In 2000, Philip Kaplan found fame and fortune with F**kedCompany.com, a website that attracted subscribers by dishing the dirt on dotcom lawsuits, bankruptcies and layoffs. The site still reports on dotcom gossip, but Kaplan has been slightly distracted by his recent launch of another web-based business.
In 2004, backed by $4 million in VC funding, Kaplan partnered with Gidon Wise, 32, and founded San Francisco-based AdBrite Inc. The e-commerce business lists and sells available online ad space, simplifying the process for both publishers and advertisers. Meanwhile, Kaplan and Wise take a 25 percent cut of each deal made. "We make buying ads essentially [like] buying a book on Amazon," explains Kaplan, 30. AdBrite has seen over 700 percent year-over-year revenue growth, and its ads reach more than 20 million visitors each day. Looks like F**kedCompany.com certainly won't have anything dismal to report about this dotcom.
This story appears in the April 2006 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
