Raising Money From Eighty Investors and Steering to a Successful Exit: Ludovic Huraux, CEO of Attractive World (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How did the community decide who was going to be in versus not?

Ludovic Huraux: Because you have thousands of people who decide, it’s difficult to tell you exactly. Most of the time, they want to make sure that the profile is fully completed. It’s a proof of commitment. The picture is important as well. People want to make sure that they will allow people who have the same lifestyle and who are committed to meet someone important in their life.

Sramana Mitra: Why would that be a manual process? I don’t understand why it has to be a manual process.

Ludovic Huraux: It’s not a manual process. Let’s say you’re an Attractive World user. Every day, we send you 30 people to vote for. You see a profile and if you decide that they can come into the community, you accept. If you think that they’re not committed enough, you reject them. If I sign up for Attractive World, I have to wait for three days. After three days, the community will have voted and I get the answer.

Sramana Mitra: You raised $500,000 and there were some glitches in the website. Nonetheless, you managed to make it all work. Then you started advertising on TV and you went into more private investors. You told them that you were going to build a brand by advertising on television.

Ludovic Huraux: Exactly.

Sramana Mitra: How much money did you raise in the second round?

Ludovic Huraux: From 2008 to 2011, it was five rounds with private investors. I raised €5.3 million with 80 shareholders.

Sramana Mitra: How did you find these shareholders?

Ludovic Huraux: I really love to meet people. As an entrepreneur, I need to meet at least one new person every week. Most of the time, it’s through the people I meet that I got introduced to very interesting investors.

Sramana Mitra: How much of this did you spend in television advertising?

Ludovic Huraux: In the last five years, we spent $25 million.

Sramana Mitra: Wow. Talk to me about the ramp in subscription revenue.

Ludovic Huraux: I cannot talk about the revenue since I just sold the company. What I can tell you is that the company became profitable in 2013. We decided to distribute dividends.

Sramana Mitra: Besides the €5.3 million that your raised from 80 investors, did you raise more money?

Ludovic Huraux: No. From 2008 to 2011, I raised around $6 million in five fundraising rounds. In 2011, I started to invest in TV advertising. The company became profitable in 2013. When the company became profitable, we wanted to expand to the US. I went to the US to meet with VCs. It was my first failure as an entrepreneur because VCs didn’t want to invest in Attractive World.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Raising Money From Eighty Investors and Steering to a Successful Exit: Ludovic Huraux, CEO of Attractive World
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