“It is simply what you would have if you were to dream up your best possible get together with your best friends.”

Interview by Mike Sullivan of Sully’s Blog

dk whose full name is Dr. David Klein, is one of the most well connected individuals in the Internet industry.  In addition to being an Internet entrepreneur and founder of Purpose Inc. dk is also chiropractor in La Jolla, California. Purpose Inc. has always had as its motto, to help others achieve their purpose.  dk’s bio includes having been a professional skim boarder, a lifeguard in Laguna Beach, as well as far as he can tell, the second chiropractor to ever be on staff at a medical school which was UCSD.  He is responsible for some of the Internet industry’s most successful events including the annual poker tournament at Pubcon and the Purpose Inc. thinktank along with an impressive list of business contacts. He has done things as diverse as helping facebook with marketing their advertising product, helping Azoogle with public relations, set up national facebook campaigns, and monetize an e-mail list of close to a million people.

thinktank is an invite only event for the top people in the Internet industry.  This includes domainers, entrepreneurs, site owners, SEO experts, marketers, programmers, and more. Many of the top players attend this event.  This year’s Think Tank event sold out before it even officially was promoted for sale.  The event kicks off on September 17, in Del Mar, California.

MO:

With your background as a chiropractor, successful practice and experience in treating patients, how did you get so heavily involved in the Internet?

dk:

It started with a simple message to help humanity. I had written what I consider to be the easiest to understand materials ever written about what chiropractic is and how it works.  Chiropractic is one of the greatest secrets that only about 5% of the population have any idea about. If someone understands the simplicity of chiropractic, their life can be made immeasurably better, but most people did not, and many still do not understand it. This started a long journey about literally having to learn the Internet from html and css, right up to the most sophisticated SEO, and mass networking skills to create massive links to the site.

MO:

What are some of the things you and Purposeinc do to help businesses acquire new customers?

dk:

We are really, really good at reputation management. Very simply if someone googles your product, or name, and you don’t like the way the results look, contact us and we can help. Amazingly, we can do it without violating any of google’s T.O.S. with absolute confidentiality. We can also help with Facebook Advertising, and have done this for many companies. One of my favorite games that I have been playing lately, is helping companies with large lists of e-mails, figure out how to maximize the monetization of those lists.

MO:

thinktank appears to be a massively successful collection of the top names in the Internet industry.  The “Who is coming to thinktank” list on Purposeinc.com touts some impressive names.  When did Think Tank start, and how did the idea originate?

dk:

This is the third year. It started from the fact that me an the other hot shots would stand around networking in crappy places like halls of convention centers, and uncomfortable lobbies of mediocre hotels. Often I would be standing for hours with a bunch of millionaires with no food, and nowhere to sit. None of us ever go to the sessions unless we are speaking. I basically got rid of all the parts of conferences that the experts don’t like, which is the conference! What was left was what they enjoy most, beautiful setting, other experts, lots of seating, sports, open bar, great food, and fun with no one around who would judge them. It is simply what you would have if you were to dream up your best possible get together with your best friends.

MO:

I understand that Purposeinc is working on some new businesses as well, such as Pearl Tiles.  Can you tell us about these businesses and what to expect?

dk:

LOL. The pearl tile business. A friend of mine is the worlds leading expert on growing pearls. I am an investor in this company by the way. He has figured out how to get oysters to grow pearls in shapes with incredible detail that look like anything from the face of Jesus, to a Gucci or a Fendi logo. I am working on a long-term project with the company to also grow tiles for high-end applications such as Casinos, or high-end bathrooms that are pearls with shapes grown into them such as seashells, or sailboats. This is a project that is moving slowly but surely with no estimate as to when the product will release. When it is done, I predict these will be the most expensive tiles that have ever been sold. Don’t hold your breath though on when they will be released. The big project is the jewelry, and the release of those is going to come first, and needs to be done perfectly. There is a ton of buzz in the jewelry community about these icon pearls, but they are not being released publicly yet.

MO:

You are working with Facebook on their online and offline marketing strategies.  There is no doubt that Facebook is a huge part of many people’s lives.  Can you give some advice to business owners on maximizing their exposure on Facebook?  Should they have a personal page, a business page, or invest in more formal advertising on Facebook?

dk:

I’ll give you a one-sentence secret for your readers. If they need more help than this, they can contact me. Facebook advertising has gotten fairly expensive now for what you get, but if you use it to generate e-mail lists, you have an asset you can make money off of for years. Lips now zipped. In regards to all the free stuff on facebook involving pages, and friending, obviously for an individual it is a great way to make contacts and network. Is developing a page on facebook in any way financially better than developing a following on your blog? I don’t have any evidence yet to suggest that it is, but for some it might be. I just don’t have the answer. For myself, the downside of the pages, is simply the lack of opportunities to modify the page, such as putting forms on it.

MO:

With such a collection of great minds networking all in one place, I’d imagine some great relationships are born at Think Tank.  What are some of the notable outcomes of past Think Tank events?

dk:

All of it is under NDA, and the guys would kill me if I spilled the beans. There have been businesses, partnerships, and deals flying around like the sparks on our beach bonfires.

MO:

There are so many people in the Internet business world, how do you know where to start with networking?

dk:

Just follow the blogs and twitter upstream. If you hear three or four guys all talking about information they got from Nathaniel Broughton, then you should go follow him, and study his blog, and figure out who influences him. The farther you follow chains like this, the more closely you find the guy who is figuring things out, that everyone else is listening to.

One of my favorite quick checks is to see what the ratio is of followers to following on twitter. Of course you can fake this, but most people don’t. If you see someone where they have a 2 to 1 ratio or better, you probably have a winner and an influencer that is worth getting to know.

MO:

If you are trying to network with the gurus and Internet rock stars how do you get their attention when you are competing with so many other people?

dk:

Funny you ask that. At this moment I am conducting a free course for a few weeks only, on exactly how to do this. Feel free to send your readers over to the free networking course