108 VIRGIN AUSTRALIAMAY 2017
LESSONS EARNT
PHOTOGRAPHYALAMY, EDWARD O’CONNOR, GETTY IMAGES1966
Born in Huntsville,
Alabama.1982
Begins studying for
a bachelor of finance
at Auburn University.1986
Begins studying for
a PhD in finance at
the University of
Alabama. Marries
for the first time.1989
Leaves the
University of
Alabama with
a master’s in finance
and switches to
Indiana University’s
PhD program, but
fails to complete it.1994
Ofered a job at
Chicago Options
Associates.1996
Founds Bomis with
two partners.TIMELINE
FROM TOP Jimmy
Wales is a popular
speaker at business
forums worldwide;
his alma mater,
Auburn University;
the team behind
Wales’s first user-
edited venture,
Bomis, in 2000.
PREVIOUS PAGE
Wales founded
the Wikipedia
website in 2001,
choosing to make
it ad-free and
non-profit.but you become burned out by academic
life. You abandon a PhD in finance at
Indiana University and accept a job in
Chicago as a futures and options trader.
During the mid-1990s, the internet
develops rapidly and you’re swept up
in the excitement. You have an idea for
a selective web directory, Bomis, that
is compiled by users — similar to the
directory on Yahoo!’s front page, but
edited by the public rather than paid
employees. In a sense, it is a precursor to
Wikipedia because it is user-edited. But
as a way of searching the internet it is limited and is
quickly superseded by sites such as Google that allow
users to explore the entire internet freely.
In 1999, you develop a website called Nupedia: an
old-fashioned encyclopedia with an editor-in-chief
and a team of volunteer experts writing articles that
are then rigorously peer reviewed using a seven-stage
process. The site struggles, and you realise the work
structure of Nupedia is intimidating to prospective
volunteers. You soon learn that the contributors must
feel empowered. In other words, it has to be fun. You
decide to make a radical change and develop the
open editing model of Wikipedia. Within weeks, you have
accomplished more than you had in two years with Nupedia.
You had been thinking the Nupedia model wasn’t working
for at least six months before you launched Wikipedia and
you now know you should have moved more quickly to
try something new. In this way, you learn to ‘fail faster’.
You launch Wikipedia with Larry Sanger, Nupedia’s editor-
in-chief, in 2001. Initially, you are not sure if the website will
succeed, but within days, a group of volunteer editors forms.
You envisage Wikipedia becoming a game-changing website —
and you decide that it should be ad-free and non-profit.
Fundraising is a challenge, but over time you become more
scientific about asking for donations. Through A/B testing, you
identify which users are more likely to donate, and you find
that by making website campaigns less intrusive, people are
more receptive to them. You also develop a base of loyal donors
who respond very well to annual email requests for funds.
You marry three times and have three daughters. You learn
that balancing work and family is essential. The rise of smart
phones sucks you in for a while, until you realise how hundreds
of small distractions add up. Now, you leave your phone in
another room when spending time with your kids.
You’ve also become a big fan of sleep and you try to get
a minimum of eight hours a night. Sleep allows you to be
much more productive and creative during working hours.Jimmy Wales is a guest speaker at the World Business Forum in Sydney,
which runs from 31 May to 1 June. For tickets, visit http://www.wbfsydney.com.2000
Launches Nupedia.2001
Launches Wikipedia.2003
Nupedia shuts down.
Sets up Wikimedia
Foundation, a non-
profit group charged
with administering
the fast-growing
Wikipedia site.2004
Launches a web-
hosting business,
Wikicities, later
changing its
name to Wikia.2006
Attends the World
Economic Forum in
Davos. Named one
of The 100 Most
Influential People in
the World by Time.2008
Co-chairs the World
Economic Forum on
the Middle East.2012
Marries Kate Garvey,
Tony Blair’s former
diary secretary, ater
meeting her at the
World Economic
Forum in Davos.2016
Becomes a non-
executive director
of the Guardian
Media Group.