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Markus Frind, the founder of PlentyOfFish.com is my new hero (James Hong of Hot or Not is a close second). Marcus spends about two hours a day in his underwear managing a free dating website that gets twelve billion page views a year. He is the only employee, and he only has one server. And by the way, he makes $5-6 million/year with Google ads.

I’ve moderated many panels in my time, and if I had to choose one that entrepeneurs should watch, this is it. If you’re one guy/gal or two guys/gals in a garage, it will push all the right buttons, and you’ll love it. However, if your plan is to raise several million dollars from venture capitalists and then hire five engineers, one vp of biz dev, one CTO, two testers, and a vp of marketing to ship a product in a year, you probably shouldn’t spend your time watching it.

The members of the five-person panel provided many good insights into starting and funding a company today.

- Marcus Kazmierczak, vp of engineering, Maya’s Mom
- Markus Frind, Founder, PlentyofFish.com
- James Hong, Co-Founder, HotorNot.com
- Dave Lu, CEO, Fanpop
- Karen Northup, CEO and Founder, CoreFino

Guy Kawaski

Ever run across a website where you just want to swat them off the screen?

A rather new website, LiveFaceOnWeb.com is an internet-based service that allows your website to have a real person as the face of your company.

They believe that real people on websites walking around and talking to you will help you make more sales.

At first I was really impressed with this service and business model. But frankly, the company’s website is rather annoying. I found navigating the website I got the same old guy and lady asking me if I have questions and telling me to click on them. “Got a question, click on us” …. long pause as I laugh at their smirk after that proposition.

Leave me alone old guy!

Anyways, after the ranting there are some things that are good about this service for your start up business.

• Select from variety of models available on our web site. If you can’t find the look you are seeking, please contact us so we can work with you to find what you need.
• Type in a script and we’ll have the model say what you want, the way you want it.
• Explain what action, if any, you would like your model to do. Commonly you would want the model to point to something on screen when they describe a specific line of service or product from the main page. The model can also be sitting, walking, or simply standing.
• Take the next step to have your model interact with your visitors. Let your model ask the necessary questions for you, and be a personal salesperson.

Entrepreneur Ryan Allis, co-founder of iContact, is interviewed on The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch on May 31, 2007.

YouTube

Looking For Inspiration Today?

Check out this collection of videos about social entrepreneurs from around the world. It’s called the FRONTLINE/World series.

This special site will feature the stories of people whose ideas and organizations create new and sustainable markets and services that benefit underserved communities everywhere in the developing world.

In a nutshell, these are stories about individuals whose ideas leap beyond charity to find systemic solutions to poverty, education, health and social justice.

FRONTLINE/World has profiled a computer engineer in India who puts Internet kiosks in poor neighborhoods throughout his country, helping bridge the digital divide for thousands of children. In Kenya a world-class long-distance runner uses her prize money to start a training camp for poor village women, like herself, whose lives are changed forever.

In South Africa a business entrepreneur invents and installs a merry-go-round pushed round by children that pumps enough water for a village of 2,500, making the delivery of clean water child’s play. In Guatemala, an American coffee distributor helps develop organic growers among the region’s poor farmers, whose beans can be marketed as “fair trade” providing them a living wage.

In Uganda, two young social entrepreneurs develop a revolutionary model for microlending, using the Internet to connect borrowers with lenders, person to person, a venture that has grown from one small village in Africa to 11 countries around the world.

PBS