Paul "Scrivs" Scrivens is a co-founder of the 9rules Network. Visit his professional blog here and personal blog here.

What is 9rules, and how did it all get started?

The simple answer is to say we are a content network. In our case the content can come in the form of a blog, a website, or a podcast (audio and video). Our goal has always been to bring the great content that independent sites produce to the forefront of the web and help readers discover this content. We also wanted to create an environment where like-minded individuals can turn to others and ask for help or provide support themselves.

The concept got started when I was talking to my business partner, Mike Rundle, and went to go take a shower. Now I wasn't thinking of him in the shower, but I was thinking about a discussion we were having and in one of those "eureka" type moments the concept of the 9rules Network was born. Mike flew down and we talked about it a bit more over dinner at Applebees' and along with Matthew Oliphant and Colin Devroe we moved forward. The Network launched in May 2005.

What is the hardware and software that powers 9rules?

The main site and some of our own sites are hosted on a single server provided by the cool dudes at MediaTemple. The software running the beast is a combination of WordPress, bbPress and custom code. It was really interesting to see to what lengths we could push both WordPress and bbPress and we are very happy with the results, which is a massive tribute to the great work that Matt Mullenweg and the many Open Source developers have done.

How much time and money goes into running it, and is it profitable?

To be honest I love what I do and I never keep track of time, but as we move forward I find that we are putting more and more time into the Network while we continue to add new features and look for ways to improve it. I also work on side projects with Business Logs and do a show over at ScrivsTyme (Mike handles most of Business Logs and Tyme handles most of ScrivsTyme) and I like the balance that I have created between the three. 9rules has always brought in more money than we spend so yes you could call us profitable. Are we rolling in cash? No and while we want more money like the next person, we understand the path we are taking to get to that point and choose not to veer off it.

We have a very large influence on a portion of the web and we could have easily used that influence to make a lot of money, but it's important for us to stick with the principles that we have established. Our site has never been ad-heavy and we want to keep it that way since we like to visit sites for their content, not what ad they are showing us. Sometimes we get caught up in working on stuff that won't make us a dime, but usually those are the fun things and for some reason we like those more than the money-making activities. We almost have reached a happy median though so then maybe everyone can stop worrying about our business plan.

VCs have come our way and offered us numbers, but their visions never align with ours and as much as it helps to have a solid cash fund behind you, we would never sacrifice what we have created for some dollars and cents. They always want us to create the next Weblogs, Inc. and to us that is thinking too small, but they don't see it like that because they don't understand the value and importance of the Independent Web.