Allebest was rejected from every graduate school he applied to in 2001
Erik Allebest · Erik Allebest: Scaling to $100M Revenue, 150M Members and 700 People, All with No Vc Funding | E1113 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Feb 7, 2024 · at 5:43
Erik Allebest is the co-founder and CEO of Chess.com. He reflects on his early career and initial attempts to apply to graduate business and law programs.
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“I didn't get in anywhere because it was like right after the.com You know, bubble boost bubble burst in 2001. And I got rejected to every school”
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Allebest: Chess.com instituted a firm rule against paid user acquisition
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“I think raising money feels a lot like earning money. It's a self-validation.”
Allebest: Exact-match domains were essential for web startups, unlike today
“Ridiculously large role, especially at the beginning and the beginning sets the tone for later. Now, I mean, in today's world, if we hadn't done it, if you, would you have to start on chess.com? Probably not, but given the time that we started and how it worke…”