David Hunegnaw: Big-idea guy

David Hunegnaw will be the first to say that in his line of work, sometimes you hit a home run and sometimes you strike out. But as that "serial entrepreneur" moniker implies, Hunegnaw doesn't stay in one place too long, regardless. He's sold his most profitable company, his first, and is currently working on at least three others. They're all related to the World Wide Web, a fast-paced world that suits his entrepreneurial style.

"I love ideas, and in the online world it's very easy to take an idea, test it and deconstruct it. I can do that in days, versus months, with an online business," says Hunegnaw, who lives in Columbus and created coworking community Sandbox Columbus. "That's what I love. I can go from idea to execution very quickly."

His first endeavor, an hourly and part-time online job board for students, in just 18 months grew out of his living room into a million-dollar company.

"There were already sites out there like Hot Jobs, Career Builder and Monster. We looked at their best practices and thought about what was missing. They didn't focus on jobs for students. There are all of those part-time and hourly jobs for high school and college kids. We thought, lets go after that," Hunegnaw says.

The business was a natural one for Hunegnaw, who studied economics at Wright State University in Dayton. His first job out of college was as an account manager for a payroll service company. He met with a lot of entrepreneurs in that job, and soon decided to go out on his own.

In 2008, he sold what eventually became Groovejob to Internet Brands, an online website holding company that operates more than 100 sites related to targeted areas including health, home, career and finance.

"Internet Brands was in acquisition mode, and we fit one of their vertical categories. It was a sweet offer, and we went for it," he says.

Hunegnaw helped create another company, in partnership with Columbus-based NCT Ventures. DOMedia, which NCT operates, helps major advertisers buy across a spectrum of traditional and digital "out-of-home" media (like billboards, concert venues, bus shelters etc.) It began as a company that facilitated regional and national billboard advertising, which can be difficult because there is no single point of contact.

"With billboards, it's a fragmented marketplace. We decided to put all of moms and pops, and the big companies, under one marketing umbrella through DoMedia," Hunegnaw says of the company, with which he's no longer associated.

Not all of Hunegnaw's startups have been as successful as Groove Job and DOMedia. He spent about a year and a half developing PodDater, a high-tech dating application for the iPod that allowed people to make and download matchmaking videos.

"We thought it was a great idea and we got a ton of press. Unfortunately, we didn't make any money off that. We didn't address the revenue model and that needed to be there," he says.

Still, Hunegnaw didn't see PodDater as a failure.

"We learned so much about how to host and distribute video. � It was a great experience," he says.

Hunegnaw, who admits to having a short attention span, says great partnerships have been the key to making many of his ideas a reality. One of his longest lasting partnerships is with Jon Myers who collaborated with him on PodDater and DOMedia.

The duo met through a mutual friend.

"We shared a mutual passion for the Internet. I've always had a real fixation on design and the user experience, so we really jelled," Myers says.

Their work partnership has been fueled by genuine friendship.

"We have a good friendship, and we both push and challenge each other," Myers said. "We're definitely complementary in that way."

Today, Hunegnaw is devoting most of his time to helping other entrepreneurs find the best technology for their businesses. Headstartup is a database of low-cost, web-based applications for small businesses. The regularly updated site reviews the latest applications for everything from accounting and invoicing to sharing documents and digital video.

"We are trying to encourage people to use these web-based applications, so instead of using PowerPoint, you can find something that is comparable, or even better, and oftentimes free," Hunegnaw says. "What we've found is there are not a lot of great resources out there in for people who are just interested in finding a finance and management tool or a budgeting tool. We've created the largest database for web-based business tools."

So what motivates a serial entrepreneur like Hunegnaw? It might surprise you to see that it's not money, but a passion to help others.

"It's nice to be able to pay the bills, but that's not the reason we do this," he says. "Passion is everything. I've never thought, How much money can I make from this? I ask, Can I make a difference, and is this innovative?"

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