Melissa Chang
Founder & President
melissa.chang@pureincubation.com
Melissa Chang has been an Internet entrepreneur for 10 years, and her career boasts an impressive track record of innovation and early entry into various Internet markets and models.
Chang started her online career as the Executive Editor for Publish magazine, where she converted a print magazine about graphic design to an online, revenue-producing Web site centered on the Internet communication market. In 2001, she helped to found the eBusiness Communication Association, one of the first social networking sites on the Internet that encouraged collaboration and communication between high-level eBusiness and IT professionals.
From there, Chang co-founded Internet start-up Connexus Media, where she served as Vice President of Product Development. Connexus was comprised of a network of more than 50 vertical Web sites in various IT niches that utilized technology buying guides, lead generation tactics and dynamic directory technology to build an audience. It was with Connexus that Melissa became an expert in vertical and paid search business models, search engine optimization techniques, audience development and international outsourcing.
Ziff Davis acquired Connexus in 2004, and Chang became the director of product development for the Ziff Davis Web Buyer’s Guide, an online directory of IT products, services and resources, a product that she and her team built from scratch. The WBG serves more than 1,000,000 technology buyers with more than 70,000 information resources, including detailed product information, white papers, case studies, product reviews, lab reports, podcasts and webinars. She helped grow the WBG from $0 to $7 million per year in revenue before leaving to found Pure Incubation in 2007.
Early in her career, Melissa was the Managing Editor for Let’s Go, a travel guide series that relied heavily on user-generated content and was run solely by entrepreneurial Harvard students. She got her introduction to the IT market through a stint at IDG’s Network World magazine. Melissa is a graduate of Harvard University.