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:

1. Akash Garg of hi5

2. Sean Suhl of Suicide Girls

3. Max Levchin of Slide

4. James Hong of HotorNot

5. Markus Frind of PlentyofFish

6. 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!

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Comments

[webtech]

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

[Dave Dugdale]

I will agree this is great content - please provide more videos like this.

[Auditing Dept]

Isn't SuicideGirls.com a bit too much like a porn site?

[John]

Great video! The pannel (and moderator) were very interesting and very amusing...

[lucie]

Excellent! Missing only one thing: Cabel Sasser of Panic Inc.

[Mat Atkinson]

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!!

[Brian]

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!

[worth]

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

[Criss Ittermann]

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.

[ZeroPlay]

Brilliant video, loved the guy from Fark - Pure comedy!

[Harry Chong]

Very useful stuff! Great video.

www.doughstreet.com

[Anthony Papillion]

Very cool video and definitely gave me the extra "umph" I needed to go out and just get it. Thanks for the excellent video!

[Marco K Polenta]

Thank you for sharing this... a really interesting discussion.
PS: hey, it's my first post here!

[Dinesh]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting / sharing.

http://my-quotes-collection.blogspot.com

[evden eve nakliyat]

Hi

Im Mary
very nice work
thanks

[Myspace Generator]

Having only one employee means you get 100% of the profit! :)

[Clay Cook]

Thanks for the post guy.
Wish I could have been there.

[Jeff N]

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!

[Maxo]

Great Panel. Very Interesting. Just I think they need more microphones :)

[Johnny Chan]

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

[Brandon Hopkins]

Fark.com has one employee!?!?

[Kyle]

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 =)

[Cliff Figallo]

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.

[Corey]

Thanks for sharing this Guy. Loved it!

[Ken]

Guy,

Fantastic post! Thanks for sharing.

[Wendy Piersall :: eMom]

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!! :) )

[Jody]

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.

[noah kagan]

Thanks for moderating Guy. You definitely kicked some ass!

Cheers,
Noah

PS> I posted the Threadless video on CommunityNext.com

[Dave]

that was definitely one of the best panels i've ever seen. great job guy :)

(and kudos to Noah for the conference... fantastic job!)

[Yakito]

thanks guy

[Josh]

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!

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I'll ask. I didn't shoot the video.

Thanks,

Guy

[Lary Stucker]

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

[Untitled Subscription]

Hi Guy!

I am glad I did not unsubscribe from your feed!

Great video.

[Brilliances.com]

Nice! Great panel of internet celebrities. Thx for sharing

[John Dodds]

Magnificent.

[Morgan Ramsay]

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. ;)

[Rick]

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.