Some people prepare themselves to become an entrepreneur, whereas some entrepreneurs are born. There are innate skills that take an individual towards the entrepreneurial path. The story of Dr. Paul Guenther, the Founder & CEO of Knowledge Hub Media, aptly exemplifies the above statement.
Paul has always innately been an entrepreneur. He started his first eCommerce website when he was 14 and paid his way through college via another ecommerce website that he started back in 2002.
Paul graduated from Penn State University with his bachelor’s degree in the Spring of 2006. Between 2006 and 2009, he had seven different jobs, but he didn’t like any of them too much. He was always bouncing around to new opportunities, chasing a higher paycheck. He was never truly fulfilled career wise until he started Knowledge Hub Media.
Prior to founding Knowledge Hub, he was working for a company that was in the B2B Advertising industry. He had successfully taken on and worked in several different roles within the company, more specifically, in sales, client services and client marketing. While working there, he felt that he had a rather good grip on most of the moving parts.
So, in 2009, he quit his job, and started his own B2B Advertising Technology Company. Back then, it was called ‘IT Knowledge Hub’ – as IT Professionals and IT Decision Makers were its general target market in terms of visitors and email subscribers. Most of the challenges he faced during the time of inception included fulfilling campaigns with a limited audience. He had to spend a large amount of money on marketing in the beginning to get his name out there and keep the registrations coming in.
Later on, Paul went on to receive his MBA from Wilmington University in 2010.
Eventually, he also earned his Doctorate in Business Administration, from Wilmington University, in 2019.
“For me, a conservative approach to business builds a better company. I equate starting and growing my company to a stone building…The old stone building that’s been standing for 500 years.”
Built from Scratch
Paul built Knowledge Hub Media from the ground up with the help of a few key employees: Anthony DiFilippo, James Pastuf, and his brother, Chris Guenther. Today, it has been a leader in delivering breaking news, expert blog articles, and the newest and most relevant white papers, webinars, and case studies across all industry verticals. It provides B2B demand generation (or lead generation) services via white paper and content syndication.
The company utilizes its customer’s white papers, webcasts, eBooks, and other assets to generate highly qualified sales leads; based on the specific software and/or service-based solution(s) offered by each of its clients. Each client’s internal salesforce then contacts the leads that the company has generated to (1) gauge their interest in the solution that they are offering/selling, (2) get them into the automation platform and/or sales pipeline, and (3) ultimately close the deal. The company runs many different types of specialized lead generation campaigns, as well. These include BANT Campaigns, where four qualifying questions are asked to ensure the contact has the authority, the budget, the buying timeframe, and the need for the solution being promoted. Additionally, it also runs SQL/SRL lead campaigns, where the leads indicate that they want to be contacted and receive more information about a client’s solution. These are remarkably high quality, sales ready leads. The company has recently developed the ability to provide intent data to its clients.
So, in addition to run standard Account-Based marketing (ABM) campaigns, it can also build customized ABM lists for clients. These lists are made up of companies who are already showing intent to buy their solution. The intent is measured by the types and amounts of content they are consuming on a number of different B2B technology related topics.
A Balance is Important
Maintaining a steady balance between professional life and personal life is difficult. Paul is a passionate entrepreneur, but he never let his professional and personal life clash. He works hard all week, but never works on weekend. He starts his day at 8am early in the morning and works till 3am, the next day.
“I do take breaks and hang out with my family in between all of this, of course! But I NEVER work on the weekend. This is a promise that I made to my wife before we got married; a promise that I made to myself before I even started the company. I do not want to be tied to work 24/7 and being a fairly sociable person. I also like doing things with friends and family on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays. And most importantly spend as much time as possible with my beautiful wife Allison and three year old son. Pledging to never work on the weekend ever has afforded me the ability to do all of this,” states Paul.
Some Glorious Awards & Recognition
Paul has come so far with his company. Recognized three years running as an Inc. 5000 List Company (Inc. Magazine), and named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” in 2017, 2018 and 2019 (Entrepreneur 360), Knowledge Hub Media separates itself as one of the finest and most trusted technology and business information resources online today.
In 2018, Knowledge Hub Media was also recognized by CV Magazine, receiving a “Corporate Excellence Award” for B2B Advertising & Research. In 2019, The CEO Views named Knowledge Hub Media one of the “Top 10 Emerging Companies of the Year.”
Constantly Innovating
Speaking about the vision, Paul aims to continue to add new team members, create new products, and innovate new technologies to offer its clients a true edge over their competition. He is also striving to build revenue year over year and reach $10 million in annual sales by the end of next year. Paul doesn’t believe in forecasting growth with any assumed trajectory. Instead, he believes in learning the industry, ramping things up the right way, and constantly innovating.
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