James Hong (entrepreneur)
Entrepreneur and founder of Hot or Not
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Hong is an American entrepreneur and angel investor, best known as the co-founder of Hot or Not, a photo-rating and dating website that launched in October 2000.[1][2] The site allowed users to upload photographs to be rated on a scale of 1 to 10 and became one of the most visited websites of the early 2000s.[1] YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim has cited Hot or Not as a key inspiration for YouTube's early development.[3]
James Hong | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1973 (age 52–53) |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur, angel investor |
| Known for | Co-founding the website Hot or Not |
Early life and education
Hong grew up in Danville, California; his parents emigrated from Taiwan.[4] He studied electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he met future co-founder Jim Young.[2][5] After graduating, he worked at Hewlett-Packard in sales engineering and product marketing before leaving in 1997 to pursue an MBA at Berkeley.[5][4]
Career
Hot or Not
Hong co-founded Hot or Not with Jim Young, his former Berkeley roommate, in October 2000.[1][2][6] The concept originated from a disagreement about whether a woman Young had seen at a party was a "perfect ten."[5][7] The site achieved rapid viral growth, reaching nearly two million page views per day within its first week.[1] It also entered NetNielsen's top 25 advertising domains within two months.[1] By mid-2002, more than three million photos had been posted and over two billion votes tabulated.[2] By July 2004, there were 12.3 million photos.[8] By July 2006, Hot or Not had tabulated approximately 13 billion votes.[9]
The site generated revenue through advertising and a subscription-based matchmaking feature called "Meet Me," which charged users $6 per month.[1][4][7] By early 2006, Hot or Not had nearly seven million registered users.[4] The company was bootstrapped without outside investment; Hong still had $50,000 in business school debt when the site launched.[4]
In February 2008, Hong and Young sold Hot or Not to Avid Life Media for a reported $20 million.[1][7][10]
Influence
Hot or Not is recognized as an influential precursor to later social media platforms.[11] Time reported that YouTube's founders initially conceived their site as "a video version of HOTorNOT.com."[3] Co-founder Jawed Karim described Hot or Not as pioneering the concept of user-uploaded content viewable by anyone.[3]
Investments
Other startups
In 2014, he launched Cakey, a child-safe YouTube viewing application he built for his own children after teaching himself iPhone development.[13][14]
Publications
Co-author:
- Lee, Leonard; Loewenstein, George; Ariely, Dan; Hong, James; Young, Jim (2008). "If I'm Not Hot, Are You Hot or Not?: Physical-Attractiveness Evaluations and Dating Preferences as a Function of One's Own Attractiveness". Psychological Science. 19 (7): 669–677. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02141.x. ISSN 0956-7976. OCLC 1375119767. PMID 18727782.
Philanthropy
In October 2005, Hong created 10 Over 100, a website encouraging people to pledge 10 percent of their income above $100,000 to charity.[4][6] He developed the project with Josh Blumenstock, a web engineer at Hot or Not, citing a lack of clear norms for charitable giving among newly wealthy technology workers.[4] By January 2006, more than 648 people from 36 countries had signed up.[4]