????雅岡與大學期間的戀人喜結連理。在他2004年創立OkCupid時，他們倆就已經處于熱戀之中，不過他也屬于網站的目標用戶。網站的用戶平均需要自愿回答涉及本人的233個問題。雅岡用典型的自嘲語氣對《財富》（Fortune）說：“我單身時討厭在酒吧和人約會，因為那里完全是以貌取人，還有嘩眾取寵。但我在酒吧里既不相貌出眾，也不幽默搞笑。所以我最不喜歡跟人比長相、拼幽默。我更愿意上OkCupid或者Match，在那里我可以寫一段300個字的自我介紹。真棒！”

????許多約會者似乎都有同感，因此市值20億美元的網上交友業發展迅猛，即便業內正在發生兼并——大多數都是被雅岡領導的Match公司兼并的。在創立OkCupid之前，他和同一幫好友創立了SparkNotes。這是一家類似CliffsNotes的教輔公司，在1999年以3,000萬美元的價格賣給了iTurf公司。

????雅岡表示，起初獲得成功后，他仍不敢確信自己是個企業家。他不知道SparkNotes的成功究竟只是運氣，還是技術上的成功。他四處投簡歷申請白領職位的工作，卻徒勞無功。他說：“它充分證明，如果你已經24歲了，履歷上卻只有CEO的工作經歷，那你是絕對找不到工作的。”

????因此，索性回去再開一家公司吧。他與朋友杰德?麥凱萊布聯手，創立了電驢（eDonkey），這是一項點對點的文件共享服務（類似于Napster的視頻共享）。這家公司發展迅速，不過在唱片公司的壓力下被迫關閉。盡管成功地建立過兩家網絡公司，但雅岡卻說：“我還從未寫過一行貿易秘訣。我也不會去寫。”他扮演的總是商務方面的角色。

????因此，在以9,000萬美元收購OkCupid的一年半后，IAC任命雅岡為整個Match部門的首席執行官也就是順理成章的事情了。這意味著他不僅管理著Match.com，還負責了PeopleMedia（其中包括一系列針對各群體的小型約會網站如OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com和LoveandSeek.com），DateHookup.com和像Meetic和Twoo這樣的國際公司。整個部門在2012年占到了IAC的28億美元收入中的7.13億美元。

????在線交友的網站軍團如今構成了一個龐大無比、紛繁多樣的網絡。IAC坐擁其中的一大部分，而且還在雅岡的愿景下繼續收購其他公司：“我喜歡收購小型公司，招攬優秀的企業家，希望鼓動他們留在Match或IAC這樣的大型公司工作。”

????雅岡說他幾乎每周都能從交友網站的創業者那里收到郵件。他們想知道他會不會收購他們，或者給他們一些建議。建一個網站很容易，但要讓它成為一個像模像樣的生意卻很難，尤其是網上交友網站。但面向特定約會群體的網站有著誘人的市場，其中的許多在近幾年都取得了成功，最終找到了買家。作為Match的首席執行官，雅岡表示，實際上他很支持新的網上交友的競爭者出現，因為基本上他會是唯一的買家。他把整件事形容得很簡單：“你要創立公司了，你要取得些成功了，然后我就會廉價收購你，因為沒有其他人給你出價。再然后我的公司就壯大了。”??

????Yagan is married to his high school sweetheart; they were already engaged when he launched OkCupid in 2004. And yet he might as well have been the target user for the site, whose members voluntarily answer, on average, 233 questions about themselves. "I hated meeting people at bars when I was single, because it's all about the looks and the funny line," he tells Fortune in typical self-deprecating fashion. "I don't have the looks to compete at a bar, and I'm not that funny. So the last thing I want is to be in a situation where that's what I'm competing on. I'd rather be on OkCupid or Match, where I can write a 300-word essay about myself that's really good."

????Many daters, it seems, agree: The $2 billion online dating industry is growing quickly, even as it is being consolidated -- mostly by Match Inc., which Yagan helms. Before they created OkCupid, he and the same friends started SparkNotes, an online alternative to CliffsNotes study guides, in 1999. It sold to iTurf, Inc. for $30 million.

????After that initial success, he says, he was still hesitant to consider himself an entrepreneur; Yagan wasn't sure whether SparkNotes succeeded because of luck or skill. He applied for desk jobs to no avail. "It turns out that if you're a 24-year-old whose only line on their resume says CEO, you are totally unemployable," he says.

????Thus: back to creating another business. He joined his friend Jed McCaleb to launch eDonkey, a P2P file-sharing service (akin to a Napster for video) that they scaled fast but shut down after pressure from record labels. Despite successfully rolling out two web companies, Yagan says, "I have never written a line of commercial code in my life. Nor should I." Instead, his roles have always been on the business side.

????It makes sense, then, that only a year and a half after buying OkCupid for some $90 million, IAC (IACI) made Yagan CEO of its entire Match Inc. division. That means he now oversees not only Match.com but also PeopleMedia (which comprises a host of smaller, niche dating sites such as OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and LoveandSeek.com), DateHookup.com, and international companies like Meetic and Twoo. That entire segment contributed $713 million of IAC's 2012 revenue of $2.8 billion.

????The legions of online dating websites now comprise a vast and varied web. But IAC owns a formidable chunk of them and has continued the buying bonanza as a direct result of Yagan's vision: "I like bringing in small companies, great entrepreneurs, wanting them to be incentivized to stay and work at a big company like Match or IAC."

????Yagan says he gets emails, almost on a weekly basis, from people launching a dating site. They want to know whether he would buy it or at least give them advice. Creating a website is easy -- it is building one into a legitimate business that is hard, especially in online dating. But the sites that target a focused subset of daters find a rich market. Many of those in the last few years that scaled successfully have since sold. As CEO of Match, Yagan says, he actually roots for new online dating competitors to launch, because he is basically the only buyer. To hear him describe it, the whole thing is easy: "You're going to launch, you're going to get some success, [and] I'm going to buy you for cheap because you don't have another bidder. And then my business has grown."???