In a perfectly beautiful capitalist society-- that is, a small community-- I would create a better site and put him out of business. But due to the sheer number of users he has now, the switching cost (for each user) is almost assuredly too high for me to compete with him barring some great publicity or a large sum of money. I might still do it, though, just for kicks.
I don't think it's a good idea to compare his company to YC-funded/inspired sites, because he didn't set out to make a successful company; he made a site to learn a language, and people gravitated toward it over time. He got lucky by entering his market accidentally at the right time, with the right features.
Some people voted me down, I assume for saying that I "disrespect" him. But I really do. Any businessman who doesn't believe in advancing society with the power and responsibility that comes with business ownership deserves no respect nor success. But the fact is that whether or not someone deserves something, they sometimes get it; and he did.
But in the grand scheme of things, looking at plentyoffish.com makes me want to vomit, and that's why I highly doubt it will remain successful indefinitely. The only problem with overtaking its lead is that it's a user-to-user business, and competing with a company like that is hard for someone new like me, because at first there is zero benefit for signing up due to the lack of users. The first few thousand users might not even get anything. So you end up with an alarmingly high switching cost.
In the war between beautiful design and achieving benefit from the product, the latter almost always wins. At least in the short term.
"I would create a better site and put him out of business. But due to the sheer number of users he has now, the switching cost (for each user) is almost assuredly too high for me to compete with him barring some great publicity or a large sum of money."
I think you're being too hard on yourself. POF is many things, but it isn't a dating site. Seriously. How many other dating sites run their competitors' ads? How many have a 30% monthly attrition rate? When you look at it critically, POF is little more than a glorified banner ad for other dating sites.
IMO, that's the real reason why Markus doesn't have to invest in user experience. It's actually better for his bottom line if they bounce to one of the many other dating sites who advertise (prominently) on POF. It remains to be seen if a free dating site that focuses on user experience can thrive, when the only vetted revenue model involves selling your ad space to the non-free players in the same industry.
BS. You say that you would like to try to put him out of business in a perfect world, but that is simply an excuse. We exist in a capitalist society (I am not sure what makes you think that it has to be 'small') and if you had a better product people would migrate towards it.
If Markus had your mentality, he would not have started POF because he would have said there are "better funded, better sites, sites with too many users" out there, and therefore I shouldn't compete with them. Obviously he did not think this. And good for him and the users of POF.
BTW - I have checked out your recent site and I like it - if you truly believe that POF is crap, then I look forward to you building a competitor - I do think that your sense of design will at least give you an edge on POF.
Does the site he created not advance society, allowing people to form relationships more easily? Also you don't know how he has spent his profits. This man may be advancing society more than most.
I don't think it's a good idea to compare his company to YC-funded/inspired sites, because he didn't set out to make a successful company; he made a site to learn a language, and people gravitated toward it over time. He got lucky by entering his market accidentally at the right time, with the right features.
Some people voted me down, I assume for saying that I "disrespect" him. But I really do. Any businessman who doesn't believe in advancing society with the power and responsibility that comes with business ownership deserves no respect nor success. But the fact is that whether or not someone deserves something, they sometimes get it; and he did.
But in the grand scheme of things, looking at plentyoffish.com makes me want to vomit, and that's why I highly doubt it will remain successful indefinitely. The only problem with overtaking its lead is that it's a user-to-user business, and competing with a company like that is hard for someone new like me, because at first there is zero benefit for signing up due to the lack of users. The first few thousand users might not even get anything. So you end up with an alarmingly high switching cost.
In the war between beautiful design and achieving benefit from the product, the latter almost always wins. At least in the short term.