Shap

Thanks Carlos. Here you go.


1) What were your initial / consecutive goals at the very start, pre-Twistys and how long did it take to achieve them?

I started so long ago the web was a novelty. I was surfing using quicklink and it was all text LOL. So my original goal was make some money (almost immediately). Once I saw i could make money my goal was to make $120,000 a year (within the first year). From there it because $1,000 a day (2nd or 3rd year). Then a million a year (5th or 6th year).

I remember thinking the jump from 120k a year to 360k is FUCKIN HUGE and from there to 1mil is even bigger. I know some people make it sound easy. Fuck them. it's not. It's hard. And every level you want to go up becomes harder and harder.

2) At what point did you realize that this really took off and the business started to overexceed your initial expectations, that it's time to branch out into the paysite game?

I never reached that point on my own. I had my head in the sand running BigBreastLovers, SexApe and PicWarehouse. I had no thoughts of starting a paysite. I met my wife who had been working with IEG and Python before that. She saw what I was doing and saw my numbers and clued me in that while I may think I'm doing well I'm nowhere near what others are doing and that the real money isn't in free sites but in pay sites. Huge change in my thinking and she convinced me to jump into the paysite business.

3) Similarily, what were your initial and some of the latter goals / milestones after launching Twistys, how long did it take to achieve them?
Of course there's no need to mention any particular numbers in case you'd deem them not public.

I think with Twistys my first goal was to hit 100 signups a day. Which we did 2 months after launch. Then the goal was to have 1000 members then 2000 then 5000 then 10,000, then 20,000 etc. I remember getting to 1000/2000 wasn't too bad. But 5000 and 10,000 were a BITCH! A lot of hard work and really awesome retention were needed. 1000 and 2000 took a few months where the others took a few years of building up.

4) What do you take as the most valuable business advice you ever got?

Hmm. That's a hard question. I can't pin point one as the most valuable piece of info. There is one thing I've always truly believed and that is the Law of Inertia. Which is...

"An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."

I've always believed in momentum both positive and negative. When we'd have a few bad sales days we had to act and do something to reverse it. Because if not it would continue. The same goes for office morale, bad employees, bad sites, bad business deals, bad karma. Once the shit storm starts you are in big trouble if you think it's going to go away. Likewise if things are good keep them rolling and ride that wave but be mindful if the wave looks like it's about to end you need to do something or you'll lose that momentum.

5) What made you decide to settle in London?

One of my wife's favourite cities in the world. Great education system for my boys. And amazing tax system.

6) Your favourite NHL team and your all time favourite line up?
(Mine: Vancouver Canucks 93 / 94 vs. NY Rangers 93 / 94 - THE finals with both teams full of one of a kind characters)

Right now Montreal canadiens. As a kid I was a huge Oilers fan (until they traded Gretzky) and then a huge Lemieux fan. Favourite line up would have to be old school Oilers. I love that with Apple TV and the Nhl network you can watch all those old classic games now.