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Drew Curtis, Fark and a curry recipe database Part 1

July 31, 2008

Drew Curtis is the founder of Fark.com news site/aggregator that focuses on the absurd in life. With 60 million page views a month, 4 million unique users, 3 employees, 1 book and not a drop of venture capital, Drew has proved you can build a tech start-up to success in Kentucky. (Fark is now 10 years old). What follows is our wide-ranging conversation over beers at Marikka’s, a local watering hole. In part 1 we cover the start of Fark and ventire capital, start-ups etc.  In part 2 we will talk about new features for fark and various other topics.

Why did you start Fark?

Really it was an accident.  I had been spending some time each morning e-mailing weird stories I had found, this was in 1995, to my friends.   The first story in fact was about a US fighter pilot who crashed his plane in the Arizona desert and the reason for the crash was he had been trying to remove his flightsuit so he could moon another pilot and lost control.

When did you put up the website?

In 1999, but just really as a hobby.  I had two ideas for a business one was Fark, the other was for a curry recipe database.  At the time their was only one really good curry recipe database, death by curry and I figured their was room for at least two more but I chose Fark.

When did you know you had a business?

In 2000 we had about 1000 page views a day but the AD market had crashed so we just continued to limp along and in 2002 we had about 10,000 page views a day but again the AD market was crap in 2002 and 10k was still too small for ADs  and the ISP I had been running also crashed so I had a little extra time on my hands. We didn’t have any money so we didn’t spend any so we learned to get by without it.

You mentioned your ISP, so fark wasn’t your first business?

No, out of college I had been hired by the state of Kentucky as a database analyst for the personnel cabinet.  They had a consultant working and he had installed PC anywhere so he could log-in remotely but he had been using that to log-in at different times and make it look like he had been working.  I discovered that in 3 months he had written only 8 lines of code.  So needless to say he was fired and I finished the project in six months and then asked for a raise and they said no so I left and started a ISP with a friend.   He knew how to configure the servers and I had a credit card so we bought all the equipment on that.  That was a stupid thing to do. You read all the time about peole starting businesses using their credit cards which is stupid.  I was stupid for doing it.

I have heard you talk about the fact that start-ups should avoid venture capital?

Yes, In general you should avoid investors whenther they are uying 1% or 51% of your business you lose control the day you take the money.  Because of minority shareholder rights even the 1% holder can mess up your business.  VC’s are going to argue every point and every expenditure that you make.  A tech start-up can do a lot to scae-up without the need for investors.

Can you give me an example?

Build your audience.  You can slowly test the market, see if you can get users and build your audience so that when you raise money you have leverage. You can do a lot with little cash, We didn’t have cash so didn’t spend it and in fact we still operate the same way today.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups, Venture Capital |  

New Economy Survey

July 28, 2008

Johnathan Gay of the Innovation center for Eastern Kentucky is surveying the Eastern Kentucky appalachian region for high tech businesses.  In addition to highlighting that there are in fact “new economy” businesses in rural Kentucky, Johnathan works as part of the Kentucky Entrepreneurial coaches institute which helps coach rural entrepreneurs.  Please check out the site and if you know af any technology companies in his region, please pass them on

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Young Entrepreneurs of Lexington

July 23, 2008

Luke Murray and Brian Raney are two smart, ambitious entrepreneurs located in Lexington. They are co-founders of BookExchange.com. They have also started a new group Young Entrepreneurs of Lexington or YEL. Their goals are to foster creation of real relationships among young entrepreneurs in the Lexington area for the enhancement of professional endeavors and to provide a resource and advocacy group for the advancement of entrepreneurialism at the University of Kentucky. This is an extension of the entrepreneurs club at the University of Kentucky. Luke & Brian have many diffeent projects they would like to get off the ground and have built an excellent organization to provide mentorship and support to those wanting to or who have started a business. If your under 30 and looking for some like minded entrepreneurs to share ideas then I would encourage you to contact Luke or Brian.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Social Media Club Meetup

July 21, 2008

The Social media club of Louisville is having a happy hour tomorrow evening at Proof.  THe SMC is a group of entrepreneurs, writers, marketers etc looking to share best practices, establish ethics and standards, and promote media literacy.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Personal |  

Profile: Pearlabs and Dean alert

July 14, 2008

Entrepreneurs have to overcome a lot in order to be successful.  Matt Beck, co-founder of Pearlabs and deanalert.com, more than others. Earlier this year Matt was mugged outside his office in broad daylight. The assailants knocked him to the ground, stole his wallet, iPhone and laptop.  Matt, not one to give up without a fight, chased one thief down in flip-flops, “subdued” him and got his phone back and held him till the police arrived. 
I have been working with the team at Pearlabs and deanalert over the past year and have been impressed with their success.  With only minimal friends and family money they have bootstrapped both organizations and are showing significant traction with dean alert.  Below is a video Matt put together to answer a few questions I posed on the history of his two start-ups and other interesting facts.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Startup Weekend

July 9, 2008

I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Hyde, founder of Start-up weekend, while visiting David Cohen and Techstars. The start-up weekend is an event where participants come together to create a company (product) in one weekend.  It has since been modified to allow teams to build on each idea and potentially launch multiple products.  I have been interested in hosting one of these and believe Louisville should be the place.  You can vote for Louisville at www.startupweekend.com/cityvote/   Please vote to bring start-up weekend here.  Also, please comment on this blog if your interested in participating.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

KEF fund changes

July 8, 2008

Changes have been made to the Kentucky Enterprise fund. The KEF are state funds managed by KSTC to fund start-ups. Click here for the full overview but some of the best changes are a streamlined program, grants have been increased to 30K and the investment and convertible loan programs have been expanded. On the downside, funding was cut by the state to only $2 million for this fiscal year. Please communicate to your legislator the importance of programs like this to building a start-up culture in Kentucky.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Venture Capital |  

Summer Reading

July 3, 2008

Since it is the height of vacation season and coming up on a holiday weekend I thought I would share the five books that every entrepreneur or anyone interested in entrepreneurship should read:
The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

Happy Reading

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Personal |