Panel of Web Community Founders: Utter Defiance of the "Venture Capital" Model
At the CommunityNext conference I moderated this panel with the founders of six very successful web properties:
Akash Garg of hi5
Sean Suhl of Suicide Girls
Max Levchin of Slide
James Hong of HotorNot
Markus Frind of PlentyofFish
Drew Curtis of Fark
This is the most amusing panel that I’ve ever moderated, and the speakers defied many conventions of tech entrepreneurship—in particular the ones that venture capitalists believe are “proven.” If you’d like to learn how these companies became successful without “proven teams, proven technology, and proven business models,” you’ll love this video.
Here’s a little factoid that blew my mind: both Fark and PlentyofFish have only one employee!




Hey,
Can you please post the videos in you tube. You tube player does a nice job of buffering the video content when the connection speed is not good. Google video player doesnt care to buffer. With google video player lots of breaks while playing. When I press the pause button it stops buffering. You tube player continues buffering the contnet when I press the pause button. I can press the play button when buffering is complete. So you tube player please.
************
The problem is that YouTube doesn't permit long videos. This video would be something like 9 separate ones.
Guy
Posted by: webtech | Mar 10, 2007 7:33:11 AM
I will agree this is great content - please provide more videos like this.
Posted by: Dave Dugdale | Mar 8, 2007 10:54:13 AM
Isn't SuicideGirls.com a bit too much like a porn site?
Posted by: Auditing Dept | Mar 5, 2007 12:07:43 PM
Great video! The pannel (and moderator) were very interesting and very amusing...
Posted by: John | Mar 5, 2007 11:06:54 AM
Excellent! Missing only one thing: Cabel Sasser of Panic Inc.
Posted by: lucie | Feb 28, 2007 4:43:19 AM
Guy
One of the best panels I've seen. Great entertainment.
Nothing really new in terms of insights - build around your needs/passions; avoid VC; let your customers guide you. But, totally refreshing to hear these stories first hand. These guys make it sound so easy!!
Posted by: Mat Atkinson | Feb 26, 2007 11:18:41 AM
Haha, thats quite a collection of people. Its funny how these are the new heroes of the dot com age...now these website just need to start making some money!
Posted by: Brian | Feb 26, 2007 10:51:46 AM
Fark is funny! Someone came to my blog from that site a week or so ago and I went back to check it out. Nothing like short attention span comedy to jump start your mood.
One person is all it takes if you get out and spread your input to different places, which I started doing just a few weeks ago - a chart I submitted to swivel.com last week is featured on their main page right now, front and center! SO exhilirating! - worth, aka num4tdog
Posted by: worth | Feb 26, 2007 7:04:21 AM
I heard about Sucide Girls years ago when I got a Caught in the Net review from Blowfish. Anything that portrays real women in a sexy but respectful manner is eye-catching. Other than HotOrNot, I didn't know about the other panelists' sites.
Since the topic was about venture capital, I would have liked to hear 1) how DID they fund themselves (someone mentioned family loans, but no one else spoke of start-up money, whether they subsisted on rice & beans and funded their site on pocket lint....that's where I'm at ;) terrific ideas, but I need to pay my rent!!!) and 2) whether at any point the venture capitalists noticed them on the rise and rushed forward with offers of large sums of cash that they TURNED AWAY. That middle-finger potential would have made something that was funny even funnier :) and a lot more on-topic for at least the title of this post :)
I'm always frustrated at the number of "idea people" looking for a website designer/programmer (like me) to "take their idea to the next level" all for some small equity in what results -- like us designers/programmers can't find plenty of ideas of our own, and we don't have bills to pay RIGHT NOW. :P And I'm glad that 2 of the six panelists remained 1 person companies! Go!! :)
Thanks for a great time! You share the best of the best, and that's why I stick around.
Posted by: Criss Ittermann | Feb 25, 2007 8:03:58 AM
Brilliant video, loved the guy from Fark - Pure comedy!
Posted by: ZeroPlay | Feb 24, 2007 4:24:45 PM
Very useful stuff! Great video.
www.doughstreet.com
Posted by: Harry Chong | Feb 24, 2007 4:07:49 PM
Very cool video and definitely gave me the extra "umph" I needed to go out and just get it. Thanks for the excellent video!
Posted by: Anthony Papillion | Feb 24, 2007 10:47:24 AM
Thank you for sharing this... a really interesting discussion.
PS: hey, it's my first post here!
Posted by: Marco K Polenta | Feb 24, 2007 9:23:02 AM
Very interesting. Thanks for posting / sharing.
http://my-quotes-collection.blogspot.com
Posted by: Dinesh | Feb 24, 2007 6:41:53 AM
Hi
Im Mary
very nice work
thanks
Posted by: evden eve nakliyat | Feb 24, 2007 2:23:01 AM
Having only one employee means you get 100% of the profit! :)
Posted by: Myspace Generator | Feb 24, 2007 2:16:54 AM
Thanks for the post guy.
