For The Love Of Startups

In the old days, marketing execs believed that their primary goal was to find a need and fill it. But as we've learned with companies like Google Inc. GOOG, Apple Inc. AAPL, Groupon, and Facebook, great marketing is more than filling a need. WebFilings.com is another great example of marketing that goes above and beyond the status quo. Born from a small group of talented people that were eager to experiment with new technology, WebFilings prepares SEC reports for public companies. “We thought that WebFilings would be a natural and specific market that we got really excited about,” Matt Rizai, the company's chief executive, told Benzinga during a recent interview. Rizai is no stranger to startups. He previously served as the Chairman and CEO of Engineering Animation. “We scaled that company to over 1,100 people with over $100 million in revenue,” Rizai said, noting that he took the company public before selling it to Electronic Data Systems. “That's what my passion is and what I've been doing,” he continued. “Not only starting and scaling companies but also continuing to scale companies to even higher levels and looking at different markets.” Rizai is fascinated by the concept of it all, particularly the potential for success, the execution of fresh ideas, and the evolution that a small company goes through as it transforms into a larger organization. “You end up working in a very dynamic environment for various reasons,” he said. “That type of environment is very energizing.” Despite his past and current success stories, Rizai said that he still considers himself a student. “I'm always curious to see how companies started, survived or failed, anywhere from General Electric GE or General Motors GM to Yahoo! YHOO or WebFilings, or any other company like that,” he said. To hear more from WebFilings' CEO – including his views on building a startup during rough economic times – don't miss Benzinga's full interview.