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Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

solorwell.com

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Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#21

Post by SoloX5 »

extremelyn wrote: post #12

I'm curious about how the Examine team came to the price point for the Stack Guides. Simply put, $50 is incredibly high for an eBook — particularly when the site itself hosts a large quantity of that information for free.

$50 is high if you just think of it as an eBook.

We think more along the lines of the Picasso Principle: http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/the-picasso-principle/

The Stack Guides greatly simplify the process. They are NOT for everyone. But for the layperson who doesn't have the time and/or energy to figure it out themselves, it's well worth the investment.

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#22

Post by MDS100 »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #17
SoloX5 wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm Sol. Any questions, just ask.

Hey Sol. I was getting into nutrition just slightly before Examine launched, and was completely incredulous that something like Examine.com didn't already exist. As you mention in the post, the incentives in this industry are totally perverse. We're taking an anti-supplement stance with MealSquares partially due to some of the research you've helped collate and rate (we've done a lot of our own too of course :). I've…

http://examine.com/blog/soylent-is-made-from-hype/

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#23

Post by SoloX5 »

trevmckendrick wrote: post #19
SoloX5 wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm Sol. Any questions, just ask.

Great post and congrats. 2 questions: 1. You're background is in SEO, how much do you attribute SEO to Examine's success thus far? 2. Why do you think it took 2 years to make decent revenue?

1. Well, I'd say my background is more in developing tools for myself and then making them usable by end-users.

With that said, SEO has not done much for us. On top of that, I've had enough experience with Google that relying on it is my last priority. At this time, Google generates 2. It took time to build up the trust and reputation needed, AND for US to build up the knowledge base required to be able to monetize it.

We could have tried to sell guides right off the bat, but a lot less people would have used it, and its quality would have been a lot less.

Plus, supplements have been historically quite the shitshow (you should see all the gossip and innuendo that flies around on my facebook when it comes to health and fitness and supplementation). That meant it took longer for us to convince people we were legitimate.

I'm a big believer in career capital, and it takes time to build that up.

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#25

Post by SoloX5 »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #17
SoloX5 wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm Sol. Any questions, just ask.

Hey Sol. I was getting into nutrition just slightly before Examine launched, and was completely incredulous that something like Examine.com didn't already exist. As you mention in the post, the incentives in this industry are totally perverse. We're taking an anti-supplement stance with MealSquares partially due to some of the research you've helped collate and rate (we've done a lot of our own too of course :). I've…

Thanks for the kind words, and good luck. We're thankfully at a stage now where we're well cashflow positive so we can just focus on what we do best.

> Soylent

Beyond the link that MDS100 posted, I personally think it's a bit shortsighted. Paring food down into some kind of overly simplistic "consume this" ignores all the social and psychological aspects of eating (not to mention the satiety considerations of chewing something versus drinking it).

As a replacement for food, I think it's foolish. As something to help you get to X macros in a pinch ... well, I'd rather take a protein shake and then mix whatever I was missing into it (need fats? Nuts. Need carbs? Tons of additions)

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#26

Post by AlexC04 »

SoloX5 wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm Sol. Any questions, just ask.

Hey Sol. Now that you're moving into the range of revenue that you might be able to invest, do you or Kurtis have any designs around conducting your own research?

Maybe there's a supplement or interaction that you think might be interesting but can't find any solid research on?

Maybe there's something that has weak evidence / poor experimental design that you'd just like to get to the bottom of?

Not sure how you'd turn that into real money, but maybe there's stuff that just "gives you an itch"?

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#27

Post by SoloX5 »

AlexC04 wrote: post #26
SoloX5 wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm Sol. Any questions, just ask.

Hey Sol. Now that you're moving into the range of revenue that you might be able to invest, do you or Kurtis have any designs around conducting your own research? Maybe there's a supplement or interaction that you think might be interesting but can't find any solid research on? Maybe there's something that has weak evidence / poor experimental design that you'd just like to get to the bottom of? Not sure how you'd tu…

We _may_ eventually start looking into doing our own original research, but at this time, zero plans.

We do have plans to start publishing some of our research as meta-reviews, but give us a bit of time on that.

> into real money

Honestly, not concerned about that. That's the benefits of a lifestyle business - we're (quite) cashflow positive, so we don't obsess over a thousand here or there. It's just to get really solid research (especially in nutrition) is quite cost prohibitive. Maybe in the future we can be involved in some grants and study design, but nothing concrete.

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#29

Post by SoloX5 »

nell wrote: post #28
SoloX5 wrote: post #2

Hi, I'm Sol. Any questions, just ask.

Your website is blocked by websense as "Compromised Websites".. any idea?

Hadn't updated WP a while ago, got a few stupid links injected (for SEO, not for phishing). Your company is likely just a bit slow in updating its filter list.

Re: Examine.com has grown up: $700,000 in the past year

#30

Post by nazgulnarsil »

SoloX5 wrote: post #25
nazgulnarsil wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Sol. I was getting into nutrition just slightly before Examine launched, and was completely incredulous that something like Examine.com didn't already exist. As you mention in the post, the incentives in this industry are totally perverse. We're taking an anti-supplement stance with MealSquares partially due to some of the research you've helped collate and rate (we've done a lot of our own too of course :). I've…

Thanks for the kind words, and good luck. We're thankfully at a stage now where we're well cashflow positive so we can just focus on what we do best. > Soylent Beyond the link that MDS100 posted, I personally think it's a bit shortsighted. Paring food down into some kind of overly simplistic "consume this" ignores all the social and psychological aspects of eating (not to mention the satiety considerations of chewing…

That's exactly how mealsquares started. My prototype is open source at http://lesswrong.com/lw/h2h/soylent_orange_whole_food_open_s...

Speaking of which I've been meaning to update it since I discovered that rice bran is a better option than marmite.

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