SAN FRANCISCO - Business 2.0, the publication that covers entrepreneurs and new business trends, has published an extensive profile of Various Inc. and its founder, Andrew Conru, in the April issue.
Charting the career path of Conru, writer Joel Stein reports Conru "owns 27 sites under an umbrella company called Various, controlling twice as much online dating traffic as better-known rivals Match and Yahoo! Personals. But his clients tend to be much more fun. That's because most of them post pictures in which they're having sex. When you've already seen your date naked, it's a lot easier to focus on what she's saying."
Business 2.0 explains how the popular Various Inc. site AdultFriendFinder started and notes that "with more than 35 million visits in 2006 and 75,000 new users registering each day, AFF ranks among the 100 most popular sites in the United States…so mainstream that a joke about it appeared in the Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore romantic comedy Because I Said So."
The article also charts the friendship and eventual partnership between Conru and "Legendary Lars" Mapstead, noting that "Mapstead also generates many of the ideas for new ventures. Every time he comes up with something, I start thinking, 'How much work is this going to be?'" Conru told Business 2.0. "There are times I tell Lars not to come up with any more. It's like he's beating me up with ideas."
A caption under a photo of Mapstead wearing a long, zebra-patterned cloak and a ski mask reads, "Eccentric No. 2. Conru hired Mapstead as an $11-per-hour coder. Now, Mapstead is a co-owner who drives new ventures."
Not surprisingly, Business 2.0 focuses on the metrics of the business, but notes that "the 24 million users from 195 countries (116,000 members in China thus far) are real people, not actresses or models, and many are 40 or older."
One reason for the success of Various Inc.'s sites is that Conru "found he could build a community through exclusion." Most other social-networking sites, from Match and eHarmony to MySpace and YouTube, are based on the assumption the site that amasses the most users, wins. Conru, on the other hand, believes people will pay more to be part of "a small group of like-minded souls." Also, Stein wrote, "Various has avoided the need for extensive startup capital by relying on affiliate marketing to build traffic, and the company now has more than 500,000 affiliates."
Palo Alto-based Various Inc. is a trendsetter in the online personals sector. The company's staff of more than 200 has developed dozens of owned and operated sites as well as popular co-branded partner sites.
