BIV 2010 FORTY UNDER 40
Business in Vancouver December 28, 2010–January 3, 2011
21
Markus Frind Owner, Plenty of Fish Age: 32
Birthplace: Donauwörth, Germany Where do you live now: Downtown Vancouver Highest level of Education: Computer systems diploma from BCIT Car or chosen mode of transport: BMW 335xi Currently reading: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely Last CD bought or music downloaded: No idea. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a CD Favourite local restaurant: Gotham Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar Profession you would most like to try: Nothing jumps out at me Mentor: None Toughest business or professional decision: Finding ways of making perpetual improvements to grow the company because, in the web world, things are completely different every three months Advice you would give the younger you: Nothing gets huge overnight. Your business starts out slow and then, because of incremental improvements, it will start to take off What’s left to do: We’re just at the beginning. My users spend $500 million dollars a year on competing sites. So one thing to do is to find ways to get a lot of that revenue. Another is to expand into other languages
M
arkus Frind is one of the world’s most successful Internet dating entrepreneurs, but he did not need his own Plentyoffish.com website to snag a bride. He married Annie Kanciar in 2010 – eight years after the two met while working at a small Vancouver technology company. Plenty of Fish generates tens of millions of dollars annually from advertising. The free dating website attracts about 6.1 million unique visitors each month, according to Internet research organization comScore Inc. The only dating websites to attract more unique visitors were China’s Jiayuan.com (6.6 million) and the more global Meetic (6.4 million). Frind tends to be an introvert. He avoids busi-
ness and technology sector networking events and, until 2008, operated his business out of his apartment. His 18 staff members now occupy a 3,800-squarefoot office in the Harbour Centre Tower. Frind bought the Plentyoffish.com domain in 2000 for a nominal price, but he didn’t develop the site until February 2003. Frind had recently graduated from BCIT and was jumping from job to job while the technology sector remained mired in malaise. Valentine’s Day
was approaching, and Frind feared that he would be laid off. Almost immediately after developing Plenty of Fish, Frind started to make money. Initially the cash came from what he calls affiliate partnerships. People would click a link on his website to go to a pay site such as Amazon. com. Frind made money
if they bought something at the pay site. By spring 2003, he generated about $100 per month this way. He kept tweaking his website and added Google’s AdSense script in June 2003. The next month,
he generated $1,000. When that grew to $5,000 in October, he quit his job and focused his efforts full time on improving his business. In early 2004, he made $16,000 per month. “You’re not going to
get anywhere if you’re not analytical. This is a highly competitive business,” Frind said. “You never know what works until you try it. Most companies are too afraid to try new things. We like to try new things.” Ą
“Most companies are too afraid to try new things. We like to try new things”