An inspiring business leader motivated by the mantra of unwavering commitment, remarkable efforts, and dedication, Will Seippel is the brain behind WorthPoint®, the world’s largest provider of information about art, antiques, and collectibles. He created the foundation of WorthPoint® in 2007, and since then, he has been spearheading the brand in the crucial position of CEO.
Seippel has focused on the Internet of Stuff® by combining his expertise as a technology expert, economist, collectibles expert, and dealer. He has been on NBC, Fox Business, and Forbes as a frequent expert guest for the media on the appraisal and authentication of collectibles. Additionally, Seippel has been contributing to several charitable organizations, such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Gary’s House, and the Navy League in Atlanta, where he has achieved its highest civilian award.
Will Seippel’s Journey Towards Success: “The Rollercoaster Ride”
Will Seippel’s life and adventures have taken him down several unexpected roads. Seippel was far from a successful student in grades K–12, and he had a general-level officer father who served in two wars and was disabled in Vietnam, so Seippel grew up bored in school and angry over his father’s military outcome. After fracturing his back in a car accident caused by a drunk dump truck driver in high school, Seippel later worked as a nightclub bouncer, barman, and heavy construction worker. He only began finding interest in his studies while attending college:
“I began on this path in college and have always been an athlete, even while working full-time to pay for my education. Despite loving history, I was fortunate to learn that I was good at math. As a result, I accelerated my studies and concentrated on economics, accounting, and quantitative math. I was fortunate to have Dr. Edward Deming as a mentor in my graduate studies. I later developed a passion for technology and a willingness to take risks. And after completing an executive program at a major automaker, I went out to the tech industry and turnaround situations and businesses where technology and sound business principles could be leveraged. Eventually, despite many accolades, I found I was still bored,” the CEO revealed.
This moment of realization was when Seippel founded WorthPoint in 2007. Rather than continue suffering from his personal boredom and disillusionment with corporate priorities, he focused on his desire to make a difference while maintaining his love for history. Additionally, his mother’s recent ties to the EU made him realize that Americans were likely to learn that personal assets will equal cash, currencies will be under pressure, and borders will change.
WorthPoint at a Glance
WorthPoint has more than 300,000 hits per day and consistently ranks among the top 1,000 most popular websites in the United States. It has experienced growth for more than twenty consecutive quarters. An Inc. 500 company, WorthPoint is utilized by individuals and organizations seeking credible valuations on everything from cameras to coins. WorthPoint counts the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and the IRS among its clients.
Consumers and homeowners need the platform—a rare offering with a B2B and B2C market—to value and maintain assets. Professionals in the estate and tax fields and the resale lending and pawn industries need WorthPoint to buy, sell, and handle these assets. Additionally, investors now need the indices and data that traditional investments require due to the fractionalization and acceptance of these assets as a class of investments.
“Our mission is to become the world’s database and index for the reseller of the ‘stuff market.’ Our trademark is ‘the Internet of stuff.’ That is, all the things in your house that are bought and sold that are considered collectibles or antiques. For those things, we serve as Bloomberg. All of them have worth and are marketable. They are a kind of asset unto themselves and frequently have a value greater than the home they occupy,” explained the visionary leader.
The Unique Leadership Approach
Even though traditional leadership techniques are effective, they are now in doubt amid the COVID-19 pandemic, generational concerns, and government policies intent on destroying the economy, says Seippel. On the other hand, the necessity of a courageous leader and business fundamentals such as measurement and accountability can make leadership timeless. Here, Seippel’s approach is hands-on, teaching the leadership skillset necessary today: listening and walking the talk.
Will Seippel’s Take on the Healthy Work Environment
“It starts with hiring the right people. Smart and risk-takers,” said Seippel. “Do not shoot people for trying something difficult and failing. You try to get them to plan something out. Often, a sub-par idea properly executed will succeed, whereas a great idea poorly executed will not. A group of semi-autonomously managed employees will often come up with ideas you would not think of. WorthPoint experimented with this concept to combine and create a work environment in the COVID vaccine era. We then used this to our advantage to hire staff from competitors that mandated shots, while our employees compromised to manage a situation where WorthPoint did not.”
Overcoming the Hurdles Along the Way
The data world is changing very fast, as is alternative investing in this class of assets. Neither of these will slow down. On the one hand, Google is always ready to encroach more on what we do, says Seippel. On the other hand, domain marketplaces want to compete but lack the ability to do so. For Seippel and his team, the biggest challenge is convincing the typical homeowner inside a FEMA Disaster Zone to comprehend and take the time to catalog and preserve the worth of their items in their own WorthPoint Vault, which is effectively like Ancestry.com combined with Zillow for your home. As one of the largest markets in the world, WorthPoint is the first to integrate AI, domain, and technology.
Expansion Binge and Road Ahead
WorthPoint has grown significantly since its inception and will do so going forward. Will Seippel aims to make the venture a household name with $100 million in revenue. At the same time, he also wishes to accomplish his personal goal and rebuild his house, which was lost to Hurricane Ian.
Parting Words by Will Seippel
- Don’t give up your dreams and vision.
- Hire people smarter than you.
- Keep a creative environment.
- Maintain a strong set of ethics.
- Be slow to hire and quick to fire.
- Remember that every disaster can become an opportunity.
