Founder + CEO at Virtucon Ventures
Wil Schroter is a serial entrepreneur.
In 1994 at age 19, while a still a student at the Ohio State University, he began his first company, Blue Diesel, an interactive marketing agency serving clients such as Best Buy, BMW, and Eli Lilly. As CEO of the company, Wil grew Blue Diesel from his dorm room beginnings to over $60 million in capitalized billings in just over 5 years. Wil sold Blue Diesel to inChord Communications, joined their Board, and helped the company grow to over $600 million in annual billings.
In 1997, Wil co-founded Kelltech Internet Services, a technology consulting company based in Cleveland, Ohio. Kelltech was sold three years later to GTCR.
In 2002, Wil launched Swapalease.com, an on-line marketplace for automotive leasing. Within just three years Wil grew the company from a pure startup to the world’s largest automotive finance marketplace, with over $2 billion in vehicles listed on its service.
In 2004 Wil founded the Go BIG Network, which quickly became the largest community of startup companies. Today over 250,000 companies use Go BIG to find funding, recruit talent and seek expert advice.
In 2006 Wil founded GotCast.com to connect aspiring talent to on-camera roles. GotCast soon became the leader in on-line talent casting, finding new talent for every major network including NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV and E! Entertainment Television.
In 2007 Wil founded Virtucon Ventures, a technology incubator for startup companies whose focus is on using the Internet to create a new breed of companies in a host of industries. Virtucon’s holdings now include the Go BIG Network, GotCast.com, Affordit.com, and BizPlan.com among other investments.
In 2008 Wil founded AffordIt.com to help consumers purchase large ticket items by turning big prices into smart, affordable payments. Offering over 100,000 products for sale, Affordit has pioneered an entirely new type of consumer finance option.
In 2009 Wil founded BizPlan.com, an on-line business planning and management tool that helps upstart entrepreneurs turn their ideas into viable plans and great companies.
In addition to starting companies, Wil also writes about them. He is a nationally syndicated columnist for American City Business Journals where his entrepreneurial advice appears in over 40 major markets. He is a contributing columnist for Forbes as well as the author of “Go BIG or Go HOME” which details how to grow startup companies as quickly as possible.
Wil currently serves on the Boards of Commerce National Bank (Nasdaq: FRME) , a business-to-business commercial bank, and 2Checkout.com, a $200m leader in the processing of on-line payments.
Wil has been named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Association and is has also been recognized by the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year program. He has also been named the Ohio Businessperson of the Year as well as Business First’s Top 40 Under 40. He is frequently featured in national media including NBC, The Wall Street Journal and Red Herring.
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