Alex Tew, Million Dollar Entrepreneur - the ITWales Interview

by Sali Earls

21-year-old Alex Tew had an entrepreneurial idea in August 2005 to make some money to see him through university. Media interest in MillionDollarHomepage.com intensified from the launch of the site in September, and no-one was more surprised than Alex when he hit his $1 million target in just four and a half months.

Sali Earls spoke to the brightest new star of internet entrepreneurship to find out about his motivations, his take on his instant worldwide fame and plans for the future.

Congratulations on your success. When you came up with the idea for MillionDollarHomepage.com, did you ever really think that you would make $1m at all, let alone in four and a half months?

I knew the idea had potential, but my initial thought was that even if I made a percentage of $1 million, that would be a significant amount of money to set me up for university.

Once it started going, it was always touch and go. There were times I just wanted it to stop, or slow down but it kept going. In December I was just a couple of thousand dollars away and it finally dawned on me that I was actually going to make $1 million.

It's all been a little bit surreal.

You have said that you came up with the idea to fund your time at university. Because of what's happened your studies are now on hold. Did you have any business or marketing experience before developing your site?

I've done several projects in the past that haven't been terribly successful financially - I organised some events to do with music for example. I've always been enterprising and interested in business, and I think that really did help with this project.

MillionDollarHomepage is the culmination of all the things I have learned over the years, since the early days. It's an idea that anyone could have had, but I don't want to give the impression that it was a one off kind of thing - I've had lots of ideas in the past and it was just a question of keep going until I found one that works.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of copycat sites, which cannot possibly succeed, so what advice would you have for other would be internet entrepreneur?

I think the internet has become a rather crowded place - there is so much competition for so many different things - it really is down to people thinking of something unique that really stands out. I guess my site is an example of something that stands out in a quirky kind of way.

People should try and be unique - be creative and have faith in their ideas and the ideas process. Those who have just done something as a copycat and done exactly what I have done, have kind of all missed the point, and that's sad really. They don't see that the reason my site was successful was down to the novelty factor, and if they could enhance that novelty factor for their own businesses or their own ideas then I think that's the first step to capturing attention.

Innovation is the key - I quite like some of those similar sites that have developed the idea and put a twist on it, but it's the kind of thing that can only really work once so they need to innovate and come up with their own unique idea.

Recently your site was hit with a denial of service attack following an extortion attempt - were you surprised to be attacked in this way?

I wasn't surprised because I was aware that these things exist having read the news over the years and having seen some big sites that were attacked.

I knew it was a possibility; I was just kind of hoping that it wouldn't happen! It didn't come as a surprise, just a really annoying and stressful thing.

I was hoping the project would end smoothly and to have all that happen was not the best ending. It's all sorted now and the learning experience is just part of the whole crazy adventure that I've had.

It's a valuable lesson in terms of IT security, and businesses that don't have security in place need to wake up to the fact that their websites could become targets.

Have you employed any particular security measures to stop this happening again?

I worked with my hosting provider in the US, who put in place some technology which will prevent these attacks from happening, and we managed to do a deal with a provider for that technology which is normally very expensive.

One of the problems is that in order to have had protection in place prior to the attack would have cost a huge amount of money, and that's why generally at the moment, only the really big firms, like the online banks, and the online gambling businesses take advantage of the full breadth of technology.

Now it's the smaller companies that are left open to being vulnerable.

From this experience, what advice would you give others to safeguard their sites?

I would encourage everyone to look at the security of their sites and their business in general, as unfortunately there are some nasty characters out there that will try and get money out of you no matter what, and there will always be people trying to take advantage.

People need to put things into perspective and have value for money with their security measures, and should question whether the security measure is more expensive than the potential impact of a breach to the business.

But the message is simple - hi-tech crime is only going to increase as more companies become reliant on technology.

You've mentioned in other interviews that your expenditure so far has included a car, some smart clothes and of course the all important socks, but what kind of plans do you have for future business investments?

Well that would be telling!

I'm working on a few ideas that I've had for a while which I've never had the money to pursue. I can't go into specifics at the moment as that would ruin the surprise!

I'm not a one trick pony and I hope to follow this up with a more traditional sustainable business model.

If you search for Alex Tew on Google you get 367,000 results. How does it feel to have gone from obscurity to worldwide recognition in just a few months?

That's bizarre isn't it!

The internet is crazy and I forget that there are people at the other end of those webpages and those searches. The whole experience has been played out behind a computer - I've done lots of interviews and TV stuff, but the majority of the experience has just been me at my computer in my room sending emails, taking orders, and making money, but to think that there are lots of people out there who actually know what I've done is quite a daunting thought.

I'm no longer anonymous in a small way - obviously I'm not a movie star, and nor would I want to be - I'd like to be anonymous and rich!

I need to leverage this profile in a positive way to move forward.

Obviously this has had an impact on your family and friends?

My family have been very supportive and I now employ my brother Nick full time - he's helping to manage everything, and tying up loose ends. My mum is now my part time PA, so she gets to organise my life - more so than normal - and it's all been really nice.

My friends have been really cool about it - you know who your true mates are when something like this happens - and I've made some new friends through it as well. I've met a lot of interesting and like minded people and entrepreneurs at some interesting events, and that's been really good experience. Meeting people on the same wavelength has been really great.

Do you think you will go back to university? [Alex started on a Business degree shortly after the launch of the site. He deferred his place in January]

If you do go back you may well end up studying yourself as a case study!

That would be bizarre!

Has your story been optioned by Hollywood yet?

Not that I know of! It's not worthy of a movie!

If filmmakers were interested in dramatising your story, who would you want to play Alex Tew in the movie of your life?

You know what, I did drama at school and I really loved it, I love the whole acting thing, so I think I'd play myself - a bit of a John Malkovich thing!

For more information about Alex and his success, visit www.milliondollarhomepage.com, and keep an eye on itwales.com for details of Alex's forthcoming business ventures.