

From 10 Hours a Week, $10 Million a Year - Plenty of Fish - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13digi.html?pagewanted=all

======
kyro
I think you guys should give him a bit more credit. True, the interface is
horrible, and yes, luck was definitely involved, but when you look beyond
that, he managed to deliver a service that, in my opinion, filled the needs of
many - a completely free of charge dating site. Many other dating sites are
extremely limiting with respects to being able to contact people, often times
not even letting users message each other without submitting to a monthly fee.

It may look like crap, and he may have used shady tactics to gain traction,
but the guy is making $10 million a year. I'm sure most of you would put up
with much more if the reward for doing so was so delicious.

~~~
blader
I think we're too quick to attribute what we don't understand to just plain
luck. I wouldn't underestimate Markus - running a site with 300MM page views
per month single handedly is pretty impressive.

One quick observation: it's not an accident that some of the ugliest websites
on the internet (MySpace, Craigslist) are also the most popular.

~~~
inovica
Well said. There is some research out there (sorry don't have time to re-look)
which covers "Bad Design" and how it has worked well for some companies. Often
I think people like these sites as they appear to be amateur and not run by
some slick corporate

~~~
corentin
It's just that people have a different opinion of what good style is (a lot of
people _love_ Comic Sans MS and websites with animated, blinking stuff).

------
inovica
One thing to note is that he ALWAYS looked at the business case. He realised
that to be a "me to" wasn't going to work and so his model was to offer a
completely free dating site and make money from advertising. Whilst others
obsess with creating great design and how cool they are, this guy just created
something that works. I think rather than being negative towards him, we
should learn a lesson from him.

On some of the comments below regarding shady tactics, I can't speak for this
as I don't know anything about the company. If this is the case, then it's not
great, but from Rockerfeller to Steve Jobs this has sometimes been the way of
it. I think if we can take some lessons from the good side - ie quick to
market, novel approach to making money, and apply them to what we are doing
ourselves then that's a good thing

------
mhartl
Do you suppose he had the foresight to register plentyofluck.com as well?

------
drm237
"Mr. Frind says that close to 50,000 new photos come in every day, each one of
which needs to be checked to verify that it is an actual person and that it
does not not contain nudity."

of all the places for a double negative...

------
bayareaguy
It is hardly surprising that it only takes one person to run this kind of
thing.

Everything they say he does was done years earlier (match.com and hotornot
come to mind), but the technology needed for this kind of application hasn't
changed in a decade.

Perhaps he's being a little disproportionately rewarded for his efforts but
that's just good business. Also I'm sure he's helped make plenty of real
people happy who could care less about how his site looks.

------
maurycy
Inspiring.

------
henning
File under: people with no taste who don't really deserve to be successful.

Even if you don't think "doesn't deserve" applies, still file under no taste.

If you want to be tasteless and really big, try getting an executive position
in Wal-Mart or something.

~~~
blader
Taste is not universal. This not PC, but there is a correlation between class
and taste in design. The clean, uncluttered design appeals to the 'elite', but
the masses just have different taste in things. There are reasons why CNN and
Fox News look the way they do.

[http://www.graphpaper.com/2006/09-04_class-and-web-design-
pa...](http://www.graphpaper.com/2006/09-04_class-and-web-design-part-1-the-
class-struggle)

~~~
dcurtis
CNN.com actually is a beautiful site.

~~~
blader
It is beautiful - part of my point.

~~~
dcurtis
Oh, I misunderstood. You were comparing the types of people who use CNN to the
types of people who use Fox News. Got it.

------
rms
The power of SEO...

~~~
tocomment
Why do you say that? Did he do a lot of SEO? Anything questionable?

~~~
rms
He was definitely given an early boost by SEO. He talks in his blog about the
SEO communities he was a part of.

~~~
tocomment
How can I get an early boost from SEO? I read all the SEO blogs, but there
didn't seem to be any advice beyond the obvious.

~~~
rms
At the time Frind launched the first free dating site he was filling a large
hole in the market. If you can find a gap that big to fill, SEO will take care
of your company.

------
AlfaWolph
Eat your heart out Timothy Ferriss.

