Wishpot Chief Executive Todd Humphrey learned some good business lessons on the ice as professional hockey player in Michigan. The first was the famous Wayne Gretzky adage to "skate to where the puck is going, not where it is." The second -- from his days with the Flint Generals -- was to "hit the other guy first and harder."

The 40-year-old Toronto native is using some of those tactics (minus the physical violence) as he leads Seattle's Wishpot against competitors such as Amazon.com, Kaboodle and ThisNext in the online gift-registry business. Founded in 2006, Wishpot has attracted more than 30,000 members who use the service to create wedding, Christmas and birthday gift lists. Page views are nearing 1 million per month at the six-person startup. Traffic grew more than 40 percent in the past 30 days.

Humphrey -- a former venture capitalist who moved to Seattle eight years ago in pursuit of his future wife -- shared his thoughts on the holiday shopping season, the challenges of running startups in this economic climate, and his biggest claim to fame from his hard-hitting hockey days.

What is this time of year like for Wishpot? "This is obviously our busiest time of year with the holidays. We are seeing a significant uptick in the business and even more so this year with people being a little more frugal with the way that the economy has shaken out over the past couple of months. We see people using the wish list tool for sharing with family and friends. The other thing that people are really using this season are some of our new features."

Like what? "We have an alerting feature that allows people to understand when a product drops to a specific point in price. Another feature that is called Chip-in that allows multiple people to chip in money towards the ultimate purchase, so it sort of allows people to co-buy a product or a present. In this environment, we couldn't have launched those products at a better time because they really allow people to get the best price in a very price-sensitive marketplace."

On user adoption: "While we might not have a bazillion visitors, the people who come to our site spend a lot of time either within their own wish list or looking at other people's and also using it as a search tool for other cool products that are out there."

On Amazon.com's gift registry: "One of the features that we have added is the ability to import your wish list directly from Amazon, so you can keep it on Amazon but you get the benefit of sharing that wish list with everyone who is a member or who comes to your Wishpot site. We do see a lot of people importing their Amazon wish list."

On how Wishpot makes money: "It is absolutely free to consumers and it is also free to retailers. ... Our business is primarily built on a referral business so as somebody adds a product to their Wishpot (list), when that product gets purchased we get paid a referral fee of anywhere from two to 10 percent."

How are you trying to manage the business given the economic headwinds? "The entire industry is seeing a pull-back in terms of consumer spending, but at the same time we are seeing people leverage our tools both as wish lists, alerts and Chip-in to really get the benefit of seeing and understanding and ultimately purchasing from the best vendor, the best retailer, at the best price possible. So we have not yet seen a downward slope in terms of growth. We have not seen a downward slope in terms of purchases. We have seen people getting better deals and paying less for particular products, which from our standpoint is great because we are really an advocate for the consumer. Overall, of course, the industry is going to suffer a little bit. But I think we have tools and a business in place that allows us to leverage that a little bit and really capture more of the user attention."

You've been both a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur. Which do you prefer? "There are clearly benefits to both professions. I love being an entrepreneur."

On his claim to fame playing hockey in the Detroit Red Wings' farm system: "Up until about two years ago, I held the Flint Generals' record for the most penalty minutes in a season. Actually, a fan in Flint reached out to me a couple years ago and told me that I was the only player in professional hockey history -- in minor or pro or elsewhere -- to ever score 35 goals and have 350 penalty minutes in one year. That's under the sheets."

You sold CleverSet earlier this year at a good time. What advice do you have for startups right now? "I've lived through the boom of 1996 to 2000 and then a little bit through the bust and I think the last couple of years has proven that you can start building companies on less money. ... Reserving cash and finding a way to build your business with less money and less people right now is absolutely critical. The other thing is to not to lose sight of what you are trying to build and not to let the doom and gloom in the economy or what you are hearing from other people dramatically affect your business. React to it, but don't let it drag you down."

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A closer look at Todd Humphrey:

Age: Turned 40 on Dec 4.

Car: 2000 Toyota 4Runner

First Seattle job: Worked in business development at Paul Allen's Apex Learning.

Favorite TV show: Prison Break

What's on your Wishpot list: Water skis and a Nintendo Wii.

First job: Teaching at a hockey school at the age of 12.