Site Presented By
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
Cruising for an escort but can't afford $300 an hour? Try FrugalJohn.com!
Mar 11, 2002 | Hard times don't last, but hard guys apparently do.
An adult Web site called FrugalJohn, billing itself as "Where cheap bastards find quality ladies," has become a favorite of Silicon Valley horn dogs hard hit by the dot-com downturn.
FrugalJohn features a clickable directory of more than 80 female escorts and full-body massage providers whose going rate -- no more than $200 an hour -- significantly undercuts the $300-and-up rate typical in the Bay Area during boom times. It's the sex trade's version of the auto industry's zero percent financing, and customers are lining up to drive these babies off the lot. But unlike some used car dealerships, the site is careful to stay this side of the law. (The site's disclaimer states, among other things, that "time together may include services such as erotic dancing, modeling, or sensuous massage. Nothing else is contracted for, nor is it requested to be contracted for, or compensated for in any manner.")
Launched last November, FrugalJohn has already attracted something of an underground following among "hobbyists," as those who frequent these ladies like to call themselves. The site's page views -- currently about 350,000 a month -- have doubled every 30 days since launch. The FrugalJohn network has expanded to include escorts from Seattle, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego -- with Houston and Dallas soon to come, so to speak.
No one's more surprised at FrugalJohn's tumescent popularity than its founder, a 30-something out-of-work midlevel Internet executive who goes by the handle Giorgio Xo.
"I started it as a lark, but it's exploded into a real business," says Giorgio, with a genuine sense of wonder. "And it's all been viral marketing. I don't do any advertising, and I'm not even listed on the search engines. I'm kind of scared to think of what might happen if I advertise."
Giorgio, a U.C. Berkeley grad who's been laid off by three dot-coms in as many years, got the idea for FrugalJohn after reading dozens of posts on the general discussion board of San Francisco Redbook, an online guide to sex services in the Bay Area. The guys were complaining that local escorts were charging too much, considering the region's battered economy. Giorgio, having built and managed quite a few corporate sites in his day, had no problem cobbling together a no-frills site listing escorts and massage providers whose fees were more in line with recessionary realities. Soon, guys began suggesting other cut-rate cuties for inclusion on the site, and then the ladies themselves began contacting Giorgio, clamoring to be featured on FrugalJohn.
