Joe Hyrkin, CEO of issuu, and the man responsible for helping to move them into the future, comes to the table with an impressive background in business and publishing. His resume boasts experience both domestically and abroad in general management, senior sales and businessdevelopment management, in addition to serving at top positions at companies like, Reverb, Yahoo! And Flickr.With their innovative platform, Issuu.com.com is the fastest growing digital publishing platform in the world. Millions use issuu to read free publications created by some of the most unique and enthusiastic publishers from around the globe. In recent years, issuu has grown to become one of the largest of its kind.Not one to be outdone by his competitors, Hyrkin has a proven record of helping businesses to grow and positioned issuu as a powerhouse among digital publishers. Follow along as we get to know the man behind some of the digital world’s most unique publications.

RAINE: In your own words please describe issuu?HYRKIN: issuu is where global, enthusiastic content creators make their magazines, newspapers and catalogs digitally available and shareable. Similarly to what Vice has done for news, we’ve focused on transforming the $980 billion print industry into a digital experience. issuu helps publishers create publications once and share digitally anywhere. Publishers also use issuu to gain granular, actionable insights on how their readers are enjoying and spending time with content. As a company we continue to grow, with over 80 million unique visitors per month, reading more than 20 million publications, serving five billion page views and enabling more than two million publishers to digitally share and distribute across any platform.

RAINE: How do you feel issuu fulfills a need with its readers?HYRKIN: issuu enables readers globally to discover the magazines, catalogs and newspapers that interests them most and enables them to digitally interact with each page. From football & tailgating to food & cookware, we have over 20 million publications available on the issuu platform for consumers to discover and share.

RAINE: How do you feel digital publishing has helped to revolutionize the industry as opposed to traditional means of publishing?HYRKIN: Publishing is thriving more now than ever before. More content is created, read and shared than at any point in history. Digital publishing platforms, like issuu, enable creators to do what they do best, which is create great content for reach and connect with consumers like never before. issuu enables the publisher and reader to engage with each page of content from reading, to on-page purchasing, to clicking through to additional related content, pages or apps. Digital publishing allows for creators that otherwise have no exposure, to be discovered.

RAINE: What one piece of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?HYRKIN: Care. Care about the product you create. Care about the customers that will buy it and engage with it. Care about the people around you, both in the workplace and otherwise. A depth of care is required to navigate the challenges, many completely unforeseen, which will manifest.

Images courtesy of Issuu