Interview with the co-owner Lookatme.ru
Alexey Ametov: Network Anti-Trendsetter
Young, bold and ambitious. They are rarely more than 25 years old, this generation of young professionals who have grown up on the Web, dive into it like fighting fish and know how to get good money out of it.
Danya : How did lookatme.ru come about?
Alexey: Last year my friend Vasily Esmanov came to me and offered to turn his small website into a great story. He and I went to the Nimbler studio and agreed to cooperate, two of its founders also received shares in the company, and the story began. The first lesson we all learned is that we should always share - in the end, you will have 10% of 10,000,000, not 100% of 1000. I also have a company Inpeeks, which appeared even earlier, this is an ordinary web-design studio. There I am a creative director and co-owner. For 3 years we have been doing good sites. But the business of a web design studio, even if it’s Lebedev’s studio, is not very promising in the end - it does not have capitalization, it’s hard to sell, because it’s a collection of several people. Another thing is your Internet project. Lookatme.ru grew out of a small site that was created by Vasya in the image of hellooks, facehunter.blogspot.com and other sites about street fashion. His last summer for a month, all Moscow dandies learned, and he became a cult. At some point it became clear that street fashion is good, but we must strive for something more. Then the whole story began with the call of new people and the organization of business. Now the site lookatme.ru is a site about culture as a whole, but first of all about people who want something in this life, create something, strive for something. Which is interesting to live. This is a symbiosis of the media, social network and poster events that are created by the people themselves.
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Danya : Some very vague concept, don't you think? Every second site is about culture in general.
Alexey: Very specific. Do you know a site with a more specific concept? For example, Yandex is a search, Mail.ru is a mail, Poster is schedules and reviews, and lookatme.ru is a site about good people who change the world and make it more interesting.
Danya : How many users do you have now, and what steps to promote you are taking?
Alexey: We now have 8,000 registered users, 11,000 of those who go every day, but have not registered, and 70,000 are a monthly audience. This is despite the fact that we have not conducted any advertising campaigns. Now we are thinking about advertising, but it will not be banner advertising in the direct sense of the word, it will be much more interesting and useful.
Danya : To me, the core of your audience seems to be all these nu-rave kids who go to White Trash For Cash shows in bright clothes.
Alexey: Firstly, nu-rave is dead and stop kicking a dead horse. We gave birth to him a year ago, we killed him last fall.
Danya : So it was you who were you? Did you sell it?
Alexey: Yes. We like to create culture and trends. It is fun and interesting. Such a synthetic culture. That is, for example, we invented a meme - “warrior of the Central Administrative Okrug”, and now when the editor of GQ Uskov is expressed with this terminology, we are fantastically fun. We promoted him, and then pushed him, because the main thing was to finish the thing well in time. The main thing is to shoot the horse before you drive it, and then leave its body to kick to those who are interested. White Trash For Cash for example.
Danya : I read somewhere that before the humanities ’fix idea was a book of its own, now I’ll release a killer meme.
Alexey: Well, yes, we have achieved this and now we go further. If you look at the Big City dictionary over the past year, then 50% of the terms are invented by us. All these kittens, green tea, gopseksual, warrior CAO and so on. Previously, everyone dreamed of their rock band, and now you can get the same effect by creating a project on the Internet.
Danya : Well, if there are so many trendsetters around, then there should be trend-toppers.
Alexey: Of course. They will be very popular, because there are a lot of trendsetters, and those who will clean up and kill the trends a bit. Not everyone is ready to nail those things that create, and then move on. Many magazines, groups, designers create some kind of trend and then are ready to exploit it for years. It is not right. It’s like a group that plays for 16-year-old girls for 10 years and doesn’t understand that they have been playing for 26-year-old girls instead of giving up something every year and starting to play again for 16-year-old girls.
Danya : Besides lookatme.ru do you have games? Or game plans?
Alexey: Yeah. But we will not tell about them yet. After all, if you want to take over the world, you must keep the plan a secret. I can only hint that we are thinking of taking on the advertising market and television. And here and there for a long time nothing interesting appeared. On TV, only the 2x2 channel did something really worthwhile.
Danya : You represent a new generation that doesn’t want to go for years in a suit to a kondovo office, but wants to steal a million here and now, preferably in a year. So?
Alexey: That's not the case. Yes, we do not want to go in a suit to the office and do what we are told. No, I do not want to steal a million in a year. I and all of us work to earn a million and spend it on some more cool thing. But I would not say that this is the sign of our generation. Such people have always been. I think everyone heard about Richard Branson or Steve Jobs. They did just that. And very successfully. Now more people have the opportunity to go this way.
