Black dating site BlackPeopleMeet now has a MySpace application available. Interesting that they are offering this first on MySpace and not Facebook; perhaps they concluded that there are more African Americans using MySpace than Facebook. Their app currently has 1,480 members. Something to keep an eye on…

“Let your friends on MySpace help you Rate a Date with profiles from BlackPeopleMeet.com! Your results will display within your account on BlackPeopleMeet.

Get your friends opinions and let them help you increase your chances to find that special someone!”

There is a really cool new band called The Abjeez that I am a big fan of. I love their blend of creativity, reggae, SKA, rock and world pop sound - the lyrics, sang in Farsi, are fun and socio/politically stimulating. Their latest video for the song “Barab Barab” is premiering on Nuzizo - check out the sweet product placement on the car’s license plate

Enjoy the video (click the thumb to watch)…

btw, hysterical unexpected scene at the 2:32 mark (pay attention to what’s happening in the background)

I can’t disclose my contact or all the figures, but here’s what I am willing to share:

- Revenue: $20 million top line - flat growth
- EBITDA: $1 to 2 million
- Price: Sold for $38 million but there were some other adjustments taking the proceeds north of $40 million

Gosh, with the recent lofty price tag AOL paid for Bebo ($850 million) and given Hi5’s latest valuation, I certainly expected CommunityConnect to be worth much much more than $40-50 million. Then again, their huge overhead (a staff of 100?!), low EBITDA and flat growth probably cost them a few multiple points. Plus, the only site really worth anything to RadioOne is BlackPlanet.com.

A few years ago, the niche space was the Wild West; a free for all, gold rush if you will, for sites to gain critical mass for their respective niche(s) with little competition. The Black vertical is an example of a lucrative niche that was, a few short years ago, up for grabs. BlackPeopleMeet ran away with it, and now Sparks’ BlackSingles.com is now playing catch up. Years of aggressive cpc bids, little competition and a strong platform has BackPeopleMeet as the leading Black dating community and probably as the major earner in People Media’s portfolio of niche sites.

While there are still opportunities out there for getting in the niche dating game, it’s fast becoming a crowded/competitive space *give me some elbow room pls* with increasingly little that differentiates one site from the next.

A Good Fit:

I still think that an AOL/People Media partnership makes sense and will happen. AOL’s BlackVoices.com, the industry leader for Black community news, is a great fit with one of the leading Black dating sites. Not sure how much AOL makes from their Match.com partnership, but I bet that they can earn more revenue by partnering with a niche focused Black dating service.

Lost Opportunity:

BlackPlanet.com, the leading Black social network that was recently bought by RadioOne (more on this later), really lost out on an excellent opportunity to be the Black dating leader. For starters, they were late launching a dating service (currently called BlackPlanetLove) and secondly, their platform, while improved over time, was clearly not built by seasoned dating industry minded folks. Personally, I would separate their dating section from BlackPlanet.com – less clutter, more focus on dating and better conversions.

Roll Up:

So when are we going to see someone clean up the dating space and do a roll up of leading niche sites? People Media and Spark are two of the largest niche dating players, but I don’t think that they can afford a significant roll up - in fact, both would probably love to be acquired by a larger player. Time will tell…

Life is good!

In a recent NY Times article, dating industry analyst Mark Brooks said that, “the only real entrepreneurial opportunities left in the online dating world lie in the niche market.” I look at this space from A to Z everyday and I can tell you that the niche dating space is saturated among the strongest revenue producing verticals (religion, race, sexual orientation). Are there still opportunities, yes, but those opportunities lie within increasingly smaller, more focused niches that can yield great margins but significantly smaller revenue potential.

Attractive verticals catering to religion, race and sexual orientation are now very difficult to penetrate. To become a player you have to offer a service that is innovative/differentiates itself from the pack, buy one of the niche leaders or be ready to bring a war chest of marketing dollars to the table.

That said, there are opportunities out there and I welcome anyone running a niche site to email me about a partnership or an acquisition. Brownie points if you are someone who is part of the community that you serve. I have always felt that sites founded by people that identify with and truly understand their community/audience have a leg up on those that run a network of cookie cutter sites. Drop me a line, let’s talk =)

There’s an interesting article in the latest issue (May) of Inc. Magazine on OkCupid and their recently launched CrazyBlindDate.com. The piece, found on page 54, is titled, “Their Online Dating Site Was Struggling. Was a Blind-State Stunt Really The Answer?”

You really have to tip your hat to Markus/PlentyofFish and what he has accomplished as a non-funded one man show when you consider that OkCupid has to date raised $7 million and only generates revenues of $1 - $2 million. That said, OkCupid founders Sam Yagan and Chris Coyne are true innovators in the dating space. Their creativity to dream up new concepts/features may very well be the difference between revolutionizing the dating industry or being another dating site in the dead pool.

Funny, I’m not looking for a job but a friend of mine nevertheless sent me the following opening at SpeedDate.com - looks like SpeedDate is nicely tapping into the Standford alumni pool for leads. A $5k referral bonus is a heck of a way to incentives people. Anyway, if interested drop me a line and i’ll give you the contact details — let’s share the $5k, ok? (jk)

My company, SpeedDate.com, is searching for a hands-on VP of engineering to lead our development efforts. SpeedDate is a new online dating company focused on connecting people through live video chat. We are venture-backed and are offering a $5k referral bonus to the person who recommends the candidate we hire. Please contact me at dan@speeddate.com if you know appropriate candidates. The job description follows. Thanks!

