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Dogster/Catster Launches Contest and Releases Growth Stats
Written by Allen Stern - October 11, 2007
Dogster CEO Ted Rheingold was the first CN interview I conducted just over a year ago. I was impressed from the first minute I met him both on his business acumen but also with his strategic visions. I can only imagine what he was thinking as he was coming to meet a no-name, new, no traffic blogger :)
Today, Ted sent over some very impressive stats about Dogster and Catster:
- Over 17.5 million distinct friend-to-friend connections have been made
- Over 3 million photos have been uploaded
- Over 20 thousand videos have been uploaded (video only started this year)
- Over 10.8 thousand member-established and -driven groups have been created
- There are over 100,000 locales now in our dog and cat friendly Local Listings
- There are over 4,000 adoptable pets available on the site right now.
They also launched the 2007 version of their coolest pet contest. I wonder if any cats will be twitter'in about their entries. Check out the contest details.
The reason for their success is (at least) three things: a passionate team of employees who are actively involved with the site community, a leader who is active in the tech community, and a fun, active, affluent community. Dogster is like the Yelp of dogs. Some startups have one or maybe two characteristics, but all three is a huge step towards profitability and long-term growth. Of course I would like to belive the real growth happened after our interview. :-P
COMMENTS - Add New Comment
Woof! Thanks for highlighting our paw-some contest. There are already 6,000 entries, and we only launched it 2 days ago. That's a passionate community for you!
Woof!
How about profit? ... 0
Sorry to be harsh, but this is not a business.
We make money through ads, sponsorships, merchandising, and selling virtual cat and dog treats. If somebody was enterprising they could count up all the virtual cat and dog treats on each dogster / catster profile and figure out how much in virtual goods have been sold.
We also have over 500,000 members, and have been profitable for some time. It may seem surprising that this is a business, but between virtual gifts, plus memberships, and strategic partnerships with some great companies, we're doing quite well.