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Rachel Finley
574 TNRB
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-3598
prspecialist@byu.edu

Former Logoworks CEO Shares Insights About Starting Online Businesses

Until the great idea for a successful online business comes, start gaining experience now, says Morgan Lynch, former CEO of Logoworks, at a lecture in November as part of the Rollins eBusiness Center lecture series.

“If you don’t have that burning business plan right now . . . think of good ideas, but at the same time while you are waiting for that big idea to come, it’s a great opportunity to go and take a job in a start-up or in another company,” Lynch says. “Do it for learning. You’ll save a lot of time and money.”

Lynch shared examples from his own experience forming the company Logoworks, the largest provider of custom logo design in the world.

His journey toward building Logoworks started through his marketing job at InsurQuote, a software start-up in Provo at the time. The logo for the business was outdated, and Lynch volunteered to give the logo a stronger web presence. He went to an ad agency and thought the logo design process was expensive and flawed.

This inspired the idea for Logoworks. Lynch and a friend started the company inside a house garage in Provo. He says that in-depth research helped the venture to succeed in the beginning and encourages students to do the same.

“Do a lot of good research, but do not spend too much time on it,” Lynch says. “When it comes time and your gut tells you to go do something, then that is the time to do it and stop researching.”

Logoworks was built through search engine optimization and pay-per-click. Lynch says that at first the business was not a huge success and it took a lot of hard work. After extensive research, Lynch decided to focus the venture on small businesses, which had a need for high-quality, fast, and affordable design.

With the new emphasis in place, Logoworks expanded with more than two hundred logo projects a month. The business also started offering additional design services and developed a web site that allowed freelance designers globally to contribute their designs to the company.

However, like every business, Logoworks also had its fair share of problems. Lynch advises entrepreneurs to reflect back on these problems and learn from them.

“Solving a problem is a really good way to start a business,” Lynch says. “If it’s a problem that really bugs you, then you are always going to have that to fall back on.”

Lynch also says it is a lot easier to start an online business today and that students should take advantage of the current technology and do their homework.

“Read a lot of business books, especially about e-business,” Lynch says. “There are so many of them, and they will all give you a good idea of what the field is like and the kind of commitment it will take.”