 
President and CEO Age 27 Education B.A., Economics, University of Michigan BENJAMIN SUN Benjamin Sun, an ardent U2 fan, first fell in love with the idea of online communities while surfing a site for music and movie lovers operated by a client of the investment bank for which he worked. Although he enjoyed getting to know fellow U2 fans, he realized that he really wanted to meet people who shared his Asian-American identity-that of English-speaking Asians raised in the United States, whose common-ality transends their particular countries of origin. So, in traditional dot-com fashion, he quit investment banking to start Community Connect in 1996, and its first site, AsianAvenue.com, in 1997. Three years later, the parent company boasts a trio of ethnically identified virtual meeting places: AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and the new MiGente, an English-language site aimed at the U.S. Hispanic population. The site acquired 20,000 members the first three weeks after its October launch. AsianAvenue and BlackPlanet are among the largest registra-tion-based sites for their target audiences, and BlackPlanet has been Community Connect's biggest success story. It launched in September 1999 and now claims more than 1.3 million members. It still trails its biggest competitor, BET.com, but not by much: BET had 339,000 unique visitors in September compared with BlackPlanet's 312,000. All three Community Connect sites use the same custom-built. user-friendly software that lets members click on anyone's user name and talk to that person instantly, a feature that helps foster that crucial community interaction. The tightly integrated message boards, profile pages, instant messaging, events calendars, and other relationship-building features also keep members coming back. The business world at large has also given Community Connect respect and credibility: The company raised $15 million in March from Sandler Capital Management, and Community Connect's advertisers include heavyweights such as Hewlett Packard, Amazon, and Microsoft. A job-services element that will focus on companies' diversity-building strategies is also in the works. With the U.S. minority popula-tion approaching the point where it collectively, will no longer be a minority, marketers will stand up and pay attention to Community Connect. UPS- Great verticals; tons of traffic |