Category: Outlets – BusinesWeek

Dinner, Movie, Background Check

Posted on May 15, 2005

Business_weekBUSINESS WEEK — May 9 — The founder and CEO of True.com, Vest has been pushing several state legislatures to pass a bill mandating that all online-dating sites do background checks on their members or carry a disclaimer if they choose not to. The legislation has been proposed in California, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia, but so far has gained the most momentum in Florida, but it ran out of time. Match.com, Yahoo, Microsoft, and others are against it.  The American Civil Liberties Union contend it violates members’ privacy.  Vest and Republican state legislators — John Carona, Texas, Alan Cropsey of Michigan, and Ambler of Florida — believe the Internet’s current anonymity lulls people into a false sense of security.  Legislators point out that some 180 organizations have come out in favor of the bill, including local sheriff’s offices and victims’ support groups.  Before starting True.com, Vest owned a financial firm called HD Vest, a network of independent accountants who also gave financial-planning advice. In the early 1990s, it was either illegal or against accounting rules to take commissions in 40 out of 50 states. Vest ignored the rules. The FTC backed Vest’s stance and the American Institute of CPAs reversed its anticommission stance, causing many of the states to follow suit.  Vest’s firm prospered and was sold to Wells Fargo in 2001 for $127 million.  No matter what happens on the state level with background checks, Vest aims to be a thorn in the online-dating industry’s side for years to come.

The full article was originally published at Business Week, but is no longer available.

In the Internet’s High-Speed Lane

Posted on May 12, 2005

Business_week_high_speed_laneBUSINESS WEEK ONLINE — May 7 — It has been a while since 18-year-old Abe Hassan read a book of fiction or went to bed before 10 p.m. Hassan’s social life revolves around LiveJournal.com. Already, 28% of teens keep blogs, the Web logs that are fast becoming a prominent alternative source of news and commentary, while only 16% of adults do the same, according to market researchers Jupiter Research.  Some pundits call the under-25 crowd the super-communicators. They love instant messaging  (IM) and spend more money on their cell phones than on cigarettes, candy or music. They’re doing more and more of their interpersonal communications virtually. 

Mark Brooks: 16% of adults keep blogs?  There is, evidently, a need for more community and connection in American society.  Hence the success of Starbucks, cell phones and online communities.  But aren’t these modes of connections on rather a superficial level?  Can we really replace good old fashioned, in the flesh contact with a few good friends.

Will Meetup Users Pay or Leave?

Posted on April 15, 2005

Meet_upBUSINESS WEEK — Apr 13 — Meetup made its reputation when Howard Dean backers used the meeting site to form local groups. The number of "meetups" has jumped 50% from a year ago, to more than 2,400 a week. Meetup told its 2 million members that it's time for their groups to pay up. Organizers of each Meetup group, of which there are currently 54,000, are to pay $19 a month, or $9 a month for existing groups. Founder and CEO Scott Heiferman says he hopes the move will help the 29-person NYC company turn a profit by yearend. Friendster, with 14 million registered users, hopes to make money from advertisements and corporate sponsorships. LinkedIn launched a for-pay service, charging up to $95 a month for job listings.  As Heiferman says bluntly: "Meetup doesn't deserve to continue if it's not creating value."

The full article was originally published at BusinessWeek, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: There are too many dead groups on MeetUp.  Charging a nominal fee will ultimately enrich the user experience. Good move.

IAC/Match – Peripatetic Diller

Posted on April 13, 2005

Barry_diller_1DAILY RECORD / BUSINESS WEEK — Apr 13 — Diller was born in San Francisco, the son of a wealthy real-estate developer, and he was not a good student. At Beverly Hills High, he was fired from the newspaper for his frequent absences. At age 19, he dropped out of UCLA. Why had he and so many other CEOs, such as Bill Gates, not graduated? "We’re nonconformists. We’re impatient. I didn’t want to say yes in a room at a desk for four years." Diller has gone from the mailroom of the William Morris Agency to ABC to chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures ("Raiders of the Lost Ark") to the Fox Broadcasting under Rupert Murdoch. Sometimes Diller had trouble expressing himself and sometimes he succumbed to clichéish thinking and occasionally even contradicted himself. But he clearly is very intelligent. His comments: ON MURDOCH: "I’m a frightened Tweetiecat compared to him. He’s real savvy. He can take an opportunity and make it happen." ON ONLINE DATING: "For certain people, it’s a better way than randomly meeting someone across a room. It’s magical. It’s a great service. It’s led to an incredible number of marriages." "Would he consider launching divorce.com? the moderator asked facetiously. No, but "We’re working on conflict resolution."  ON JACK WELCH (consultant to IAC): "He’s the greatest manager I know, without question – with his experience, his spirit and his energy. He keeps yelling at me, telling me what to do. He’s taught me to have a nonbureaucratic infrastructure and make it work. When I’m in a room with my colleagues, he’s the CEO. ON SELLING EXPEDIA: It’s so large, it has been dominating the company.  ON WHY HIS COMPANIES HAVE HIGH TURNOVER: "I believe in conflict. I like people arguing passionately about what they think is true – when there isn’t enough information. Some people don’t like that atmosphere – noisy and harsh. I’m not changing it." 

Making Plaxo a Paying Proposition

Posted on March 23, 2005

BUSINESS WEEK — Mar 22 — Plaxo is launching two new premium services: an address book customers can access from any mobile phone and a service designed for power users to clean up information on contacts that may have switched jobs or moved.  The mean number of contacts is 340. 

The full article was originally published at BusinessWeek, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: I worked on eturn.com which became xpherix.com in 1999.  Same idea.  Pays to have smart (VC) money.

Europe Falls in Love with E-Dating

Posted on February 9, 2005

BUSINESS WEEK — Feb 8 — Online dating, virtually unknown on the Continent five years ago, is taking off in a big way, even as the phenomenon seems to be slowing on the other side of the Atlantic.  Revenues of the leading European dating Web sites will more than double over the next five years, from $200 million to $450 million, predicts Paris-based analyst Olivier Beauvillain, Jupiter Research. Sales in the U.S. are expected to grow only 9% this year, to $515 million. The region's biggest online dating service is Meetic.com, a private company launched three years ago by Web entrepreneur Marc Simoncini. The site is set to hit 10 million members around St. Single's Day and will book around $55 million in sales this year.

The full article was originally published at BusinessWeek, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: See you in Prague  Both myself and Mark from iDate interviewed with the journalist for this article.