Product Reviews at ExpoTV

(Post: English)
"In 2004, William Hildebolt and his wife, Daphne Kwon, quit their high-powered, well-paying jobs as a principal at General Atlantic Partners and chief financial officer of Oxygen Media, respectively, to become netrepreneurs."

"It was like falling off a cliff backward," Hildebolt recalls.

Their idea was to launch a Web site where consumers could submit videos of product reviews.

The first review, of a portable DVD player, was uploaded on Sept. 9, 2005. By the end of that year, the site was up to 2,500 reviews.

By yearend 2007, the web boasted 150,000. Today there are more than 300,000 "Videopinions," including videos by Hildebolt, 39, and Kwon, 40, who can be seen critiquing a toaster oven, a Quadrilla Twist & Rail Set, and a hike through Puerto Rico’s El Yunque rain forest.

Categories range from pets to clothing to books.

Revenue is piling up, too, thanks to product-linked ads from Procter & Gamble (PG) and LG Electronics as well as "where to shop" ads from Google.

So far, angel investors and venture capitalists have put more than $6 million into ExpoTV. The couple predict their New York venture, which now employs 17, will turn profitable in 2009.

Source: BusinessWeek