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From... Dr. Drew prescribes an Internet startup
June 23, 1999 by Todd Woody (IDG) -- Move over, Dr. Koop. Dr. Drew is opening an office on the Web. For the benefit of those who have graduated to VH-1, Dr. Drew Pinsky is the costar of MTV's Loveline, an advice show avidly watched by Generations X and Y. The Pasadena, Calif., internist and his cohost, Adam Carolla, also have a long-running syndicated radio program and take their show on the road to colleges. Now Pinsky and his backers are launching Drdrew.com, a health-care site for youth.
"Young people and young adults are in a health crisis today – sexually transmitted disease, depression, teen pregnancy," says Pinsky, 40. "I can imagine no better opportunity than the Internet to reach this population. It's their medium; it's one they trust."
It could be a profitable niche, given the paucity of health-care sites serving teens and twentysomethings. Teenagers, of course, think they're immortal. But as anyone who's ever tuned into Loveline knows, they worry about sexuality, drugs and mental-health issues that they'd never ask their parents about. "I'm a 22-year-old guy and I find that I want to masturbate whenever I'm alone. Can I hurt myself doing this?" was a typical question reprinted in a 1998 advice book from Pinsky and Carolla.
Drdrew.com will feature a mix of health-care information and "MTV cool" when it launches Sept. 1, according to CEO Curtis Giesen, a boyhood friend of Pinsky's who had been an executive with Internet gaming company Attitude Network.
Giesen obtained $1 million in funding for the site from a coterie of investors put together by Garage.com, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm that finds seed money for startups. Giesen recruited Microsoft CFO Greg Maffei – his old roommate at Harvard Business School – to serve on Drdrew.com's advisory board.
"There are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of health-care sites, but none of them has a TV show. That's the key, I think," says Garage.com founder Guy Kawasaki. Drdrew.com's target audience – 14- to 34-year-olds – is highly desired by advertisers. And it doesn't hurt that another site tied to a celebrity doctor, Drkoop.com, just went public. Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop netted $41 million from the offering.
Unlike some celebrity doctors, Pinsky maintains an active medical practice. He insists he'll be actively involved in Drdrew.com, doing daily Webcasts and answering visitors' questions. Says Pinsky: "This is not a licensing deal."
RELATED STORIES: STD primer RELATED IDG.net STORIES: Adam.com offers healthy advice RELATED SITES: drdrew.com
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