BUSINESS INSIDER – July 15 – In 1994, when only ~5% of Americans had Internet, Gary Kremen took a $2,500 advance on his credit card to buy the domain name Match.com. Today, Match is one of the most-visited dating sites in the country. According to comScore, it attracted ~6M unique visitors in May 2015. 2 years after founding the company, Kremen walked away with just $50K. In 1993. Kremen was paying $2.99 per minute on 900-number dating services. He found it inefficient so he founded Electric Classifies, an online personals database. Late in 1994, he secured ~$1.5M in funding. Match went live in April 1995. Deepak Kamra, the lead VC at Canaan Partners responsible for the Match investment, said the early content was “borderline porn.” The VCs had serious doubts about Kremen’s management skills. They removed Kremen from the CEO post in mid-1995.
by Jeff Kauflin
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