Danya : And what will you spend on the first meg?
Alexey: To change the media industry, the advertising industry, the entertainment industry and ultimately make the world a little different and a little better. That person does not need much money. How much do you want?
Danya : Right now 25 thousand euros.
Alexey: Well, that's a penny. Nobody needs a million. Everyone needs the opportunities he gives.
Danya : Well, it's right now. In general, a lot is needed - I need a girl to buy a castle, and another monorail to Kazakhstan to hold. It agree decently out. Okay, does your project pay off?
Alexey: Everything is very relaxed and tough at the same time. Everyone understands that doing something interesting and cool, you have to plow like a horse. Day after day, day after day. And then you get something. Everyone understands that business must make money, and the company must be rich and strong, and then everyone will be fine. No company can be free and strong if it does not earn money. This is especially true of everything connected with the media. Therefore, the company pays off and we are constantly increasing profits. It is important. I do not say that it was always easy, of course we had to starve for a while and run around in search of money, but we did everything to make it a temporary situation, and not a constant practice. In short, nothing remarkable can be done, if you are unprofitable and spend money on investor money - this will end badly. Someday Mephistotel will come to you, that is, an investor and take you away. And you'll do some shit.
Danya : A question that is usually asked at all interviews. Who do you see yourself in 5 years?
Alexey: Co-owner of a group of companies.
Danya : And what will happen to the web in 5 years? How do you see his future?
Alexey: It will be everywhere - from the refrigerator to the manhole - everything will be on the web, and everything will be on the web. Each item has information around it, and it will soon be all on the Internet.
Danya : And new formats? What will happen after social networks?
Alexey: Social networks in which you will have friends with your fridge and a sandwich that you ate in the morning. And of course your dog, who will have you in the tape of friends write that he wants to walk.
Danya : It just seems to me that the future lies precisely in the new format, and accordingly in the people who will create it. First there were echo conferences, then forums and portals, now blogs and social networks. In fact, the changes are not so radical, just new pieces and new words.
Alexey: If we catch a format that will be really promising, then I will become a billionaire, so let's say that hmm, in our opinion, the future belongs to desktop holographic multiplayer video chat rooms with the transfer of smells ...
PS Lookatme.ru needs a Ruby programmer to conquer the world.
Young, bold and ambitious. They are rarely more than 25 years old, this generation of young professionals who have grown up on the Web, dive into it like fighting fish and know how to get good money out of it.
Danya : How did lookatme.ru come about?
Alexey: Last year my friend Vasily Esmanov came to me and offered to turn his small website into a great story. He and I went to the Nimbler studio and agreed to cooperate, two of its founders also received shares in the company, and the story began. The first lesson we all learned is that we should always share - in the end, you will have 10% of 10,000,000, not 100% of 1000. I also have a company Inpeeks, which appeared even earlier, this is an ordinary web-design studio. There I am a creative director and co-owner. For 3 years we have been doing good sites. But the business of a web design studio, even if it’s Lebedev’s studio, is not very promising in the end - it does not have capitalization, it’s hard to sell, because it’s a collection of several people. Another thing is your Internet project. Lookatme.ru grew out of a small site that was created by Vasya in the image of hellooks, facehunter.blogspot.com and other sites about street fashion. His last summer for a month, all Moscow dandies learned, and he became a cult. At some point it became clear that street fashion is good, but we must strive for something more. Then the whole story began with the call of new people and the organization of business. Now the site lookatme.ru is a site about culture as a whole, but first of all about people who want something in this life, create something, strive for something. Which is interesting to live. This is a symbiosis of the media, social network and poster events that are created by the people themselves.
')
Danya : Some very vague concept, don't you think? Every second site is about culture in general.
Alexey: Very specific. Do you know a site with a more specific concept? For example, Yandex is a search, Mail.ru is a mail, Poster is schedules and reviews, and lookatme.ru is a site about good people who change the world and make it more interesting.
Danya : How many users do you have now, and what steps to promote you are taking?
Alexey: We now have 8,000 registered users, 11,000 of those who go every day, but have not registered, and 70,000 are a monthly audience. This is despite the fact that we have not conducted any advertising campaigns. Now we are thinking about advertising, but it will not be banner advertising in the direct sense of the word, it will be much more interesting and useful.
Danya : To me, the core of your audience seems to be all these nu-rave kids who go to White Trash For Cash shows in bright clothes.
Alexey: Firstly, nu-rave is dead and stop kicking a dead horse. We gave birth to him a year ago, we killed him last fall.
