Lora Valicra of Mainebiz interviewed Jon Whitney, the publication’s founder, about its early days as part of its 20th anniversary celebration.
Here is an excerpt:
MB: How did you get the idea for what later became Mainebiz?
JW: By 1994 I was looking for something else to publish. I thought the Portland area and southern Maine could use some kind of a business publication. The job the Portland Press Herald was doing, well, I won’t characterize it, but I thought there was room for improvement with a publication devoted to business news and information.
MB: What was the business environment like?
JW: When I started this magazine, I was not well-connected in Portland. But when I would talk with people I knew, like commercial real estate people or a banker, I got encouraging comments that they might support it if I started it. I started with $1,500 to put a prototype together and literally knocked on doors.
Our first issue was in December 1994. I sold something like $6,000 in [advertising] and made a little money on it. And then I did it again. I always felt I was successful because I was willing to eat oatmeal for a couple years. I always paid myself last. As long as I kept my bills and help paid, that’s all I really cared about.
MB: Describe the early days of BIZ.
JW: When I put that first issue together and subsequent ones, I did it on my living room floor. I had a waxer and ran to Kinko’s all the time because I’d mess something up and had to reprint it, then cut it, wax it and paste it on a board. Then I’d put all the boards in a box and run down to Manchester, N.H., to have the thing printed. It was like the Stone Age compared to now.
Read more here.
