The Autopian didn’t exist 30 days ago. It was just a dream shared by two car-loving weirdo journalist buddies and an absolute badass of a car salesman. But the dream is becoming more real everyday thanks to you, our dear readers. We’re finishing up our first month of existence, and we’re delighted to say that we’ve reached 1 Million pageviews. Thank you!
What does this mean? I’m not really sure. But I do know that, if you’d asked me a month ago how many folks would be reading our site after 29 days, I wouldn’t have guessed a number anywhere close to seven-digits long. Nobody knew what an “Autopian” was, we had no background in launching sites, and we weren’t partnering with a media company — this has been a jump into the unknown. Scary, in some ways, but we’re just happy to have you, our amazing contributors, and our partner Beau by our side.
The Autopian has a long way to go before it’s the website Jason Torchinsky and I want it to be. He and I are the only two full-time staffers right now (Thomas Hundal has been crushing it, though), so we’re an incredibly small team, and there’s only so long we can continue at this pace before we wear out our cylinder walls (I’ve been pouring zinc additive into Jason’s Diet Cokes to get him to hold up a bit longer). That’s just one of the many things we need to figure out. Â The user experience/commenting system could stand to be improved, I’d really like to build a stronger community, I think this place could stand to get even nerdier content-wise, and on and on.
But despite our growing pains, and despite the fact that we’re still a far cry from being anything close to profitable, we’re growing. Sure, we’re barely 5 percent of what the big-dog sites are size-wise, but our outlook — as engineers at my former company Chrysler often said — is “directionally correct,” and for that we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts (basically, our hearts’ oil pans).
P.S.: The Autopian has adopted the Toyota Manufacturing Process for article-production, so that means our team lives by “Kaizen,” or “continuous improvement.” So please keep sending in your feedback, either in the comments below or at tips@autopian.com
P.P.S.: Just a reminder that the two people in charge of running The Autopian are these two nutjobs — I mention this video so you’ll realize how much of a miracle all of this is:
From Torch:
David pretty much said what I’m thinking here as well: A month ago–actually, a leap year-February ago, not even a real month–there was no Autopian, and if you approached someone and asked if they were an Autopian, chances are they’d have sat you down and suggested you seek out your clergyperson, and likely requested that you let go of their arm because you’re gripping pretty tightly.
Now, though, everything is different! We live in a world where The Autopian exists, and I can see this amazing community of car dorks forming and somehow the world feels like a slightly better place.
We have so far to go still, and, sure, it’s a bit exhausting, but that could also be because my doctor said something about zinc poisoning? I guess I should look into that.
More importantly, thank you all for reading and supporting us and being the reason we do this. We can’t wait to do even more.
Congratulations!! One small request – Don’t go overboard on the clickbait titles. Seriously.
You guys are doing a great job and it sounds like I’m not the only one who thinks so. The community seems great here so far, hopefully you can keep fostering that positivity as you grow!
I love that you turned that 300k evo comment into an article in like 24hrs. That’s great content to pick up out of the comments section.
Really enjoying the content this month — in fact, it’s coming so fast and furious that I sometimes get behind!
I hate to be the bearer of slightly-bad pageview news, but I consistently have to reload pages to get the topmost image to load. Is this a known issue / being addressed?
Love what you guys are doing, it’s everything i hoped it would be and more!
Hope things are going well on the business side!!
I followed you both religiously back at that other place and couldn’t wait to read your gems. When you pitched Autopian in your final days I was pissed that I had to wait a month. Then there you were right where you said you would be. I have followed you every day since then. What a ride! I like where we’ve been and look forward to where we’re going.
As to other writers you should be looking for a young A.J.K. Setwright.
Oops, K.J.K. Setwright.
Oops x 2 L.J.K. Setwright
L.J.K. Setright (no “w” needed)
😉
Oh yes, I remember I was so bummed when Torch and David left that other place..whatsitcalled..jellopiknik or something i dunno…have’nt been there for a while
Thanks to Jason I’ll never forget “Jalopy Nudnik”.
This site is the best. You two are the best. I am a retired woman and, although this sounds sexist, I read every every bit of the conversations because they fondly remind me of the camaraderie my brother and his friends shared over beers as they attempted to determine how to repair his AMC-made Harley Davidson motorcycle (POS according to brother. Same guy who refused to part with it for 40 years!). I lived vicariously through their jokes and laughter, just like I do with Autopian. Live in SoCal. Go Galpin.
Wow…your brother must have been a *true*, hard-core HD aficionado. My hat is off to him (those AMF-era bikes were something else, for sure)!
