No Plan, No Capital, No Model...No Problem

[Z5 FILMS]

Here's an interesting video I stumbled upon a little while back.

It's a panel with Guy Kawasaki moderating. The panel includes:

Marcus Kazmierczak, vp of engineering, Maya’s Mom
Markus Frind, Founder, PlentyofFish.com
James Hong, Co-Founder, HotorNot.com
Dave Lu, CEO, Fanpop
Karen Northup, CEO and Founder, CoreFino

The cool thing is each started different ways. Some got VC money, some are currently seeking and some started with none and have been totally self sustaining.

It's a long video, but worth it I think. They all give details of where they got the idea for the site, how they got rolling, challenges they faced, how much traffic they receive and some gave broad financial information.


http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/06/no-plan-no-capi.html

 

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[Andrew]

I interviewed Markus Frind for my blog last year you can read it here:
http://www.webpublishingblog.com/ex...yoffishcom-creator-and-owner-markus-frind.htm

Before the interview I did a big of research and wrote this post about his site:
http://www.webpublishingblog.com/how-to-make-300000-a-month-from-free-online-dating.htm

Right now his site is the #2 dating site in the United States & UK, #1 in Canada, according to hitwise. All his competitors were/are spending millions of dollars a month just to stay on top. Within 6 months, he should be #1 in the US. I caught a lot of heat for writing about him back them, but since then the WSJ had an article confirming his income -- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117987775136211487.html?mod=technology_featured_stories_hs (also very much worth reading)

His business should be a case study on so many levels. Little to no start up capital, still a single person running the site (him), the site looks "ugly", his market (online dating) is undergoing a massive shakeup/bust as his business evolves -- many assumptions are broken. Whether you are experienced or not, I strongly suggest reading as much as you can about his site.

Markus also has a blog for those interested, http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/

 

[MJ DeMarco]

$300K/mo? Wow, not a bad take!! Whats amazing is the site is relatively bland. The logo is boring. Even these simple concepts can generate cash.

Fastlane!

Great interview Andrew .. Speed++

 

[dhuang]

Wow, very inspirational and informative video. I certainly enjoyed it.

James Hong is right when he says that the thing you should be doing while being an entrepreneur is to simply have fun.

Great post, Speed+

 

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[cantwait2]

it actually took me 10 mins to find a google ad on the site...from what I can see there is just the one on the page merged into the layout...amazing that one well placed ad on each page can geneate at much click through...good on him

 

[bflbob]

This was an outstanding link!

I love these rags-to-riches stories.

Well...maybe not really rags...but you get my drift.

 

[nomadjanet]

This is great stuff, I am so non technical, I had never even herd of adsense. I knew there was a way that people got paid for ads and banners but did not know where to look for it.
Janet

 

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[michael515]

Andrew...

Great work. "How I did it" articles and interviews cannot be topped. It's like the Harvard Business Case Study method. Your point about spending 90% of our time on that little 5% is why we fail is VERY IMPORTANT!!!