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How a company re-imagined a 1,500 year old game...
And bootstrapped it to $50M/year.
The story of a successful site you've never thought about:
And bootstrapped it to $50M/year.
The story of a successful site you've never thought about:
This story:
• Starts with one guy's love of chess.
• Ends with a co making $50M/yr.
Erik Allebest ran a chess-teaching biz & a chess retail store.
In the early '00s, he set out to make the MySpace of chess.
• Starts with one guy's love of chess.
• Ends with a co making $50M/yr.
Erik Allebest ran a chess-teaching biz & a chess retail store.
In the early '00s, he set out to make the MySpace of chess.
He wanted it to be a social site where you could:
• Share games
• Build a profile
• Add friends
• Chat on forums
But the users were clear:
They wanted to PLAY online, live.
• Share games
• Build a profile
• Add friends
• Chat on forums
But the users were clear:
They wanted to PLAY online, live.
Two existing companies had this tech, but they weren't sharing.
So Erik's team built it from scratch.
From there, they had the secret ingredient...
So Erik's team built it from scratch.
From there, they had the secret ingredient...
For $55k, they got the domain.
Chess.com made them the top result.
Anyone googling "chess" was funneled right to their site.
1,000s of free visitors every day.
Chess.com made them the top result.
Anyone googling "chess" was funneled right to their site.
1,000s of free visitors every day.
Beyond an online monopoly on the word "chess," what got Chess.com bootstrapped to $50M/year?
The payment model is simple:
• Early, they launched a subscription service that taught people chess
• Today, they use a freemium model with tiered subscription options and ~700k active paid users
• Early, they launched a subscription service that taught people chess
• Today, they use a freemium model with tiered subscription options and ~700k active paid users
3 things you can learn from Chess.com's story:
1. Invest in content.
They pay 100+ chess pros to make content & commentate matches.
Chess streaming has made huge $$$ for this site.
1. Invest in content.
They pay 100+ chess pros to make content & commentate matches.
Chess streaming has made huge $$$ for this site.
2. Listen to your customers.
The live online playing feature (aka, the main reason people go to the site now) was suggested by early users.
Since then, the founders have been actively responive to the community:
• On reddit pages & forums
• By constantly refining the product
The live online playing feature (aka, the main reason people go to the site now) was suggested by early users.
Since then, the founders have been actively responive to the community:
• On reddit pages & forums
• By constantly refining the product
3) Be ambitious with acquisitions.
Chess.com swings big. And hits.
They've acquired:
• A major chess news site
• Chess giant Play Magnus Group
• Komodo, which offers post-match analysis for players.
• The rights to broadcast the World Chess Championship
Chess.com swings big. And hits.
They've acquired:
• A major chess news site
• Chess giant Play Magnus Group
• Komodo, which offers post-match analysis for players.
• The rights to broadcast the World Chess Championship
This biz shows if you know how to make deals...
• with content creators
• with your customers
• with your competition
Then you can make $ doing anything.
• with content creators
• with your customers
• with your competition
Then you can make $ doing anything.
Thanks for the read.
Give me a follow @Codie_Sanchez if you like business stories like this one.
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