Fitty..............Ambush Interviews :thumbsup

sig spot :)

oh - then i have a question - with that high speed satelite connection - can you have internet wherever you are? on a boat for example? and how much is that? :)

sweeeeettt!! looking forward to it!

YEAH.............. Marc is in Da House :thumbsup

What happened to him ?

1. Is it true ARS went under cause of chargeback ratio issues?

I don't recall ARS going under? At no point in time have we been out of business. Did we shut off all the sites in the ARS portfolio in early 2004 because of chargeback issues? Yes, that was the major cause of a number of issues that revolved around those sites. However, even with the loss of all the legacy GIM sites we still did good volume. We continue to do good volume and have grown significantly since that time :) What we did was necessary for us to stay solvent and continue to be a healthy company. Its because of that move that ARS is still around and growing. It was also a decision that was necessary to secure our biggest asset, our multi million dollar recurring DB. As many people have thought "Man that was a really bad decision" if all the information was available their opinion would be drastically changed. I stand behind that decision 100% and know its allowed us to do what we've done the last 6 months :)

2. Why did Toolz leave and then come back? Why did Becky leave?

Toolz left to do his own thing. After realizing that being without me was no fun, he came back :) I also was in great need of his services on another project that fit him well. Becky never really left the company. She started a company called Storm Media which owns and operates all the sites in the ARS portfolio. Storm replaced our existing portfolio manager. Becky is no longer with Innovative Ideas (ARS) but she still works closely with us and her move was the best for all parties.

3. How many cars do you own? pics. Talk about the garage you had built for them.

I own 17 cars in total. 15 in Michigan & 2 in Las Vegas. You can find pics @ http://www.marcscars.com I built a 9000 sq ft garage to house them and be used as a base of operations for my groundsmen & car detailers.

4. At the peak how many sales was ARS pulling a day?

In its peak which lasted about 40 months ARS averaged 3500 sales / day and 70,000,000 uniques / mo We never dropped below 15,000,000 uniques / mo and now do significantly more :)

5. What happened to your reality sites?

What do you mean what happened to them? They're still in the ARS portfolio :)

Hey MaDalton - this system is amazing. When you park you hit the button and within 5 minutes it automatically tracks the satellite and you have a 1 mbps connection. You can use it anything that has an open view to the Southern sky and is relatively non mobile :)

The system was $6000 installed and $99 / mo

Looking forward to this one for sure :)

2 Words: HOLY CRAP !

Me too :)

that's quite reasonable - at least the monthly fee - i feel my dream coming closer :)

I know most of the answers to the questions, but I still look forward to this. Marc's a good guy!

Marc, we need pics of the RV!

Marc what age did you start in the adult industry ? Also if you were just starting as a newbie in the adult industry today what area would you concentrate your efforts in ?

damn 3500 signups a day. WOW

3500 a day..wow.. i though i was doing good back in the days..!!

This is gonna be an excellent interview!!

I was 19 when I started.

If I was a newbie now I would probably concentrate in promoting video / scene based sites using their content to create some higher end gallery / sales pages :) Whether that just be galleries and/or BYOT system like ARS has...

goooodies

Everyone that can send 10+ sales a day should signup to AAC through my sig and get my expertise help in promoting them :)

marc smokes only the best chronic

im talking purple shit with blue hairs + cristals the size of salt

3500 a day jeez!

Wooohooo!

I'm all eyes on this one :)

be all brains and you can prolly learn something in this thread :)

did anyone else start crying when they read 3500 sales a day?

this story sounds a lot like my own...




























except without all the success and money.

it makes me curious what ars' best day ever so far has been??? congrats to marc de on all his success and much respect :thumbsup

HOLY CRAP thats hardcore :thumbsup

if i remember sexhit was pulling about 5k a day, but they are not around anymore

yup I also almost shit myself. :helpme

Marc is the brightest guy in the biz. Well, other than toolz.

very cool interview. I'd also like to know what the all-time high signup day was that ARS experienced, and around what time it was. Thanks!

We can trade motosat tips;-) I had mine installed a couple months ago, think is great.

does it work on a boat - at least at the marina???

6. Is it true you're addicted to video games?

Yes, I'm so addicted to video games that I had to create a company that makes them (S2 Games) and a company that distributes them (iGames). I've spent 10+ hours / week playling games since I was 4 years old. Currently I'm addicted to Warcraft III. I also purchased happypuppy.com from the public company that paid $48 million for the asset. Happy Puppy is currently the 4th largest video game website getting over 30,000,000 hits / mo S2 Games created Savage, which won multiple awards, including Independent Game of 2004 :) We're currently working on Savage 2 :)

http://www.s2games.com
http://www.happypuppy.com
http://www.igames.com


7. Given the chance to do it all over again would you still split your company into 2 parts again, content and marketing?

Yes I would do it again. Back in 2000 I broke out our actual adult operations and sold them to Global Intermedia. ARS (the affiliate management side / marketing side) of the business was sold to Innovative Ideas which I own.

8. How many affiliates did ARS have total?

You keep using past tense as if ARS no longer exists. We're still large, alive, and kicking. Anyways, ARS has over 100,000 accounts... which doesn't mean SHIT! hehe Its all about active webmasters. In our peak we had over 2500 active WMs in over 4000 active accounts.

9. There's a rumor ifriends is running billing for you? discuss

Webpower is the back end provider for our cam program HSN (@ Home Sex Network). We are NOT click cash and there are definitely distinctive differences between their products and ours. :) Our tours have some unique selling points.

10. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I own approx 25 pairs of shoes :) Yes, btw, I also enjoyed your mockery of my cars thread! ;)

I have the same dish on my rig. Althogh Marc has a rock star rig, and I have a poor mans rig;-)

You can find out about it here:
http://datastormusers.com/

It is not a perfect solution, but it works 98% of the time.

They make marine solutions, but no need to spend that much if you only need a stationary solution. It simply automates adjusting the dish of normal satellite internet, direct PC.

It will work anywhere in most of North America, as long as you have a clear view of the south sky. Downside is that you can not park in the shade.

good interview so far

Thanks for the reply ! Excellent interview so far :thumbsup

LOL I'm only smart because I sponsor the right things, HUGE football pool starting in 2 weeks you all know where, and party at the October show, everyone check it out :)

very interesting stuff... thanks

once again, can we get a pic of Marc De to make this thread more visual..

3500 sales a day is insane!!!!

And the selling points work:
http://www.myeuphony.com/260805.jpg
:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

So far so good...

wwaaaaaa about the fucking time

marc will you be my long lost dad? :)

You crack me up with that shit Brad... I'm going to upgrade to a Newell Coach in a couple years, you interested in mine when I do? I'll give you a helluva deal :)

BTW, you say this Sat works 98% of the time and I would say more like 85% but it is still managable.

This interview needs some pictures!

Nice job answering multiple questions per post, makes for a way easier read

:thumbsup