Seated on a couch in his Sherman Oaks office on a recent morning, Henry Dahut talked about the genesis of his Internet startup GotTrouble.com as his three-man documentary crew recorded the event for posterity’s sake. The Web site will revolutionize the way people tackle personal problems, he said, allowing them to get just the right help for a particular problem be it in the areas of law, love or health without the usual search-engine clutter. “We’re providing a calm environment for people in trouble,” explained Dahut, as the soundman lofted a boom over his head and the cameraman moved in for a close-up. Dahut hired the documentary crew to witness the birth of what he sees as an eventual Internet powerhouse. And like any proud parent, he wants his company’s early years captured on videotape. GotTrouble.com, like all Internet startups, faces significant hurdles as it tries to build a national brand while competing to some extent with Internet search engines as well as with the yellow pages. One Internet analyst went so far as to say the company’s business model is doomed to failure, but Dahut believes it will succeed. The attorney is so convinced, he sold his Mercedes and mortgaged his house to plow $850,000 of his own money into the startup. The company has yet to attract a nickel from outside investors, but Dahut expresses confidence that venture capital funding is right around the corner, and an initial public stock offering is only a year away. “You know something, I’ve never slept better at night,” he said. “When you’re truly committed, there is no room for failure.” Unlike a typical search engine, GotTrouble.com is an “event engine,” said Dahut. Users simply choose the particular problem, or event, they face from a drop-down menu, and they receive a list of providers of goods and services who might help. The company derives its revenue by charging sponsors insurance companies, law firms, family counselors, bail bondsmen, money lenders, employment agencies and others a monthly fee to make the referral list. Serious doubts Lisa Allen, an analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., said Dahut’s confidence may be misplaced. While she had never heard of GotTrouble.com, she doesn’t give the company much chance of success. “This is another dot-com idea doomed to failure for a couple of reasons,” she said. Internet companies must cater to a very specific niche to succeed, and Allen doesn’t see having a problem as a narrow enough interest to draw consumers to the site. Additionally, the business is built around an advertising model, which hasn’t proven effective over the Internet. “And trying to build this out nationally across a variety of services in all municipalities is a terrifically big task,” she concluded. If the business model doesn’t work, Dahut counters, why is his company closing in on profitability? He argues that the site does indeed serve a well-defined niche by targeting people facing specific problems. While conceding that building a national base is a big job, Dahut said the task is do-able if the company targets the 3,000-odd counties in the United States rather than attempting to go after each city. A career change Dahut practiced criminal and civil law for 13 years, but realized he had lost his passion for it. He took three years off to find himself, a journey that took him Kto film school in New York and later back to L.A. eight months ago to start a Web-based referral service for attorneys called DefensePros.com. He realized people in trouble are starved for information, and predisposed to make a buying decision. However, most people simply aren’t sure where to turn. “The light bulb went on for me,” he said. Dahut came up with the idea for GotTrouble.com and decided to meld DefensePros into the new site. That gave him the legal component for GotTrouble.com, and now he’s working on adding services for people who have health and love problems. For example, someone facing marital problems could click on “family” for a list of counselors to shore-up a shaky marriage, or find an attorney to help dissolve a marriage that’s over. Those facing a divorce also might need a moving company, a storage locker, an apartment guide or maybe even a short-term loan. Similarly, someone facing drunken driving charges might need a bail bondsman, a new insurance provider or perhaps drug and alcohol treatment.
