For the latest installment of our featured interviews, we introduce you to a disruptor and entrepreneur. Someone who is knowledgeable in the technology space and has managed to grow his startups into multi-million dollar companies, Mr. Richard Lau.

With his expertise in domain forensics, Richard has helped recover many high value stolen domains such as God.com, Religion.com, Wifi.com, Iraq.com and others.

We recently had the opportunity to meet the man himself to learn more about his new venture LOGO.com and understand his ambitions for the organization.

Our readers want to get an idea of ​​who you are and where you come from. Can you tell us something about your background?

My journey has been long, but I will try to summarize it here.

I started with domain names in 1996. I had focused on offering services as a registrar and DNS provider. I have founded, grown and sold several companies including MyDomain.com, Resume.com (sold to Indeed.com) and NamesCon (one of the world’s largest commercial internet domain name conferences, sold to GoDaddy).

In addition to business success, I am also the CEO of WaterSchool; a charity focused on clean water projects in Uganda.

My team and I are currently building LOGO.com, a professional logo making and branding suite for those just starting their business.

I would describe myself as a mixture of serial entrepreneur and lifestyle entrepreneur. I love starting new things and leading them to success, but I also enjoy spending time with my family.

The motivation behind founding the company and how did you come up with the idea?

Building an excellent online presence today is almost impossible without a logo. Your customers need simple visuals to remember and associate with your business. So the question was, how can we help people get online faster? So they can start building their business or sideline.

LOGO.com has a clear mission to help entrepreneurs start their businesses quickly and without breaking the bank.

When we (my team and I) were building other businesses, we had some common issues with the logo design process. The LOGO.com team took those issues and ironed them out with a logo maker that offers professional designs that work.

With a combination of:

• A strong domain name
• Personal experiences
• human designers
• AI programming
• Knowledge of the usual back and forth of the design process
• Analysis of current styles and trends
• A huge arsenal of over 200 million logos

…You get a logo maker that reduces friction and gives you a professional logo design.

We turned a 3 week logo design process into 30 minutes.

If you answer a few basic questions, you’ll have hundreds of logos to choose from. Don’t be fooled – these are not standby designs; They result from analysis and information to offer logos that are suitable for your business.

We spent an enormous amount of time making sure the logos that come out the other end are clean and professional.

Who is your target market? And how do you find your customers?

LOGO.com is perfect for anyone who has an idea and wants to get online quickly. Whether you’re a corner shop, a freelancer, someone building a personal brand, or an aspiring entrepreneur, we’ve got a logo for your idea.

The majority of our customers find us through organic search. We believe in the power of good content and we have a team that creates that content.

We also have other partnership options where we partner/co-brand with other companies in the same space to provide maximum value and convenience to the end customer.

In the face of fierce competition in today’s business environment, how would you highlight your company’s competitive advantages? What makes it stand out from the crowd?

There is a double answer to this:

One is the product side of things – We offer affordable logo designs and our own graphic design platform that gives clients all the tools and resources they need to start their business. You don’t have to go to one site to get the domain name, another for the website, and another to design marketing materials.

You get everything on one platform and it’s curated to fit your brand. A LOGO.com customer receives ready-to-use business cards, email signatures, letterheads, social media posts, a free domain name and website builder, taking into account all of their brand’s colors and fonts to present themselves as a professional brand can online.

Two is our customer service – LOGO.com is built on the foundation of customer service. Our entire team, including me, handles customer support.

Customers are the core of a company. They trust in service and it is only logical that every single employee in the company cares about it. We firmly believe that clients need a real and experienced person to talk to. So you will never get an automatic reply from us.

This not only benefits the customer, but also the business. Receiving feedback on current customer concerns allows the company to resolve the issue for future customers who face similar issues.

How do you encourage creative thinking and innovation in your organization?

We value and encourage individuality. Whether you’re a subject matter expert or not, if you think your opinion/idea can change the course of a project, we want to hear it. The team knows their thoughts and ideas are valued.

We don’t want anyone to feel like a squeaky wheel and only focus on their workload.

All our tasks and projects are visible to everyone across departments and everyone is welcome to contribute their ideas and suggestions. We hold team-wide meetings when we discuss something about core products—whether it’s an improvement or a revision. It’s about reinforcing the idea that individuality is valued. We build a team of unique, interesting people, not just hire employees.

What do you think are the core values ​​of your organization and how do you promote these values ​​in your organization?

Customer service: Satisfy our customers with a superior product and human touch.

That’s why our entire team takes care of customer support.

accountability: We are all responsible for our words, actions and results.

Each team member shares their tasks, obstacles, and progress with the larger group each week.

integrity: We work with uncompromising honesty and good faith in everything we do.

We are a team spread across borders and time zones. There are no fixed working hours or time tracking. We trust the team to do a good job and we have never been disappointed.

What is the growth strategy for the future in 2022?

Our strategy is to improve our product to ensure the best possible customer experience. With this star as our North Star, we build on what we already have. This includes the logo editor. Based on our customer feedback, we are working on a better flow, more ideas and improved features.

We are also expanding our co-branding/co-marketing partnership options with more companies in our space.

Can you name a leader or mentor who has influenced you and how it has influenced your life?

Even during my studies, I had an entrepreneurial boss. I worked for an auto insurance agency, going from dealership to dealership insuring vehicles and dealing with tough people – mostly the dealership sales managers.

There were daily and weekly issues that came with certain situations or paperwork, and whenever I went to my boss, he said, “Take care of it.” At first it felt like he wasn’t helpful but when he explained that while he could just give me the answer it would help me in the long run to find out for myself.

If I had spent time trying to figure it out myself and then asked everyone else in the company and still got no response, I could have come to him. But just being lazy and asking him for the answer didn’t help him or me.

“Get it handle” is something every entrepreneur appreciates. If there is no one to turn to, rely on you to find out for yourself.

What excites you most about your job?

I love a little bit of everything – our team, our work, planning, communication, challenges, achievements, flexibility, autonomy and most importantly, building something of value and creating exceptional experiences.

What are your hidden sources of inspiration? How do you generate new ideas? (best on video)

I’m not sure I would name these “hidden” sources. For me, the best way to generate new ideas is to implement a lot. You don’t know if an idea has legs until you go out and execute it.

Run fast and fail. Don’t chase perfectionism. Allow something to be imperfect. Then start taking action, even if that means moving forward with the idea that hasn’t been refined yet. The more you do, the more you will learn, and that will help you come up with better ideas.

What is the biggest challenge for leaders today? (best on video)

One of the biggest challenges facing business leaders today is determining what “business as usual” means to them. Over the years you may have learned a lot through trial, error and attrition, but are the lessons learned from that bygone era relevant today?

For example, leadership used to be about providing your team with the tools and resources to capture maximum market share. Today, however, it is about investing in people’s behavior to achieve long-term sustainable results. Leaders need to find ways to build habits, processes and a culture where people can thrive. Keep your employees happy and they’ll take care of your customers.

Innovation requires change and adaptability. Become familiar with the ever-changing trends and ever-evolving definition of business as usual.

How would you rank the 3 crucial skills required to be a successful entrepreneur? (best on video)

willingness to learn – Know what you don’t know. There’s always a lesson to learn. Ask questions, listen, and see what others are doing. Always look for new knowledge.

patience – Results take time. Keep calm and persevere. 🙂

network – Your network is your strongest resource. If you’re an introvert, build the ability to talk to people and show yourself. Reach out and offer help without asking for anything in return. You will be surprised by the rewards.

What do you do to ensure you grow and develop as a leader?

I feed my advice. 🙂