Disclosure
The Knot founders posed as users to spark early AOL chat engagement
“We had aliases. Like, mine was Anya, and I would sit in this chat room waiting for people to show up, and most people tend to just lurk. They wanted to hear and want, read other people's conversations, and you had to try to figure out a way to get people engag…”
Disclosure
The Knot targeted demographics completely ignored by incumbent bridal media
“We suddenly realized, based on, you know, also Carly's, you know, belief in the differentiation of our brand, that we would become weddings for the real world, and we defined that as interracial couples. Interdenominational couples. Same sex couples. Hipster c…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Liu: A $350,000 three-book advance funded The Knot for 18 months
“We lived off of that advance for probably a year and a half.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
The Knot topped Bloomingdale's wedding registry within months of launching online
“Within, I think, three or four months... We had close to a 150,000 couples registered in our registry. To put that into context, that's more than what Bloomingdale's was registering back then.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Competitors faxed The Knot's plummeting stock charts to their advertisers
“We had our competitors faxing our stock charts to our advertisers saying, look what's happening. They're going out of business. Do you really want to give them that money?”
Assertion Supported
Liu: The Knot grew 5% in 2008 while media dropped 20%
“I think, you know, most media companies were down 20%. We grew five percent. You know, we actually grew that year because a lot of the marketers realized that the only people who were going to continue to spend money during this great recession are brides and …”
Disclosure
Liu: The Knot targeted underserved demographics traditional bridal media ignored
“We suddenly realized, based on, you know, also Carly's, you know, belief in the differentiation of our brand, that we would become weddings for the real world. And we defined that as interracial couples, interdenominational couples, same-sex couples. Hipster c…”
Opinion
Liu: Raising VC for female-focused digital businesses in the 1990s was difficult
“I mean, it was hard to raise money for anything that was female-centric in the digital space.”
Assertion Supported
Liu: The Knot grew 5% during 2008 recession while media dropped 20%
“Our stock actually held up relatively well. I think, you know, most media companies were down 20%. We grew five percent. You know, we actually grew that year because a lot of the marketers realized that the only people who were going to continue to spend money…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Liu: Smithsonian CD-ROM bundled with early iMacs yielded $1 per disc
“This publisher managed to get the CD-ROM OEM bundled with every one of the early iMacs. So if you bought the one of those iMacs, you got our disc, and as a result, you know, we got maybe a, I think it was like a dollar per disc that was actually distributed, s…”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: AOL invested $1.6M seed funding in The Knot
“We got our seed financing by 1.6 million. I think it was their largest investment at that time, too, in any content partners.”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: The Knot earned around $70,000 in first-year revenue
“I think our first year total revenues were maybe 70,000.”
Assertion Supported
Liu: The Knot's stock fell from $20 to 26 cents post-crash
“It just over the course of a year and a half went from 20 dollars and settled down to 26 cents.”
Assertion Supported
Liu: The Knot regained its NASDAQ listing in 2005
“And I remember the day we got relisted in 2005”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: The Knot hit $32 stock and $1B cap after WeddingChannel deal
“I mean, in 2006 and seven, we wound up we bought Wedding Channel. There was unbelievable sort of frothy expectations on what that acquisition was going to net us, and the stock hits 32 dollars. We have a billion dollar market cap”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: Smithsonian CD-ROM was OEM bundled with early Apple iMacs
“This publisher managed to get the CD-ROM OEM bundled with every one of the early iMacs. So if you bought the one of those iMacs, you got our disc, and as a result, you know, we got maybe a, I think it was like a dollar per disc that was actually distributed, s…”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: AOL invested $1.6M seed funding into The Knot
“We got our seed financing by 1.6 million. I think it was their largest investment at that time, too, in any content partners.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Liu: The Knot registered 150,000 couples in months, surpassing Bloomingdale's
“And we suddenly saw within, I think, three or four months, We had close to a 150,000 couples registered in our registry. To put that into context, that's more than what Bloomingdale's was registering back then.”
Assertion Supported
Liu: The Knot never conducted formal layoffs during dot-com crash
“We never had layoffs. We always, we were able to downsize through attrition. But we never formally had to lay people off, in part because we were always running relatively lean and there were people who panicked and basically sort of got out.”
Assertion Supported
Liu: The Knot reached $1B market cap after acquiring WeddingChannel
“I mean, in 2006 and seven, we wound up we bought Wedding Channel. There was unbelievable sort of frothy expectations on what that acquisition was going to net us, and the stock hits 32 dollars. We have a billion dollar market cap, and, you know, then precipita…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Liu: Roney and Liu dated, cohabited, and married within six months
“We had our first date in February. We moved in together in June. We were married in July.”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: The Knot faced legacy competitors with decades of market presence
“Brides Magazine had been around for 50 years, Modern Bride for 35 years, Martha Stewart was like a hot thing that had been around for 10 years”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: Early internet business models were strictly subscription without banner ads
“There's no IAB. There are no banners. It was, you know, all basically a subscription business.”
Assertion Partly supported
Liu: NASDAQ relisting required maintaining a $5 stock for 180 days
“To get relisted, you have to be above five dollars for 180 days without institutional support.”
