I finally had a chance to record a call with James Hong, the co-founder of HotOrNot, to discuss their new Hotlist product (see TechCrunch coverage on this today for a full overview).
In the first part of the interview, Hong talks about the history of the six year old company, which has never taken venture capital and has been profitable from its first months of operation. See our post on TechCrunch from earlier this year where we also cover some of the history of the company.
The new Hotlist product allows HotOrNot users to add brands, bands, people, or anything else to their profile to help others quickly figure out what kinds of things they like to spend their money and time on. It not only helps HotOrNot users quickly find other people with similar interests, but it also gives the company an unprecedented amount of information about their user base. That information can be used for super targeted advertising, and spotting of up and coming trends.
Time: 39:35 Minutes
Size: 9.06 MB
[...] For the last several months they’ve been testing a new service called Hotlists, which lets users add a little brand bling to their profile and build out their identity through association. Co-founder James Hong writes about the new product on his blog today. I interviewed Hong last week in anticipation of this post - hear the podcast over on TalkCrunch. [...]
[...] http://www.talkcrunch.com/2007/07/09/a-talk-with-james-hong-co-founder-of-hotornot/ [...]
[...] ここ数ヶ月間、HotOrNotは「Hotlist」と呼ばれる新サービスをテストしてきた。これによって、ユーザーは各ブランドのバーチャル・アクセサリーのようなものをプロフィールページに追加、自分のアイデンティティをそのブランドと組み合わせて確立することができるようになる。共同設立者のJames Hongは、このサービスについて自身のブログで本日（米国時間7/9）のエントリに取り上げている。私は先週Hongをインタビューし、このエントリの見通しについて話を聞いた。TalkCrunchのポッドキャストをチェックしてみてほしい。 [...]
[...] I then listened to an interview of James Hong the co-founder of Hot or Not on TalkCrunch where he explains evertyhing about their new business model, competition, adsense etc. You can listen to the interview here. Bookmark to: [...]
Great interview my only issue is the adsense the guys are using are so close to the rating system! Its a bit cheeky!
Mike,
Possibly one of your best episodes ever. Very interesting to see how they built a business out of a crazy idea and keep trying to evolved it.