Our demographics still skew pretty male (though there’s a better divide than we guessed!), even though cars are for everyone, no matter how you identify. So, welcome! We’re glad to have you! Even if your brother had a crappy motorcycle! In fact, maybe BECAUSE of that.
Like so many others, I’ve been 100% Autopian for the past 29 days. No more Jacrapnik for me.
So glad to hear the site seems to be doing well (I don’t know what 1 million page views means in the big scheme of things, either) and I hope you keep growing and prospering. Definitely hire a bunch more auto-crazies to help you though. I get a little bit stressed whenever I see yet another byline from Jason or David, because it makes me worry you’ll reach burn-out stage, or glaze your clutch, or something. Thanks to David and Jason and Bo for teaming up and creating the world’s BEST automotive site!
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Volkswagen Beetle
Nissan Pao (I think)
Volkswagen GTI
BMW M5 (possibly just another BMW)
CHANGLI!!
I love wheel designs, so it was fun to try to get them all. Am I right?
Congrats on the success! I love this site. I look at it every day, usually multiple times. Keep going!
I was sitting here doing the same thing in my head with that image.
You got it.
Congrats on already spreading a big metphorical tent content wise. Not only is there something for everyone, there is something great. Excited to see where you go next.
Your team has done so much in just a month, you deserve to be very proud of your accomplishments.
It’s been a helluva month… here’s to many, many more!
Hey, that’s awesome. Big congrats to the whole Autopian team. Who knew pure, concentrated, unadulterated Torch and DT could be so… satisfying. Never change guys
I’m loving the content so far and it sounds like you already have a good idea where to focus the QOL improvements so I’ll just say – Great job, keep it up!
Excellent work I love watching you guys build this thing. When I heard you were going off together to make this site I knew it would be great. You’re balancing each other out well and if I could I’d buy some Autopian stock. Money is going to find you, especially if you: 1) keep it positive and welcoming which will help in: 2) encouraging positive comments and 3) hire good staff carefully and slowly. And remember – you two were the best writers at Jalopnik. You’ll get better by hiring up, not hiring back.
Great job so far, I just want to know how to help more?
What exactly is a page view? Does refreshing the page every 15 seconds count?
Can I make my entire family spend our vacation doing nothing but reading every article or is that against the Geneva convention?
I dunno but I say DO IT… you know, just in case.
Hats off to you guys,
I feel like I’ve done my part, After all trolling along and making weird comments is what I do best!
I remember when the place holder page went up, and I checked every day waiting for THIS!
It’s not perfect, but neither am I, so let’s keep going and see where it leads. 🙂
Congrats!
Much like my children, I can’t wait to see this site grow and become even better than it already is!
Glad you went with Kaizen instead of Six Sigma.
IIRC there’s a great 30 rock bit about 6 sigma
What HT said.
In fact, if you’re asking our opinions, I’d suggest that links back to the J-site have a marker identifying it as such: I do NOT care to give them any page views whatsoever. That’s aside from my cheap ass not having internet at the house and the limited service at said house meaning I usually can’t load those pages anyway
Loving the daily features and the car culture content. Rapid growth can bring its own problems; keep things slow and steady…just like Jason’s cars.
Congrats guys! Onwards and upwards!
Thanks Autopian team for creating engaging content that isn’t negative crap published just for clicks!
tail light trivia tuesdays has a nice ring to it
You know the future may not be so bright as when we were kids, there’s no more Concorde, but we can always warm ourselves by the blinking amber fire.
Holy hell! That’s awesome! Congrats, dudes! Hard earned and well deserved, I say.
Thank you for bringing fun back to auto journalism. I know I sound like a real dick in my comments sometimes, but it’s done out of love, I swear.
Something that a certain previous site did waaaay back (before you guys even), only once but was so much fun that I still remember it:
March Muscle Car Madness.
Internet bracket racing (ha) at its best, days of enjoyment debating/ranting/pleading about the pros and cons of each matchup.
The eventual winner wasn’t even a muscle car (I mean, really, there’s only one vintage Mustang that could called a true muscle car, and it’s NOT the road racing one damnit), but it was a such great fun and I’d love play again, esp. with this self-selected crowd.
Haven’t once looked back (you know where)
I have but only for Rob
Rob, Tom and Mercedes.
Definitely enjoying the next level technical car-nerdery, the colorful verbal portraits provided by JT’s contributions, and the discernable lack of political commentary (regardless of persuasion). Please keep it up!
It’s not a “choose only one” red button dilemma. You don’t have to shunt the trolley.
There’s still quality over there. But it doesn’t feel nearly as interesting or fun right now. Our favorites are here.
And over here, you don’t have to wait three years to get promoted out of the grey, only to lose your login info and have to wait another year to get out again.