Building an Empire

They won’t need council’s approval, either.

Empire Avenue is the name of their budding web-based business, and it could actually alter the social media landscape if successful.

The company — which gets its moniker from the busy St. John’s street — is being dubbed an “influence stock market.”

Users get a share price based on their activity and following on sites such as Facebook and Twitter — the greater their online influence, the higher their stock.

Others buy and sell those shares, and can then spend the virtual wealth they build on coupons or discounts from participating businesses.

“We don’t know where this will lead. We have definite, strong, ideas,” says Duleepa Wi-jayawardhana, the chief executive officer, who’s known as Dups (Doops).

He and friend Niall Brown — who are both experienced in the high-tech industry — came up with the concept while pondering the value of everything they posted to social networking sites.

“Then we realized, all these big companies are actually making money off of the stuff we do and we never see a dime of it,” Dups explains. “We felt, wouldn’t it be great if we could actually reverse the tables and you make the money?”

Soon another friend, Mike Mannion, was involved in exploring how to do it.

The challenge for the trio — who met years ago while studying at Memorial — was putting a value on someone’s online influence. They concluded it was a person’s network and started down the road to Empire Avenue. (They coveted the name Bond Street, but the domain name was taken.)

Dups quit his job at MySQL — the digital database used by everyone from Yahoo! to YouTube — a year ago and started down the road to building an empire.

Mannion — who has a PhD in chemistry — followed him about four months ago, after his work in biotech research dried up.

Brown took his turn down Empire Avenue a month ago when he quit his job at MySQL.

They began a test run with 250 followers in April and then let the public sign on July 28.

The numbers have quickly ballooned to 16,000 and counting. And those users are spread over 95 countries.

The trio are excited about their prospects. They’re not the only ones.

Earlier this month, a group of angel investors gave them a reported $200,000 to accelerate development.

“We don’t know where this will lead. We have definite, strong, ideas,” - Chief Executive Officer Duleepa Wi-jayawardhana

“The initial traction shows how extremely engaging the product already is,” said the head of the investment group, Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures, in a release.

It’s early days, but Dups boasts Empire Avenue is already generating revenue.

He explains the business has three money-making streams — the sale of virtual goods, a rewards program and a unique advertising platform that connects consumers and brands.

“Everyone’s kind of benefitting from it, both the advertiser and the end user,” says Brown.

“We have the metrics to say, ‘Look, this is the community, this is what they are targeting.’ So we can help mediate and get things that will interest both parties for that.”

The challenge for the company to enjoy longevity is generating interest and ensuring the site remains compelling.

They like where it’s going. Dups says after people are on a site for a week or so, they appear to be totally hooked. Mannion notes people have started blogs or Twitter accounts since joining, and that many users are finding people with common interests.

The company is basing itself in Edmonton, but its 12 employees will be scattered from Colorado to Corner Brook. None of the founders will be living in St. John’s, though they joke their city headquarters is Hava Java.

There appears to be an eclectic crew on Empire Avenue. Besides the tekkies and chemist who founded it, the lineup includes a lawyer, finance guy and Ontario’s 2011 Rhodes scholar, Nithim Thain (who’s also, incidently, from St. John’s.)

In a recent Montreal Gazette article on Empire Avenue, a former CBC technology columnist said he thought the company was a fad and compared it to Second Life.

However, Bruno Guglielminetti — who’s actually signed up — said he expected it to enjoy a few years of success before dying out.

Dups scoffs at the talk of a fad, saying if someone can read the future, the more power to them.

“Will it be a fad?” he asks later. “Certainly it could. I would hope that it’s a fad that lasts for 20 years then.”

sbartlett@thetelegram.com