Plenty of Fish (part 1): Founder Markus Frind web2.0/UX SUPERSTAR
Matt just posted a terrific overview of the amount of work, money and foresight it took SiGe to become a “Chip-Champ”. His main point was that success does not come easy.
That brought to mind the FASCINATING Canadian web2.0 success story that also highlights that the right mix of business model and design can make you a hero. The hero I’m talking about is Markus Frind – creator, CTO, CEO, developer, board member, and part time support worker of the world’s FIFTH largest web-based dating site, PlentyOfFish. The company is HUGE! Based in a Vancouver apartment it boasts 2 employees (him and his girlfriend). It also boasts 13 million page views per day. Via AdSense he has become a millionaire (he’s pictured here holding up a $900,000 Google check). Not bad for a project he launched in 2003 – just “to learn ASP.NET”.
The most clever thing Markus did was design a web 2.0 dating site that doesn’t punish people for trying to interact with other people. The user experience plays a big part in its success. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not a pretty UI… no flashy AJAX features. in fact it looks very plain. BUT it’s well designed to meet its value proposition: FACILITATING people getting to know other people.
The big shift is that POF is free – completely. No hidden credit card verification scams, etc. connect all you want. Markus DOES NOT WANT YOUR MONEY. By comparison, the other commercial dating sites allow you to browse for free – but as soon as you want to message someone, you pay. In the case of Microsoft-owned LavaLife, it could be as much as $1.50 to send an initial message to someone you don’t even know exists.
Part 2 – I’ll explore how POF’s business model radically alters the user experience model.
[tags]PlentyOfFish, Markus, Web2.0, Dating sites[/tags]
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