What a day for the online dating industry. First Think, now Consumating.com announces a deal with CNET.
Over the past few months I’ve written and talked a lot about Consumating. The site caught my eye due to the use of dynamic profiles, tagging and other features not found on traditional dating sites. Perfect definition of a niche dating site.
The few times I complained to Ben that a must-have feature was missing or something was broken, he would code it up that night and the next day the new feature or fix would be in place. Nimble. They may not have 2 million profiles yet, and the site may be free, but looks like things are a-changing for the better for Consumating. CNET’s backing, support and traffic will be of great importance if Consumating wants to join the big leagues. But remember, the site was started as a joke between friends.
I did an email interview with Ben to get his thoughts on the deal with CNET and what it means for Consumating and it’s current members.
How did the deal with CNET come about?
A representative of CNET approached Adam and I about 6 months ago to discuss the possibility. The CNET folks are wizards at making this process go smoothly, so here we are.
Why is CNET buying your site?
CNET likes what Consumating is doing already – attracting geeks and bloggers and indie rockers and giving them something exciting and fun to do. They also like me – I’ve got good ideas about social networking and community. They’re providing me with a lot of resources to do what *I* want to do, and I’m providing them with expertise that they can apply within their existing network of sites.
How is the deal structured? can you allude to how much/what you’re getting? (Buy a new car, buy a house, buy an island?)
I can’t really reveal the details of the deal, but it’s a deal Adam and I are very happy with. I’m moving to San Francisco and will be living like 2 blocks away from CNET’s HQ. I get a fancy desk with a nice view, and CNET even mentioned letting me throw a party or two in Consumating’s name. I am so down with that.
Will the Consumating brand stick around?
Consumating will absolutely stick around. CNET is very in to the Consumating vibe, and wants us to remain independent and, you know, do our own thing. They are very hands off about it, which is exciting to me because I’ve been working on this virtually by myself for a long time and haven’t stepped foot in a real office for 3 years!
Now what? Will you still drink beer and code up new features at night or putting on a suit to do business development deals at Bucks? How will your life change?
I’m moving to San Francisco with my gal and my dogs. I’ll be going into an office. But I’ll still be wearing my nose ring and my black teeshirts and I’ll still stay up late furiously coding Javascript whenever I get an idea. That’s just how it works for me – the mojo comes, and the code just flows out of my fingers. Getting paid to do it is certainly not going to hinder me!
Also, CNET is hiring me a developer! OMG. Like, someone else to do stuff on the site? INCREDIBLE.
Define how Consumating is “a different sort of thing.” Are you saying less dating more social networking? CNET needs their own social networking site to tie together/communitize it’s various properties?
It’s not ONLY dating – What makes Consumating different than all the dating and social networking sites out there is that it is attempting to not just find COMPATIBLE people for you, but INTERESTING people — people who share your weird, quirky interests. On Consumating, a guy who lives in the middle of nowhere who is in to D&D and anime and raising goats can find a girl who is ALSO into D&D, anime and goats. Where else are you going to find that?
How are you transitioning the site to it’s new home? What resources have they made available?
Until yesterday, Consumating was running on 1 machine that I was borrowing from a friend – the code, the db, everything was running on 1 oldish machine. CNET’s resources are obviously a bit deeper than that — the app server serving the stuff now has 16 times as much Ram as the old box. Adding a tag is now instantaneous, whereas it used to take a second or two. It’s so nice!
Anything else?
I am really excited about going to work for CNET. They have a philosophy about building web sites that really speaks to me, and is very much in line with the way I do things.
Congrats to Ben Brown and Adam Mathes!
Read the full Announcement.
Update: Rafat Ali wrote about CNET purchasing Consumating.com and linked to this blog several times, thanks Rafat!
Ben won’t say, but the rumor is that he got a big 6 figure check, an aggressive salary and great performance bonus opportuntity. I was not able to confirm the number, but I was told it was a low 7 figure number
More at Texas Venture Capital blog.
[tags: cnet, consumating]