Wish I could have been there.
Posted by: Clay Cook | Feb 23, 2007 11:25:43 PM
Cool stuff...
While not every company deserves to live it's impressive when a group (or sometimes just one) of passionate folks decide to make a go at it with something that they love to do long enough to make a business out of it. "Sticktoitiveness" strikes again!
Posted by: Jeff N | Feb 23, 2007 9:04:50 PM
Great Panel. Very Interesting. Just I think they need more microphones :)
Posted by: Maxo | Feb 23, 2007 7:54:52 PM
Thanks for sharing, I always love the panels you moderate. You have a knack for putting people at ease and injecting some much needed levity.
Interesting insight about the role that marketing plays in tech entrepreneurship, especially Max's focus on the next viral fabric. It's important to note since marketing's natural tendency is to move from use to abuse as trends mature.
Johnny
Posted by: Johnny Chan | Feb 23, 2007 5:00:56 PM
Fark.com has one employee!?!?
Posted by: Brandon Hopkins | Feb 23, 2007 3:06:22 PM
Great post guy...
so POF should lie to it's members then? an excerpt from his about page.
".... online dating site, and is constantly improving based on your feedback."
I thought you don't listen to feedback =)
Posted by: Kyle | Feb 23, 2007 2:15:07 PM
Having been there for the startup of the WELL in 1985, I recognize a lot of what these hilarious dudes are going through -just hoping people show up and make your place socially worth visiting, and hardly believing that some of them even get *addicted* to it. Your panel members are a lot more savvy about it than we were.
You DO listen to your community, though, Markus. You just gotta know what to take action on.
Good stuff, Guy.
Posted by: Cliff Figallo | Feb 23, 2007 1:39:39 PM
Thanks for sharing this Guy. Loved it!
Posted by: Corey | Feb 23, 2007 12:40:44 PM
Guy,
Fantastic post! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Ken | Feb 23, 2007 12:36:12 PM
One Employee...
One Employee?!
You know, I didn't even realize the self-imposed limitations I had going on in my head until I read that sentence.
I think I just experienced a life-altering 'Ah-Ha' moment.
I had better go get to work!
(ps - as always, thanks for the inspiration!! :) )
Posted by: Wendy Piersall :: eMom | Feb 23, 2007 12:32:07 PM
Hi Guy. Thanks for this, while I've only had time to check out the first couple of minutes, it is very interesting... I will be checking out the rest over the weekend when I have more time. I love the fact that it laid back. It makes for a more entertaining panel and presentation. Great stuff. Can't wait to see you here in Kelowna.
Posted by: Jody | Feb 23, 2007 11:28:05 AM
Thanks for moderating Guy. You definitely kicked some ass!
Cheers,
Noah
PS> I posted the Threadless video on CommunityNext.com
Posted by: noah kagan | Feb 23, 2007 10:50:18 AM
that was definitely one of the best panels i've ever seen. great job guy :)
(and kudos to Noah for the conference... fantastic job!)
Posted by: Dave | Feb 23, 2007 10:01:33 AM
thanks guy
Posted by: Yakito | Feb 23, 2007 8:47:08 AM
Is there any chance of getting an audio-only version of this? I'd love to listen to it, but the only time I have is when I'm commuting. An MP3 would let me put it on my iPod and listen to it on the way to work.
Either way, your blog is great. Thanks!
*******************
I'll ask. I didn't shoot the video.
Thanks,
Guy
Posted by: Josh | Feb 23, 2007 8:07:21 AM
The timing could not have been better. Our site www.EpicUnderground.com is the "YouTube" of Action-sports and we do not have a large staff or a "proven team." It's not action-sports, but thanks for posting this great video!
-Lary
Posted by: Lary Stucker | Feb 23, 2007 6:59:11 AM
Hi Guy!
I am glad I did not unsubscribe from your feed!
Great video.
Posted by: Untitled Subscription | Feb 23, 2007 5:43:36 AM
Nice! Great panel of internet celebrities. Thx for sharing
Posted by: Brilliances.com | Feb 23, 2007 5:08:15 AM
Magnificent.
Posted by: John Dodds | Feb 23, 2007 4:17:01 AM
Wow, Guy. Y'know, there's a big difference between providing great content and great content you created. I'd say this video is comparable to your best ovation-worthy speech. You're in the in-crowd. You're cool now. ;)
Posted by: Morgan Ramsay | Feb 23, 2007 3:20:12 AM
With Sean and Drew, how could it not be an amusing panel? I think they definitely loosened things up and made the others much more open as well.
Posted by: Rick | Feb 23, 2007 12:16:18 AM