Responsibilities- Define, architect and implement all enhancements to SpeedDate.com and associated social apps (Facebook, MySpace, etc.)- Lead development of high-volume email infrastructure, ensuring high level of email deliverability - Oversee iterative design cycles and on-time feature releases- Oversee development of back-end databases for high volume web applications- Tune existing development processes- Prioritize tasks for other technical team members- Provide technical leadership and mentoring to other team members- Oversee expansion of technical team when necessary

Qualifications- 5+ years of relevant management experience of software developers, systems administrators, and hands-on technical professionals in related areas- 5+ years application development experience- BS or MS/PhD in related field- Consumer internet experience a plus- Design and architecture experience with scalable high-performance systems- Deep understanding and solid experience in Web development,programming/scripting languages and database systems (LAMP,javascript, Ajax, Flash, etc.)- Enjoys the challenges and rewards of an early stage venture and shows a high degree of initiative and passion

Skills- Thrives in an early-stage startup environment, and has a willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed, including coding when necessary- Enjoys working in a fast-paced environment, lives by details, hasexceptional organization skills, and has a positive attitude - Leads according to test driven development and/or extreme programming principles- Meets development deadlines - launch speed is critical- Has good communication skills and attitude, and can serve as an intermediary between the technical and non-technical members of the team- Shows terrific problem-solving skills.

Visit the Stanford Alumni Association online at http://www.stanfordalumni.org.

]]> http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/speeddatecom-vp-opening/feed/ saidamin speeddate http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/zencon-people-media/ http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/zencon-people-media/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:36:25 +0000 saidamin http://saidamin.wordpress.com/?p=51

The transformation is complete. Niche dating heavyweight Zencon Technologies, acquired by American Capital in 2007, is now “People Media”.

Food for thought. Mike Jones of Userplane/AOL sits on the board of People Media. Any chance that AOL continues its shopping spree and acquires People Media?

]]> http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/zencon-people-media/feed/ saidamin http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/women-love-wealthy-men/ http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/women-love-wealthy-men/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:25:43 +0000 saidamin http://saidamin.wordpress.com/?p=50

Ha! Looks like Millionaire matchmaking sites and services are not going anywhere anytime soon….

“Across the board, gold diggers age 40 and under defined wealthy suitors as men with at least $1 million or more in the bank, according to a recent phone survey by wealth-research firm Prince and Associates. Women in their 20s upped the ante to an impressive $2.5 million, while the 30s crowd lowered their demands to a cool $1.1 million. And the ladies weren’t the only ones hoping to see some green on their wedding day. Nearly 38 percent of men 40 and under would trade the single life for $1.2 million.”

courtesy of Spirit Magazine

]]> http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/women-love-wealthy-men/feed/ saidamin null http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/san-franpalo-alto-trip/ http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/san-franpalo-alto-trip/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:13:38 +0000 saidamin http://saidamin.wordpress.com/?p=49

Just wrapped up a few days in San Fran at AdTech. Man, walking the floor at the Moscone Center was absolutely dizzying. How many freakin’ ad networks are out there? A ton, but imagine an exhibit hall where every niche dating site is exhibiting *whoa* now that would be a show!

While in San Fran/Palo Alto I also met with a few VCs, investment bankers and entrepreneurs.

I met with a few bankers that prepped me about the who’s who of VCs, market conditions, what they look for, etc. TheFunded.com, a community where CEO and Founders share notes about VCs was also helpful.

I went into my meetings with the VCs with an open mind for how a round of capital/contacts could help NicheClick Media and more importantly, I just wanted to learn more about the process of raising capital. The cool thing was that I met with VCs that initiated contact with me, so I did not feel any pressure to pitch and get them to bite.

I also met with my buddy Shervin, a serial entrepreneur and master deal maker, who runs SGN. Luckily, Haroon, co-founder of Webs.com was also in town so the three of us hooked up for lunch. Webs raised 11 million back in 2006 and getting Haroon and Shervin’s perspective on the value/process of raising capital was very helpful.

A few bullets to sum up some of what I took away from my trips:

-San Fran/Palo Alto is an amazing place to start a business. The energy and entrepreneurial spirit is inspiring and good for business

-People are very concerned about the economy. The situation is much more serious than many realize. The next 12-18 months will be challenging, especially for venture-funded businesses that have yet to reach profitability

-Raising money is great for start-ups and businesses that want to scale rapidly

-By raising money and diluting your shares, there is no guarantee that you will make more money if your business is acquired

-VCs are all about the finish line, not the journey

-Two VC camps: later stage VCs that fund established companies still value subscription based businesses but many investors are less excited about subscription based models as more services are being offered online for free. Most of the value is on the social networking side which keeps people online and allows ad revenue to grow

Final analysis: Nothing beats running a profitable business. You are your own boss and have less drama in your life (bureaucracy, boards, shareholders, salary committees, etc.) - plus, you can take a draw or vacation when you want =) Life is good!

]]> http://saidamin.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/san-franpalo-alto-trip/feed/ saidamin