Kevin Ryan
Entrepreneur and investor Kevin Ryan is the founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, where he builds and invests in companies. He co-founded Transcend Therapeutics, which is developing psychoactive therapeutics, as well as MongoDB, Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, and Zola. He previously led DoubleClick as president and CEO.
Methylone’s Promise Met the High Cost of FDA Development
Kevin Ryan says he moved from funding Yale psychedelic research to building a company around methylone because developing a drug through FDA approval could cost $200 million to $250 million—too much for philanthropy alone. In a discussion with Tim Ferriss, he describes the company’s rationale and the financial limits that forced it to begin with one indication. Despite the title’s $700 million figure, the discussion does not explain a sale or provide transaction details.
Gilt Grew Fast but Never Gained Enough Leverage Over Brands
Kevin Ryan’s account of Gilt Groupe traces how a business can grow quickly by filling a gap without becoming indispensable to the companies that supply it. The co-founder says Gilt brought the sample-sale model online and reached $500 million in revenue in its fourth year, but as brands and retailers improved their own online sales, competition crowded in and Gilt lacked the buying power to protect its position. Ryan ultimately urged the board to sell, warning that the company was a falling knife.
DoubleClick Expanded Into 25 Countries Before Its First Was Profitable
In an interview with Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur and investor Kevin Ryan argues that the Internet’s early commercial potential was clear to people who watched how users behaved, even as established companies declined to act. After testing the idea with a Dilbert website at United Media, Ryan left to join DoubleClick, where rapid international expansion helped turn an early foothold in online advertising into a market-leading business.
Kevin Ryan Looks for Businesses Created by the Second-Order Effects of Trends
Kevin Ryan argues that building durable companies requires looking past trends that are already popular and asking what they will make possible over the next decade. The AlleyCorp founder and investor says the task is to turn a broad shift into a specific product or supporting business—and to act when an idea keeps occupying his attention, even though no formula can reliably identify the winner. His examples range from DoubleClick and MongoDB to missed opportunities such as YouTube.