Lance Weatherby (@lance) builds thriving internet companies. His current focus is achieving aggressive and successful growth atnCrowd, the third largest company in the local offers market. Lance was previously a Startup Catalyst with Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the organizer of the first Atlanta Startup Weekend (which is happening again this weekend), and co-founder of Skribit, Socialytics, and Twitpay.

Three highlights of your career (so far):
1) Well, the biggest career highlight so far has to be joining MindSpring when it was a startup, going through the IPO process, and growing it into a great company for a period of time. I scaled pretty well with the company and ended up running sales and marketing there. It was a special company at a special time and many people that I worked with there remain my closest friends today.

2) Another thing that I am proud of is to see people that I have helped along the way have some success. When I look around Atlanta I see people that I taught a little something to go on to bigger and better things. To know I played an important role in someone’s career development makes me very happy.

3) The third thing has not happened yet. I don’t know what it is but the best is yet to come.

What’s your current venture?
nCrowd, Inc. We operate online local commerce marketplaces that connects merchants to consumers by offering goods and services at a discount.

What’s your current role?
I am the COO. I have been with the company for about two and a half years. I came in as part of a $7 million venture capital round in 2011. During my time at nCrowd I have directly managed sales, marketing, product development, and technical operations. I joined to grow the business and in terms of sales we are about four times the size of when I started.

What time do you typically wake up?
Depending on what is going on the product development front some time between 4:00 and 6:00am. Much of development is overseas and if we have something big going on I get up and help out with the development/deployment effort.

Describe your typical morning routine:
I wake up before my family, grab some coffee and head straight to the computer. I work for a bit and then gather with the rest of the family to get ready for our day and the kids (I have a 15 and 13 year old) off to school. It is a special day when I get to take them to school and we get a treat. Then off to the office for a dev meeting and more work on that front. Around 11:00 am I start to shift my focus from development to sales and marketing activities.

Is lunch a time for solace or socializing? Why?
A little of both. I try to stay connected with my network in Atlanta and lunch is a good time to do that. If I don’t have that type of meeting I typically spend lunch at my desk working.

How often do you check email?
Too much. I make a habit not to let email take over my day. IM is even worse than that. Just because something beeps or bounces at you does not mean it deserves your attention.

How often do you check social media?
These days about three times a day. Morning. Early afternoon.Night. And when I am waiting for someone/something.

Describe your typical afternoon routine:
Afternoons are spent more with the sales team addressing their issues and meetings with outsiders.

What time do you go home?
Either before or after rush hour. If before I work at home for a period of time before returning my attention to family.

Describe your typical evening routine:
A little exercise (I play a lot of tennis these days), dinner with the family, and some down time with them as well. More often than not I return to the computer before I go to bed. The last is a bad habit I want to break.

What daily habits fuel your success?
Just showing up, putting in a good effort, and doing just a little more than the next guy is a big part of the battle. I try to stay up to speed on industry trends and opportunities to find the intersections of success.

What daily habits hinder your success?
I love the Internet but it can sure send you down some rabbit holes.

What tools/tech are essential to you?
iPhone, Macbook Air, and of course the Internet. That is everything you need. You have those three things you can do just about anything.

What’s one piece of advice you wish you could go back in time and give to your younger self?
It is easy to say now but was hard to do then. Life is too short to spend time doing things that you don’t want to do with people that you don’t like. Do what you love with people that you like. I am very fortunate to be able to follow my own advice.