Hotornot wasn't the duo's first business venture. Back before the dotcom bust Jim and James had started a marketing company that helped small businesses promote their stores on the web.
James Hong: Co-founder and President of hotornot.com
For the first three years, the duo ran Hotornot.com out of their living room. In 2003 they moved into separate living quarters, took offices in San Francisco and began hiring. Now Hotornot employs seven. The founders have freed themselves from the more mundane aspects of the business. Today Hong manages the employees who have taken over the customer service chores he once handled and some of the coding duties formerly handled by Young.
Hong and Young haven't resisted the temptations offered by their line of work.
At one time both had themselves rated (James got a 10, Jim a 9) and met romantic prospects through their site.
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"We get fanmail and stuff like that so sometimes we've just gone out with people who e-mailed and asked us out."
And that perfect 10 that inspired the site? Jim Young never saw her again.
"I don't think I'd recognize her even if I ran into her now," he says.
Jim Young: Co-founder of hotornot.com; one of Entertainment Weekly's most creative people in entertainment
GS: What's the hardest thing about running Hotornot.com?
HorN: It's a lot of work!
GS: How do you make money from hotornot.com?
HorN: There is a section of the site where people pay to meet each other.
GS: What percentage of your users are Asian?
HorN: Unknown.
GS: Which rival are you most worried about?
HorN: We're not really concerned about rivals, we try to focus on making our site better instead.
GS: Which business success story would you most like to emulate?
James: I think I'd prefer to make my own story than emulate someone else's
GS: Jim, how long was Hotornot based out of your home?
Jim: It was run for about three years out of a house that my parents owned.
GS: James, how long were you unemployed before starting hotornot?
James: About a year, plus the two years before that when I was getting my MBA.
GS: Jim, why can't you seem to finish grad school?
Jim: I get distracted easily. There always seems to be something more
interesting to do at the moment.
GS: Jim, is Hotornot profitable?
Jim: It pays the bills. I probably won't be looking for a new job when -- if -- I finish my Ph.D.
GS: James, if you could change one thing about Jim what would it be?
James: Nothing, I think the contrast in our personalities creates a dynamic that makes our work better.
GS: Jim, if you could change one thing about James what would it be?
Jim: We've worked successfully together for four years now. There's no need to alter a winning formula.
GS: James, what do you see yourself doing in 10 yrs?
James: Same things I'm doing now... Hopefully travelling a bit more though.
GS: How have your lives changed now since the site started?
James: We created our own jobs and don't work for anyone else.
That's a big change! It's also easier for us to find dates.
GS: Because of your reluctance to answer questions about your life
prior to starting the site, we're getting the impression that you had
no life before Hotornot. Is that true?
James: No. It was just more traditional and boring.
GS: Are you interested in exploring new avenues of funding like
venture capital or an IPO?
HorN: Not unless there is a need for the company to take such
funding. Taking money means we don't work for ourselves any more.
There's a loss of freedom and control in that.
GS: How has the site forced you to change?
James: We've had to grow up a bit, knowing that other people's
livelihoods depend on the decisions we make. So I suppose we are
taking more responsibility now.
On the flipside, life is a bit easier because we are able to dictate
our own lives and are in control of our own destinies -- for better or
for worse.
