Q&A with Russell Fine, CEO, Opposing Views
Opposing Views is a web site that helps users look at issues from multiple sides and points of view. The site features experts that go head-to-head on real-life concerns and debate around news and events. Opposing Views introduces the questions, the experts present their cases, and users are able to evaluate the arguments to help them formulate informed positions.
StartUp Beat: What is your primary value proposition for users?
Russell Fine: Opposing Views makes it easy to become well informed on important topics by presenting “all sides of the truth.” We bring credible parties representing all sides of an issue together to present their case. Viewpoints are presented in a simple format. After the debate begins, experts respond to their opponent’s challenges and consumers can weigh in.
Our experts are top notch and their content is very high quality. We moderate all content, so our users engage in intelligent, witty and thought-provoking discussions on a wide variety of topics.
StartUp Beat: When was the company founded, and how did the idea come about?
Russell Fine: We formally founded Opposing Views in 2007. However I had been working on the concept of a site that would give consumers expert information and all sides of issues that keep them up at night years before.
The idea came to me one day when I was searching for information on a social topic—the death penalty. I saw a story on a news program that caused me to reconsider one of the reasons for my position on the issue, and I went to the Internet to do a little research. What I found was a large volume of published content, some well argued and some emotional, from a variety of sources, many of which I could identify and trust. The job of assessing the bias and credibility of the authors and the content was left up to me—the reader.
After spending quite a bit of time sifting information, I ultimately changed my mind on the issue. More importantly, I realized that the process of learning enough about any topic to make a well reasoned decision was time consuming and difficult. I decided that if I could put credible sources into one “location” to vet the arguments out for me, the process would be much easier. Opposing Views was born.
StartUp Beat: Who do you see as your competition?
Russell Fine: Our format—experts engaging each other—doesn’t really have any direct competitors. However, sites that offer reference or background material on consumer issues or topics, such as Wikipedia or About.com, offer a portion of our value proposition. But these sites only give one point of view. We give both sides. At the same time, we also allow community participation.
As we move from more of the “front page” topics, such as politics, social issues and religion, into consumer living topics such as health, parenting and personal finance, I think you could also look at a site like WebMD. There again, however, you are only getting one perspective on the topic.
StartUp Beat: Can you describe the underlying technology behind your site, and how it works for users?
Russell Fine: The underlying platform for Opposing Views was built in-house. I have a strong technology background and drew upon my experience leading the development of complex information sites for Youbet.com, a real-time online horse racing site, along with my most recent experience as chairman of Accuscore.com, an online sports service that lets fans analyze and predict game outcomes. Our platform is a blend of the features you would see in a CMS (content management system), blog sites and discussion sites. Where we differentiate is that we have the ability to assign a variety of “badges” to users and organizations that enable them to be presented as “experts” or have different roles in different sections. This allows us to easily highlight the National Rifle Association in the Gun Control section, Lifeway Christian Resources in Religion, and so forth. It will support our goals to grow into a large information site with thousands of topics.
From the user’s perspective this appears as a seamless blend of information, some of which is clearly identifiable as being published by well-known experts and some coming from the community. Our outline format makes it simple to scan and navigate large amounts of information on complex topics, and allows them to jump in and get involved wherever they like.
StartUp Beat: What is the business model for Opposing Views? How do you make or plan to make money?
Russell Fine: We have a viable business model. We are a publisher on issues that keep people up at night. We bring experts together from both or many sides of an issue for our audience to get a full view and be armed with knowledge. Our experts are from trusted organizations. They write the content for Opposing Views representing their arguments and evidence for or against a question, such as “Do vaccines cause autism.” That content is free, extremely valuable, and is being syndicated out in formats that are Opposing Views branded—sometimes with an advertiser sponsorship attached—to well-known aggregators.
Advertisers can target the most likely user of their product or service even down to where they fall on a particular issue—that is creating a strong CPM.
Our widgets are unique, proving value to aggregators and we are monetizing them. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We foresee a multiple revenue stream business model, consisting of advertising, content syndication fees and platform licensing. And the best part of our business model is that all of our content is supplied free by the experts. Plus we link to our partners, increasing traffic.
StartUp Beat: Has Opposing Views raised outside funding to this point? Are you looking to raise funding in the near future?
Russell Fine: Per our prior announcement, we raised a series A ($1.25 million) which consisted of Gil Elbaz, Frontera Capital, myself and a series of Angels. We plan to raise another round in the early part of 2009.
StartUp Beat: Will new features be added to the site, in the future?
Russell Fine: In the very near future you will see our community presenting questions to the experts. We will also broaden our question formats beyond “yes or no”—our current format—and have more options for users to engage in the topic. We’ve also been surprised by the amount of international traffic we receive, and we will be adding icons next to user’s comments to identify their country of origin, as it is clear that our community has a desire to discuss topics that have differences across borders.
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Russell Fine has been an entrepreneur, investor and senior executive at technology and media companies for the past 20 years. Fine is currently chairman of the board at Accuscore, which provides sports forecasting content to such Internet giants as Yahoo, ESPN and CBS Sportsline. In 1995, Fine co-founded Youbet.com, which recently generated its billionth dollar in transactions. During his tenure, Youbet raised more than $100 million dollars, deployed the world’s first online wagering system and forged partnerships with New York Racing Association, Station Casinos, Churchill Downs, Inc. and Hollywood Park. He has also acted as a strategic advisor to a variety of companies, including General Motors and Ascent Media, a division of Liberty Media Group.
Opposing Views - www.opposingviews.com
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