Frequently asked questions about Plurk
The set up of Plurk organization is very unique. Everyone works remotely. Is it true that you have never met one of your co-founder, Amir?
Yes that is true. I understand how this might seem weird in the context of today’s more traditional corporation set up, but it is not new in the start-up world where you get various team members working from their home in different locations. Amir and I ‘talk’ everyday, we argue almost every week and he’s still as annoying as ever, in a good way. :)
To elaborate more on this, I think we have been very lucky in terms of building our core team. Start-ups can easily get killed by HR problems, IP lawsuits and internal fightings. You get start-ups which spend most of their time moving offices and presenting big ideas in expensive Demos or conferences. We are not like that.
Here at Plurk, we wake up everyday, drink coffee and start working. As simple as that. While Amir continues figuring out ways to scale Plurk, Ryan is putting together new servers, me checking emails and Kan is conferencing with our partners. We all know our tasks and what we need to do. Sure, differences do exist but when you think how everyone just wants the best for our product, they rarely go beyond any personal dissatisfaction. Respect and communication is of paramount importance when everyone is working remotely. If anything, I’m glad we spend time arguing about things that matter.
What is Plurk revenue model, if any?
We have many ideas on this front and personally I think all of them will work :D. The key to getting revenue on social web is usage. If you have 10 million users and only 1% of them pay for whatever your revenue model offers every month, you will get 100k/month. But if you only have 1 million users, you will need to get 10% of them to pay for the same thing to get to 100k. Which is why we intend to focus on growth now and Plurk is growing fast. Hopefully we will be able to roll out some sort of money making machine by the end of this year.
Growing a social services. How do you get from 0 to the first 100k users?
I wish there’s a secret recipe that I can share with you all. It really comes down to the usual ingredient: being persistent, hard work, having the passion to improve your product and listen to your users. Plurk has spent almost 0 dollar on advertising or any sort of related promotion. We grow primarily via grassroot efforts. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. If a user likes your service, she will invite 10 of her friends to play along. Out of this 10, maybe 4 will invite 10 more each and if it keeps going on like that, you will have what we call as a sustainable viral loop. We are happy Plurk is something our users feel worth sharing with their friends.
