Spurred by the bitterly divisive 2004 presidential race, author and syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington and media executive Ken Lerer decided to embark on a new – and vocal – entrepreneurial venture. The duo, friends for about a year after meeting at a dinner, created HuffingtonPost.com Inc. in 2005, giving highly opinionated political voices a new place to sound off. The progressive news and opinion website would, in part, serve to rebut the conservative Drudge Report, then one of the loudest political bullhorns led by Matt Drudge. Today, HuffPo has expanded far beyond politics, covering a myriad of lifestyle topics— from sports and comedy to food and entertainment – through a collective blog of nearly 4,000 contributors. The 100-employee, venture-backed company, which has reported a valuation of $100 million as of 2008, now fields nearly 11 million visitors a month compared with about 2.4 million two years ago. Its readership is also vocal: Last month, users posted 2.3 million comments.  Q: How did you start up and grow so quickly?  Huffington: The site was created in the middle of a perfect storm. We had news. We leveraged social media and the power of community and began to attract a loyal readership. Some of my close friends [were early investors]. We had a distinguished group of bloggers and news aggregation, which was drawing traffic. The third element was moving into original reporting. Then, we raised $25 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. At the time, many people were skeptical, saying our growth would plummet after the election, but exactly the opposite happened.  Q. As a media company, did you consider a print publication?  Lerer: It wouldn't have made much sense to invest in print. It was pretty clear where the trend lines were going five years ago, both with the user and with advertising. What was happening then has just accelerated now.  Huffington: And it was really about wanting people who were in print to be online, because the important conversation had clearly moved online already. People like Arthur Schlesinger and Norman Mailer probably would never have been online, because they were not digital natives; Arthur Schlesinger would fax me his blogs. We provided a platform for them.  Q. Do you think the Huffington Post represents the future of media?  Huffington: From the beginning, Kenny and I have made it clear that we don't see the future of media as either print or online but more of a convergence. We think the best of both will survive.  Lerer: I think a form of print is here to stay, but I personally wouldn't be investing in it. My kids grew up in the 1980s and they hadn't a clue that ABC, NBC and CBS were different from the cable-television channels. The new generation coming to the Huffington Post will have no history in print and that's a really exciting opportunity.  Q. What is it like to work with each other?  Huffington: I had always worked on my own, but found you can do not just twice as much but 200 times as much when you have a good partner. It's this very creative connection. And having a partner definitely allows you to take more risks.  Lerer: I always agree with my partner. (Laughs.) I've started more than one company in my life, and it's so much easier with a partner than by yourself -- it's not even a close call. We also complement each other terrifically well. I'm not a great detail person; Arianna sticks with it. She likes to meet more people than I do, too.  Q: How did you come up with the name Huffington Post?  Lerer: We knew the company should have an identity connected to a human being. And at the time we had Drudge looking out the windshield.  Huffington: Maybe we should have called it the Stassinopoulos [her maiden name] Post. My ex-husband recently teased about whether he should have trademarked his name. He would be making some good returns now!  Q. What's next for Huffington Post?  Lerer: There's a great need on the local level, so we intend to launch additional local verticals [on top of New York, Los Angeles and Denver editions] over the next 12 to 18 months, in the top maybe 20 markets.  Huffington: We're also launching two more verticals in June: Travel and Arts. And we're covering things that are not being covered; that's an obsession of mine. One of our editors did a great slideshow on the 11 drillers who died [in last month's oil rig explosion] because we knew so little about them.  Q: What has been your biggest challenge?  Huffington: Maintaining a civil environment for the online conversation. From day one, our blogs have been moderated - and increasingly we needed more moderators.  Q. What advice would you give other entrepreneurs?  Lerer: Your original idea will rarely be the one you eventually follow through on; it will change, so you have to be agile.  Huffington: You have to passionately believe in what you're doing, but you also have to see what is needed, and is not available, and be there to provide it. You have to keep responding to the Zeitgeist -- the times change. The Huffington Post may have started as an answer to Drudge but it's certainly not where we are now. We look at issues not from a left-right approach, but more of what is in the public interest and what is needed.  Lerer: Also, find a partner and raise a dollar more than you think you need.  Q: What is the secret of your success?  Huffington: Absolutely and unquestionably, I do not distinguish between my work on the Huffington Post and my life. Other than being with my kids and my friends, there's very little else I would rather be doing -- and I think that makes it sustaining.  Lerer: Here's another difference between Arianna and me -- I answer that question: Combining great content with great technology. But I love both answers.  Write to Teri Evans at evanst@dowjones.com
Inspired by political sparring, Arianna Huffington and Ken Lerer created an Internet newspaper that today extends beyond right and left.