Striking Out

By Chris Taylor/San Francisco

When Theman.com was launched last year in an office opposite the San Francisco Giants' new ballpark, most employees expected to be around for at least a couple of baseball seasons. "Right now we're a zit compared to everyone else," co-founder Calvin Lui said in our September 1999 cover story, GetRich.com "In a year we're not going to be a zit." In fact, Lui's start-up--intended as a one-stop online shop and community for guys--closed its doors for the last time on Nov. 1, 2000.

"There was suddenly all this pressure to be profitable," says founding editor Rich Schwerin. "We were working our tails off on projects that would never see the light of day." Nothing seemed to work: the site went through three redesigns, repositioned itself to focus mainly on e-commerce and even sponsored the big screen at Giants games across the street. But TheMan.com's attendance was disappointing, certainly not enough to keep the investors at Highland Capital happy. "People were like, 'Who are you? Another Maxim? Another Details?" says James Lombardi, site product manager and brother of co-founder Steve Lombardi. "We were trying to do too much, trying to tackle every single aspect of men's lives. That wasn't going to generate high revenue."

When it folded, 35 employees remained; more than a month later, around 25 of them were still out of work. Lui was off climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and was incommunicado. The Giants were shaping up for another season. And TheMan.com stood as a sobering reminder of the perils of trying to get rich quick.

--By Chris Taylor/San Francisco