CBS Acquires Wallstrip – You Can Make Money From Blogging!!!
One of the most exciting days of my life for sure.
Today, CBS has acquired Wallstrip .
Lot’s of people to thank. The biggest sacrifices have come from my wife Ellen and my sweet kids Rachel and Max. My dog Bagel is indifferent.
I first pitched the idea to Fred Wilson at The Mercer Hotel last summer and he told the Gotham Gal that we were going to do a web/stock market show. He was true to his word when I asked if he wanted to get involved. We had no host yet.
I put together a loose two pager and sent to Adam Elend . I met him through the blogosphere. Adam and his partner Jeff Marks had style and we hit it off. They believed, at least in my ability to raise some capital 
. They get to really shine at CBS as they work on more verticals. Congrats.
I enlisted the help of Trader Mike and he got involved immediately and helped promote the show and build community. I love Mike’s Blog. Mike is still ‘The Man’. I am glad that he makes out from Wallstrip’s success.
Lindsay Campbell, famous blog star , answered Jeff and Adam’s Craigslist ad. I am happy that Lindsay gets to explore more of her talent at CBS. We all agreed Lindsay was the choice right from the start, but she was not sure. When I saw her party dress for our first party, I was not sure anymore either . Luckily for us, she took the low paying job.
All the stock bloggers chipped in and helped build community. Andy Swan , Brian Shannon , Ugly , Maoxian , Bill Rempel , Roger Nussbaum , Nick Fenton , Dave Landry , Adam Warner , Trader-X , and the always great Eddie .
All the VC Bloggers and Market Resource bloggers on my blogroll were supportive. Dominic Rivera was smart enough to buy the domain name as well.
Fred intoroduced me to some great guys who sat on the board and advised us through the start-up and sale process. Andy Monfried has more energy than anybody I have ever met and was an inspiration. Roger Ehrenberg is the smartest dude on the planet despite being a really bad crackleberrier. Thanks so much guys.
We cobbled together $600,000 from angels and friends and went to work. Lot’s of trust and latitude was given so it feels good to make good by them.
TheStreet.com has been a great partner and I want to thank them for promoting Wallstrip. Tom Clarke, Anthony Brown, James Altucher, Steve Elkes and Bernie Davis were early supporters.
Google/YouTube have been great supporters of the show. Obviously a tremendous help.
Aaron Pressman from Business Week gave us a great review and write-up and we are grateful for that. Michael Merced also gave us great exposure by writing us up for The New York Times . Om Malik and Liz Gannes have always been supportive in spreading the word.
When Quincy Smith called us in to meet with CBS, we all clicked and it was a win/win for all the parties. We are going to continue to bust our butts to make Wallstrip better and different. My friend Morris helped move the whole process along to a quick close on our side and did a superb job keeping Wallstrip heads cool.
I believe CBS made a great acquisition and I can’t wait to help grow the Financial Vertical as part of the CBS family.
UPDATE – I wrote this post late at night and forgot some VERY important people. Roman Bodnar (most of our voiceovers) and Jon Labes of Fresh Bread Network and tireless production and direction assistants to the show. They are so talented and I always have a great time working and hanging with them.
PS – An appearance on Letterman would really be awesome as an encore.
PSS – Trader Mike does a great job covering the story and links . That’s why he’s my partner .
PSSS – I forgot to mention our first big boost in viewership came from the good people at iTunes. Thanks Scott. He believed early and helped us gain credibility.
