Americans spend an amazing 32.7 hours a week on the internet. You can only throw away so much of the day checking Facebook or actually doing work, but there are a few spare hours that need to be filled. That’s where websites like icanhascheezburger.com step in.
Jenna Worthham of the New York Times writes about how this silly time waster has blossomed into an empire that includes 40 employees and 50 other popular websites.
If you don’t know what icanhascheezburger.com is you need to go take a look. It’s funny, cute, and totally nonsensical. The site is dedicated to cat pictures with grammatically incorrect captions. The site, aside from teaching us that people love the absurd, illustrates how internet success can come in all shapes and sizes.
Ben Huh bought the previously unknown website for $10,000 three years ago and has used all of his business and proactive leadership skills to turn a seedling, wacky, idea into a mini-web-empire.
Conventional wisdom tells us that we are supposed to come up with an idea, product, or even a way of life that people desire and actually need in order to succeed in business. If you can build a better mousetrap, you will do well. Thanks to the internet we can see the outline of a new paradigm more clearly: create stuff that no one really needs, but everyone decides they can’t live without.
Ideas don’t have to fit a box in order to work. They need people who can get involved and get things done.
