someone have 22,000 domains.” As he began to share numbers with us, as well as let us know about the domain industry we realized that “domain parking,” was an old technology built from the dot com boom/ bust that had no new technology or innovation since Go2net. We thought “wow if someone can make $2 from 1 click, what would happen if they got 10 clicks.”

By building 16 websites in less than 3 months we noticed that several elements of a website’s structure are similar with slight modifications for color or placement i.e. header, navigation, content, media. We started building the elements of a website into modules which could then be randomized to make each site look unique. We then realized for each of the website’s modules we could “do deals,” which could fill the modules with content, media and monetization. We began testing our theory on our own domain names and sure enough…we were making money and getting more clicks! EVO Landing was born.

History of the company:
Founded Sept 2007 and launched EVOLanding.com in the 4th Quarter 2007. In the summer of 2008 we closed 40 monetization deals from networks. Fall 2008 Built the first version of what would become DevHub.com a site builder with monetization. 1st Quarter 2009 we realized domainer users are not building sites that are making themselves money. Instead they are building parked pages. We figure we need to go after a different market because we have all the BEST ways to make money we just need the users who have a PASSION. We re-tool our website builder to go after the mommy bloggers, affiliate marketer space. 4th Quarter 2009 We begin building our own sites that are making serious money. Yet, our target market is not being “guided,” through building a site that makes money. In November 2009 we raise money. In January 2010 we realize DevHub has all the ways for anyone to make money on the web but very few users are using us to make money. We decide to “gamify,” our website builder to “guide,” our users to build full-blown sites that make money. In July 2010 we launch DevHub.com as a gamified version. Think WordPress, meets Adsense, meets SimCity. Users start building and completing sites beyond our expectations. Besides a few users who are seeing great success…we notice a HUGE influx of small business websites which are being built. in October 2010 we get a lead from one of the largest North American Yellow Page companies asking to “private-label” our website builder for small businesses. In January 2011 we closed 4 more deals in the directory/ private label space world wide.

What the company’s mission and purpose is now:
To help and support small businesses throughout the world in getting their business online. DevHub leads the way for small businesses to compete and stay relevant as the internet adapts to new consumers and technologies.

Management Team:
Daniel Rust is the co-president, and CTO. Daniel created the DevHub platform architecture and continues to define EVO Media Group’s technical roadmap and structure. Daniel currently heads EVO’s team of highly-skilled engineers. Daniel has been at the edge of emerging search engine technologies and Internet design for over 8 years. His past creations include down2night, SynapseLife (acquired Q1’07), and BuyersVine (acquired Q4’06). Daniel attended Central Washington University studying Business Administration.

Mark A. Michael is co-president  and co-founder with a Bachelor of Science in Strategic Marketing Relations from Central Washington University, Mark has the ultimate responsibility of making sure the innovation that happens at EVO is communicated to the masses: timely, effectively and strategically. Mark is a business brute, having handled over 120 corporate clients over 8 years while heading operations at Synapse Corporate Solutions. He also worked with Geoff and Daniel on down2night, SynapseLife, and BuyersVine. Mark is the diesel engine behind the EVO movement.

Funding status
Funded by Seattle, NYC, LA and SF angels including but not limited to: Rob Monster, Geoff Entress, Alex Algard, Jeff Schrock, John Cunningham and Richard Wolpert.

Revenue model:
Software as a Service for our private-label offering. and DevHub.com is micro-transaction freemium model.

HQ Location, employee count:
Belltown, Seattle. Our team has 6 dedicated development and 4 support.

Key features:
- Rapid deployment of a fully private labeled website builder
- Tools to manage thousands of websites and users
- Easy drag and drop site builder
- Hosted and managed solution
- Facebook Page and Mobile Site builders
- API’s to enable automation where necessary

Cool Stats:
- Just over 10 active private labels.
- Our current deals have the ability for us to host over 1 million completed and engaged small business sites within the next 14 to 17 months.

Backend Technology used:
- Python/Django running on Rackspace cloud servers
- Site editor powered by jQuery and Backbone.js
- SDK available for partners to integrate with us

List your 3 biggest competitors:
- Google.com
- Web.com
- Webs.com

Which company are you most like:
Oracle:) but locally we would like to be more like a Marchex

Which CEO do you admire most or are you like:
Mark A. Michael (a combination of) — Jeff Schrock/ Larry Ellison/ Steve Ballmer/ Keith Smith/ Russell Horowitz/ Richard Rosenblatt

Daniel L. Rust — Marc Andreessen

Name another technology startup that you see as a rising star:
- Uber.com
- Github
- Stack Exchange