Danya : So it was you who were you? Did you sell it?
Alexey: Yes. We like to create culture and trends. It is fun and interesting. Such a synthetic culture. That is, for example, we invented a meme - “warrior of the Central Administrative Okrug”, and now when the editor of GQ Uskov is expressed with this terminology, we are fantastically fun. We promoted him, and then pushed him, because the main thing was to finish the thing well in time. The main thing is to shoot the horse before you drive it, and then leave its body to kick to those who are interested. White Trash For Cash for example.
Danya : I read somewhere that before the humanities ’fix idea was a book of its own, now I’ll release a killer meme.
Alexey: Well, yes, we have achieved this and now we go further. If you look at the Big City dictionary over the past year, then 50% of the terms are invented by us. All these kittens, green tea, gopseksual, warrior CAO and so on. Previously, everyone dreamed of their rock band, and now you can get the same effect by creating a project on the Internet.
Danya : Well, if there are so many trendsetters around, then there should be trend-toppers.
Alexey: Of course. They will be very popular, because there are a lot of trendsetters, and those who will clean up and kill the trends a bit. Not everyone is ready to nail those things that create, and then move on. Many magazines, groups, designers create some kind of trend and then are ready to exploit it for years. It is not right. It’s like a group that plays for 16-year-old girls for 10 years and doesn’t understand that they have been playing for 26-year-old girls instead of giving up something every year and starting to play again for 16-year-old girls.
Danya : Besides lookatme.ru do you have games? Or game plans?
Alexey: Yeah. But we will not tell about them yet. After all, if you want to take over the world, you must keep the plan a secret. I can only hint that we are thinking of taking on the advertising market and television. And here and there for a long time nothing interesting appeared. On TV, only the 2x2 channel did something really worthwhile.
Danya : You represent a new generation that doesn’t want to go for years in a suit to a kondovo office, but wants to steal a million here and now, preferably in a year. So?
Alexey: That's not the case. Yes, we do not want to go in a suit to the office and do what we are told. No, I do not want to steal a million in a year. I and all of us work to earn a million and spend it on some more cool thing. But I would not say that this is the sign of our generation. Such people have always been. I think everyone heard about Richard Branson or Steve Jobs. They did just that. And very successfully. Now more people have the opportunity to go this way.
Danya : And what will you spend on the first meg?
Alexey: To change the media industry, the advertising industry, the entertainment industry and ultimately make the world a little different and a little better. That person does not need much money. How much do you want?
Danya : Right now 25 thousand euros.
Alexey: Well, that's a penny. Nobody needs a million. Everyone needs the opportunities he gives.
Danya : Well, it's right now. In general, a lot is needed - I need a girl to buy a castle, and another monorail to Kazakhstan to hold. It agree decently out. Okay, does your project pay off?
Alexey: Everything is very relaxed and tough at the same time. Everyone understands that doing something interesting and cool, you have to plow like a horse. Day after day, day after day. And then you get something. Everyone understands that business must make money, and the company must be rich and strong, and then everyone will be fine. No company can be free and strong if it does not earn money. This is especially true of everything connected with the media. Therefore, the company pays off and we are constantly increasing profits. It is important. I do not say that it was always easy, of course we had to starve for a while and run around in search of money, but we did everything to make it a temporary situation, and not a constant practice. In short, nothing remarkable can be done, if you are unprofitable and spend money on investor money - this will end badly. Someday Mephistotel will come to you, that is, an investor and take you away. And you'll do some shit.
Danya : A question that is usually asked at all interviews. Who do you see yourself in 5 years?
Alexey: Co-owner of a group of companies.
Danya : And what will happen to the web in 5 years? How do you see his future?
Alexey: It will be everywhere - from the refrigerator to the manhole - everything will be on the web, and everything will be on the web. Each item has information around it, and it will soon be all on the Internet.
Danya : And new formats? What will happen after social networks?
Alexey: Social networks in which you will have friends with your fridge and a sandwich that you ate in the morning. And of course your dog, who will have you in the tape of friends write that he wants to walk.
Danya : It just seems to me that the future lies precisely in the new format, and accordingly in the people who will create it. First there were echo conferences, then forums and portals, now blogs and social networks. In fact, the changes are not so radical, just new pieces and new words.
Alexey: If we catch a format that will be really promising, then I will become a billionaire, so let's say that hmm, in our opinion, the future belongs to desktop holographic multiplayer video chat rooms with the transfer of smells ...
PS Lookatme.ru needs a Ruby programmer to conquer the world.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/23653/
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