Starting a new fire

Bring some matches, gather up some kindling and make sure you’ve got a fire extinguisher close by because the Fuego (yes, “THE”) is at large.

Noah was nice enough to let me, Scott Hurff, post something here about what I’ve been doing — plus, I love you all and would love to get that grouporation action going.

Last time I was here, I was running Groupvine full-time. I’ve since sold it and started Fuego.

So what is it?

Fuego offers bite-sized, actionable, high-quality content for classy guys intended to make a lasting impression and offer a quick return. It’s meant to be like a “trusted friend,” identifying trends, stuff you should know and all that while having a good time.

I’m a guy and I like cool things. I like classy things, too, and I’m sick of having to wade through the GQs / Esquires / Men’s Healths of the world and pick out the parts I like while skipping all the parts that talk about mid-life crises. I’m 23. I have a full, long, healthy, exciting life ahead of me. Don’t freak me out early, y’know?

Here’s my goal: to build a lifestyle brand. I want Fuego to be an indispensable source of content — but I want to practice what it preaches by offering some elements of what it recommends. That means a cigar label, wine labels, vacations, cruises, workshops, high-end apparel, maybe even a club/lounge/bar or something.

Here’s my challenge: how would YOU build this brand? Some subpoints to drive your thinking:

  • Where do you start?
  • Who do you reach out to?
  • What areas do you seek to become an “expert?”
  • Who do you hold up as experts?
  • How do you evolve over time (outside content to self-generated content, etc.)
  • Do you stay with guys or do the same for women?

For the person who has the best recommendation, I’ll send you a copy of Founders at Work, one of the most amazing books on startupping there is!

I love you all.

Welcome to Noah Kagan's Okdork! I am really glad you found me. Don't go just yet. If you're killing time at work, enjoy marketing, online communities and other business things; then you are at the right place.

You should check out my Okdork Virgin Guide to get started.

If you like what you read why don't you subscribe to RSS Feed?

Thanks again for dropping by and I hope to see you soon! - Noah

Want More? Get new articles via email:

people read Okdork everyday!

5 Responses to “Starting a new fire”

  • Patrick
    July 20th, 2007
    2:52 pm

    My immediate first question is why make it a weekly email newsletter? I’m not convinced that you do better that way rather than making it a blog updated 3 times a week.

    Secondly the thing I foresee becoming an issue is that if you’re a vendor as well as a reviewer you’re going to face questions of legitimacy over your brands. Which means that if you’re going to recommend fuego cigars over others, they better be the better choice.

    My first piece of advice: exclusivity. If you want to appeal to this crowd, put the silk rope into effect and keep people out. Don’t make your archives public, keep it exclusive and controlled.

    Where to start seems like a tough thing to answer. Find something that fits the bill of what you’re trying to offer, get the rights, smack a fuego label on it, and send it out. Probably easiest, depending on where you are, is to find a brewery or winery and start putting out Fuego products.

    Becoming an expert is a fairly easy process. Mostly because there are no experts about experts. To be an expert you just have to know more than your reader. To do so: hit Amazon, search for books in the area, get the top 5 rated books plus the intro ones (if needed) and there you go, you’re more educated than the reader usually. If someone finds a mistake, be gracious and open about it. Hiding mistakes online doesn’t work so well.

    And stay with guys. If you want to begin hitting the female consumers, open a sister company or brand.

    Those are my thoughts folks.
    – Trick

  • Scott Hurff
    July 20th, 2007
    3:07 pm

    Trick, I love it.

    One question I have is on the archives: I think a big problem is demonstrating knowledge in a field and having the past to prove it. The WSJ gets around this online because they’ve been around for a 100 years or so —

    do you mean having some sample content, showcasing that, then charging an access fee to the rest? And doing more featurey things to hype up the “what you’re missing” factor beyond just the free stuff?

    I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the weekly email, too. I like your approach with the 3x a week.

  • Chris
    July 23rd, 2007
    7:51 am

    I’d definitely stick with just men for now. As a matter of fact, I’d start by narrowing down my niche even further. Men’s magazine is a huge market. To cover health, entertainment, celebrity, and vice is a lot of work to start out with. I’d brand this by narrowing my focus down to just what I care about. It sounds to me from the above that you’re looking to create a young urban male lifestyle magazine. Leave the girlys to Maxim and Stuff. Leave the TV and movie news to Entertainment Weekly. Stick with what we can’t find elsewhere: where and how to live classy.

    How to build the brand? Once you’ve got your core columns, it’s easy to expand through experimentation. Try a cigar section. If no one likes it, drop it. If it takes off, expand it. Listening to what your readers like and don’t like will be crucial, but that’s what the interwebs for.

    As for the branded vices like wines and cruises, that’s a really interesting spin. It reminds me of Playboy in a way, only you can get away with being a bigger household name if your brand isn’t synonymous with porn. Telling your mom you’ve gone on a cruise sponsored by The Fuego is a lot easier than telling her the cruise was sponsored by Playboy. However, starting up a magazine, branding yourself as an expert, and attracting readers is going to be a big job. Also learning how to create your own branded line of merlot is going to be a lot to add to that plate. You can cheat though. Rather than selling your own wine, sell your opinion. You can start by creating a list of your favorites in each category: The Fuego’s top cigar pick, our wine of the year, THE cruise for young, classy guys. This way you get the credit without the sweat. You can even make up a logo and hand them out to people awards style. This isn’t necessarily better, but it’s a lot easier and it actually creates content for the core zine rather than drawing your time away from it. Once you’ve got your audience, people value your opinion about wine, AND you’ve automated the magazine to the point where it doesn’t totally absorb your life, only then would I consider starting my own wine label.

  • Scott Hurff
    July 23rd, 2007
    5:37 pm

    Dang Chris, You are a master. I will email you directly.

  • Jason H.
    July 23rd, 2007
    11:07 pm

    Scott, interesting biz idea. I think TheFuego can be the male version of DailyCandy.com.

    Check out the amzing success story of DailyCandy http://www.inc.com/magazine/20040201/howididit.html

    My suggestion is that you should try to hangout in Yelp or Facebook–seems like that’s where the young, male hipsters are hanging out nowadays…

    Best of luck :)

Leave a Reply




Most Popular Posts...EVER!

    will brb.

Noah.licio.us

October's Top Commenters