

Chatroulette Founder Andrey Ternovskiy Raises New Funding: "50,000 Naked Men" - inovica
http://www.fastcompany.com/1716690/chatroulette-andrey-ternovskiy-video-chat?partner=homepage_newsletter

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jacquesm
It's funny, I _really_ sympathize with Andrey, I figure we probably feel just
about the same about our respective websites. Good ideas gone haywire because
of initial miscalculations and being slightly naive about what would happen if
you launched this thing without proper controls.

PG has it exactly right with his 'no broken windows', once there are a large
enough number of broken windows in your town it's very hard to go back, even
if you repair the windows. The influx or new throwers of stones will outpace
your ability to repair if you didn't do it right from the get-go.

~~~
Periodic
That's why the successful companies have to pivot and find a way to monetize
those broken windows. When the market shows you a demand, you need to find a
way to take advantage of it. In this case there are a lot of men who want to
show off their junk.

I'm very impressed by Andrey's ability to use the very thing that is causing
his site so much trouble and turn it into a stable revenue stream. It's a very
shrewd business move, even if it does diverge from the original vision.

~~~
bemmu
It reminds me of how hotornot was burning through bandwidth because of picture
hosting, and then turned it into a revenue source instead.

 _Later, HotOrNot signed up with online photo services Ofoto and Shutterfly,
which were seeking more members, to have HotOrNot host some photos on those
sites. HotOrNot sent leads to those sites, and was paid for it, thereby
turning one of its largest expenses - photo hosting - into a revenue source._

(source
[http://www.smsmallbiz.com/capital/How_HotOrNot_Bootstrapped_...](http://www.smsmallbiz.com/capital/How_HotOrNot_Bootstrapped_Its_Way_to_Profit_Sale.html))

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citricsquid
"But six months later, the fickle followers of Web fads have collectively hit
the "next" button. Since peaking in usership in the spring and early summer,
Chatroulette has been hemorrhaging traffic, with visits plummeting close to
60% in the US, according to Quantcast."

I knew this would happen, it seems _everyone_ but he did. Is this a case of
wishful thinking, or being blinded by how great he thinks his own product is?
Also, the idea that they're making so much money off redirecting the people
showing their genitals sounds very... unlikely. Surely these people aren't the
sort who would, after being kicked from chat-roulette, go on to sign up for a
dating site?

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danielh
I think he sees that himself now: _I think I would accept the offers now,
because I'm much more educated about it._

Regarding the money: The article mentions redirecting these users to
FriendFinder.com, that should probably read AdultFriendFinder.com. I find it
highly plausible that this kind of traffic has a very good conversion rate on
an adult dating site.

~~~
jacquesm
Even at $100 / signup it wasn't worth it to me. AFF converts terribly.

~~~
danielh
I didn't mean to imply that they make 100,000$/mo of AFF. My point was that
they probably redirect their adult traffic to something adult related and not
to mainstream dating sites.

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m_eiman
The title reminded me of a hilarious video from some years ago, "Heap of
trouble". "Nine naked men walking down the road would cause a heap of trouble"
indeed :)

Crappy quality: <http://www.myvideo.de/watch/4293877/Heap_of_Trouble>

Donate-to-view-in-good-quality at artist's website:
<http://www.stevesullivan.co.uk/heap.html>

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faramarz
Did I read this right? He's making $100k/mnth, which is impressive! but whats
the $50k for? What's the thinking behind the investment?

    
    
      According to Ternovskiy, Chatroulette is now earning
      $100,000 per month due to its refined business model and
      content-control system--all from "naked men." That's 
      triple the site's monthly "mainstream" or "normal" 
      revenue, as Ternovskiy refers to it.

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firebones
To turn an old adage into a pivot: When life hands you naked men, make naked-
men-lemonade-aka-affiliate-marketing.

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markbnine
at first I thought this was an Onion article...

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fbnt
I've got the feeling that this kid haven't fully realized what he's got on his
hands, pity it'll be too late when he does.

~~~
chopsueyar
That was the feeling of most chatroulette users initially (not realizing what
the other person 'got on his hands').

