Platinum Dave is old school. He's got the work ethic of a farmer and the swagger of a gangster.
Born to Yugoslavian parents who immigrated to Toronto during World War II, he knows hard work and he's seen struggle.
His father worked as a meat cutter for 45 years. For 15 of those years he also worked nights as a chef. His mother was a line worker in a factory.
From the time he was a wee lad, Dave wanted something more—autonomy. He started a landscaping business in his early teens. He turned a hobby into a comic book and sports card business when he was 15, getting his first taste of real success. Along with his brother Dan, Dave turned their flea market operation into two Toronto-based stores and a warehouse that shipped cards across North America.
Their initial venture into the Web was a mainstream portal, which quickly proved to the Brothers Platinum that the real money was in adult. That realization led to the TGP market and easy money.
In 1999, Dave gathered up his life savings and convinced is brother, 13 years his senior, to quit a high-paying consulting job and form Platinum Bucks. Times were tight at first and there were more than a few bumps in the road, but the sacrifice and hard work paid off.
In little more than five years Platinum Bucks has become one of the giants in online porn, if not porn in general.
And Dave isn't afraid to tell you about it, either.
Are you still a comics geek?
I'm no longer into comics or cards. I have a small collection of 20 comic books that I kept in a drawer, which are valued at around $5000. Other than those 20 books, we sold off the 15,000-plus comics we had years ago.
You've said the mass production of sports cards brought down the profitability of that business. See any similarity in porn?
I do see a similarity. Cards eventually became just cardboard. They were no longer special because they were mass-produced to the point where the market was completely flooded. Porn, right now, is being mass-produced on all levels—from free porn to pay sites, but it's not quite the same. Cards were a four- to five-year fad. Sex will always be a necessity in life.
Your first adult websites were easy money. What's changed?
What's changed is competition. There is 10 to 20 times the competition out there and the users are much more sophisticated. Also, what's affected the market are scam operations, which have ripped off surfers to the point where they'll never buy anything online again. Ad Stats was one of these operations. I've heard stories of credit cards still being billed from different sources and different countries one year later. Those surfers will never buy porn again.
Your few odd jobs include [being a] security guard. Ever had to kick anyone's ass?
[Laughs] I wish. In those days I was big into Tae Kwon Do. I was in the gym three to four times a week for two straight years and was attending competitions, in which I would typically finish top three. I always enjoyed sparring. I guess it came from my father, who in his early years in Canada was a boxer and trained with a former Canadian champion.
You poured your life savings into Platinum Bucks. That couldn't have been an easy decision.
Many entrepreneurs go all or nothing, and we did just that. I gave everything I had. I knew as soon as I graduated from college I was [going to be working] on my own business. My brother quit a high-paying job. Neither of us ever thought about the business not succeeding. We knew we were going to make it, but I honestly never thought it would be to this degree. I still shake my head sometimes and say, "how the hell did I get here?" I went from the basement of my parents' house to a 50-person company in a little over 5 years.
What about the financial commitment?
We both had money saved up that we put into the company—a combined total of around $50,000. There were some trying times in the beginning. I was still living with my parents and Dan was scraping by with one-ply toilet paper and Kraft dinner. [Laughs]
How come everyone knows Platinum Dave, but few know Platinum Dan?
That's what makes our partnership so perfect. We both have the opposite skills [that when] combined create the ultimate team. Dan is the behind-the-scenes technical and financial guy; he doesn't like the limelight. I, on the other hand, am more outgoing. I've always found it easy being in social environments bringing home business.
Kind of like Voltron, huh?
Voltron. … [Laughs] I haven't heard that in a while. I was big into Transformers and G.I. Joe back in the day.
Have you lost any relationships because of porn?
Back in the day, many people felt I was an easy target for wisecracks when it came to my business. I was in a relationship for close to three years that broke apart because I continued in the porn business and never got a "real" job. I couldn't have my girlfriend not support me, so that was it.
What do you say to the people who made fun of you?
I don't have to say anything to those people. Everyone's tune has totally changed since the company has taken off. People that once were cracking jokes are now asking if we're hiring. Of course, I have no interest in hiring them.
If your ex wanted you back what would you say?
I would never, ever take anyone back who did not accept porn in the first place. I can't stand people that think they're above me because of my profession. I'm definitely not going to be in a relationship with someone like that.
What do your parents think about your high-rolling porn lifestyle?
My parents were fully supportive from the beginning. They are just happy that my brother and I are successful. All they've ever wanted was my brother and I to have a better life than they did. It's old-school European thinking.
Is porn just about the money?
In the end, porn is a business. Running my own business is what I love to do. It's a challenge, it's day-to-day excitement, week-to-week thrills as you watch your company grow. I think of myself as a pure entrepreneur, I always knew I would be working for myself. Porn has given me this opportunity.
In the early days of Platinum you were just scraping by. How have things changed?
I like to think that money has not changed me at all. I have always been a down-to-earth person who treats everyone the same no matter what you have or don't have. Of course, things have changed for me financially. I'm able to afford pretty much anything I want now. It's a full-time job spending money.
What have you learned from your father?
I definitely learned what the real meaning of hard work is. He never complained about his work, he never complained about his life, just woke up everyday and tackled his day the best he could. I've applied the same work ethic to my business.
What's the greatest lesson you've learned in this business?
I used to believe everyone was trustworthy until they gave me a reason to think otherwise. That is a naive way of thinking in the business world. It has burned me so many times and lost me a lot of money. Many offers end up on my desk, some not so good, some average, and then some that sound too good to be true. Ninety percent of the time they are not what they appear to be.
I've heard people say you have a big ego. Ego or confidence?
You really heard that? I am full of confidence. I need to be. You're portraying your company and I have a successful company I am proud of. I am a celebrity to the people. The people need me. If I don't show up to the party, then the party isn't worth going to. Like I said, "confidence, not ego." [Laughs]
What are your plans for your mainstream search engine, SearchForIt.com?
We're not looking to become Google or Yahoo, but we are looking to become a FindWhat or ePilot—publicly traded companies worth $50 million to $400 million. We have also developed a proprietary technology for click fraud, which we want to market as a product in 2006. We're in deep development and things are moving forward steadily, but it's definitely a long-term project. I suspect late 2006 is when we'll turn profitable on the mainstream side, but our company focus is very much adult and always will be.
Why back to mainstream?
Diversification mainly. We're taking what we learned in the adult area and applying it to mainstream. We feel pay-per-click is such a large market that as Google and Yahoo bid prices keep rising, the second- and third-tier search engines are going to be lifted by the tide. We're studying these engines to see what it takes to do an IPO.
So you've thought of going public?
I feel the ultimate accomplishment would be taking a company public. We've talked about it many times, but it's not something we've dug into too deep. I have a feeling once we start to find out what is involved in an IPO, it won't seem like such a good idea.
What's your ultimate goal for your company?
One last goal for my company would be to make Adult Rental as large as our competitors. The VoD market has so much potential. It's brand new and with the large initial investment, the market will be dominated by a few large players. I want to be one of those players.
Who do you look up to in the business?
I look up to the true businesspeople. There are a lot of people in this business that are just here for the lifestyle, but I truly enjoy the people that keep me on my toes, keep me competitive, and make me work harder.
If you were ever on the cover of Forbes, what would you want the headline to read?
Porn profits turn this young entrepreneur into media giant.
