Envato runs some of the world’s largest and most popular web design and development related websites. These include market place networks (with the likes of themeforest.com) and educational blog networks through www.tutsplus.com. Other websites within the Envato family include freelance blog www.freelanceswitch.com and web design inspiration gallery www.creattica.com.

We recently caught up with co-founder and owner Collis Ta’eed, to talk about how Envato has developed over the years, how the team maintain productivity across multiple global office locations, how they developed passionate brand fans and their plans for the future.

Envato has grown a tremendous amount over the past 5 years, how did it all get started and what were your aims for the business in the beginning?

One of the early motivations for starting Envato was actually wanting to get away from freelancing work. My cofounders Cyan, Jun and I had been freelancing for a few years prior and while it had its moments, it was also hard work. Cyan wanted to go travelling and the idea of trying to run a freelance business while trekking about different countries seemed daunting. So we deliberated and decided to start a business with no clients that we could work on from anywhere at all!

It was a good year and a half before we finally were able to close up shop on the freelancing thanks to a small but liveable income from Envato. And by the time we actually managed to sell everything to begin our travels things were moving so quickly with Envato that we ended up working atrociously hard during that year abroad. It was very fun seeing the world and running an awesome internet business, though probably just as exhausting as if we’d kept freelancing instead!

Since we returned from overseas, work has continued at breakneck speed and today Envato looks very different to our early ideas and plans which now seem very small! But sometimes it’s good to start small and then roll with the punches and see where things take you.

 

At what stage did you realise the company was becoming more than a small team could handle, and did you have any doubts about taking that giant leap to take on staff?

We were lucky that from day one there was one job that none of the founders could do, so we were forced to hire the first member of the team right from the beginning. That was our first developer, Ryan. He worked initially as a freelancer with us, but later become an employee after the planned short freelancing gig just hadn’t stopped for a year!

Having four cofounders and an extra developer meant that the leap to hiring a sixth person wasn’t as daunting as it might otherwise have been. I think having a few people on the team naturally forces you out of the mindset that you have to do everything yourself.

Additionally the financial scariness of hiring someone is much reduced if you have managed to build a business that can support a few people already. This is the great benefit of cofounders! To a certain extent you get staff who can be paid a pittance at first because, like you, they are invested in the business itself rather than just a pay check.

Of course there are a variety of drawbacks to cofounders, but to my mind having four of us was the best decision we ever made.

 

You have developed a collection of brands with some extremely positive branding and passionate fans, what advice would you give to other website owners trying to achieve this?

I think people connect with brands when they provide value and feel authentic. I think it’s really important to have both sides of the coin. So a brand that delivers products that make your life better in some way, and that you feel is genuine, is something you are going to identify and connect with.

I think most businesses understand that they need to provide value. I think the way to get people to be passionate about the brands is to marry this with a real genuine communication style and desire to help your users and customers succeed.

 

What is your approach to launching new websites, does the idea come first or do you spot a gap and then look to fill it?

It’s a real mix. Sometimes our community suggests ideas. Sometimes one of us will have a neat idea that we’d like to try out. And oftentimes there is a clear niche that needs filling, so we jump in!

 

Your teams are spread out around the world, what are your tips for maintaining productivity and efficiency when working like this.

It can be quite challenging working remotely from one another. I think the main drawback is really around the level of communication. When you are in the same office there is a lot of quick discussion and communication that happens that is difficult to replicate with remote staff. In my experience though there are a few things that can make it work.

One of the big ones is making sure that remote workers are relatively independent. So for instance we have many of our blog editors working remotely and this works great as they run the blogs fairly independently. So they are responsible for their own content roster and dealing with writers and they have all the tools they need to publish and run the blogs themselves. This means that communication is there to support their work, rather than to enable it.

Another one is having regular meeting schedules over Skype and sending a lot of email. This basically replaces the sort of in-office discussions and makes sure that everyone is aligned and understands what others are working on.

Finally I think it’s important with remote staff to have complete focus on results. Ultimately who knows how or when the other person is working. It’s much more important to know whether they are having the desired result and getting the job done. How exactly that happens isn’t that important at the end of the day, just the end result!

 

What is your average day like and how has this developed since you launched in 2006?

My average day is mostly made up of meetings these days with Mondays being mostly meeting free so I can try to make progress with my ever increasing email inbox. It’s really changed a lot since 2006! Back then I used to design a lot, write for our blogs, chat on the forums and do a lot of odd jobs like support, reviewing, web development and whatever else needed to be done.

I sometimes miss being able to focus on things like design, but ultimately I have to do what the company needs, and these days it needs me to focus on communication and strategy, so that’s what I do!

 

You recently sold a couple of your websites on flippa.com. Why did you choose to sell them this way, and what were your experiences of the process?

Oh yes we sold off two sites: WorkAwesome.com and Snipplr.com. We decided to sell the pair as we’ve been working on streamlining down our list of products to be more manageable and focused. Flippa seemed like the right path as both sites were relatively small and the audience on Flippa is a good match. Sure enough, both sites went off without a hitch and provided a small return and a good home.

 

How do you see your business developing in the next 5 years?

Over the last five years we’ve gone from DIY startup to small company. In the next five I’d like to see us keep that small company feel but continue evolving our operations to be able to do much more. I’d like to see us helping people sell more types of things more effectively, to help people learn more types of things and teach more types of things. And ultimately I’d like more people to get value from Envato products and services. At the end of the day Envato exists to provide and deliver value to our community, so our aim is always to do that on a bigger, better and more awesome scale than before!

 

Other than your own, do you have any web design related websites you read regularly you would like to share?

I have to admit I’m completely addicted to TechCrunch as my go-to place for online reading. I love hearing about what is happening in the tech world. I also stop in at SmashingMagazine when I’m after a long web design read as they have some really great in-depth articles there! Thanks so much for the interview!