January 15, 2019

Larry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Television

52 minutes

About this episode

This episode of The Startup Story features Larry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Television. When you think of E!, you may instantly think of the show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Now for the record, Larry had nothing to do with the Kardashians phenomenon. He did, however, have everything to do with the building of this media network giant, which eventually sold for approximately $3,000,000,000 in 2007.

In this episode, you will learn how Larry maneuvered the early days of his startup and how he built his company with little to no funding. Larry also shares openly about how he constantly adapted his business to ensure success, regardless of the external circumstances he faced. Wherever you in your entrepreneurial journey, Larry's story will provide you with a fresh perspective to take into your own endeavors.

In this episode you’ll hear

Larry’s start, not in the limelight of Hollywood, but in the sewers of NYC

How he went from blue collar labor to management, negotiating with unions and how he began to develop a leadership mindset

How qualifying for pension at 30-years old eventually led him to the West Coast

His time at Valley Cable in California helping build the first two-way 61 Channel Cable System ever built

The start of “Movie Time”, the obstacles Larry faced and why he was so convinced to keep moving forward with his idea

How a leap of faith by an investor led to the launch of E! Entertainment Television’s beginnings and how he went on to build E!’s first studio on a freight train rail station

Selecting their first five hosts, like Greg Kinnear, getting coverage and establishing credibility as a network

The origins of E!’s first original content show, Talk Soup (a show that makes fun of other television shows) with host Greg Kinnear and later Joel McHale

Larry fondest memory from his startup story

Larry’s advice to entrepreneurs who may be struggling with getting traction or establishing credibility in their industry

Resources from this episode

Our Sponsor Movocash: https://www.thestartupstory.co/movocash

Connect with Larry Namer on LinkedIn

E! Entertainment Television

Yuzzl.com

Full Episode Transcript

Special Guest: Larry Namer.