1. From an App to an ecosystem
Shayan Zadeh, Co-Founder & Co-CEO
2. What is Zoosk
• Dating that doesn’t suck
• It’s all about choice
– Lifestyle: flirt or find your soul mate
– People: 100,000 new daily signups
– Medium: web, social networks, mobile, desktop
– Monetization: freemium with virtual currency or subscription
• Seems to have struck a cord
– 50 million users
– Top ranked lifestyle app on multiple social networks
– Fastest growing dating property worldwide
– WSJ 50 Next Big Thing
3. Life of an App (and beyond!)
• Zoosk launched as a Facebook application
– New Viral Platform
– Simple and efficient distribution
– Low barriers for customer acquisition
• But we wanted
– To have a direct relationship with “our users”
– To reach beyond just Facebook users
– To build a business at scale
– To build a lasting brand
• So we
– Asked for our users’ email (January 2008)
– Launched Zoosk on other social networks (March 2008)
– Started direct monetization (April 2008)
– Launched Zoosk.com (Fall or 2008)
4. Pillars of Success on “open” Platforms
• No single Arbitrage will last forever
– Take full advantage of what you are given
– Adopt to environment changes quickly
– But don’t become dependant on the short term opportunities
– And always keep in mind it won’t last
– Examples
• Unlimited communications through platform
• Viral coefficient of above 1.0
5. Pillars of Success on “open” Platforms
• No single Arbitrage will last forever
• Establish a direct relationship with “your user”
– It will be hard (and at times controversial)
– It might feel you are giving up growth for no good reason
– But is the only way if you want to be around long-term
– Examples
• Users’ email addresses and permission to email
• Users’ phone numbers and permission to txt
6. Pillars of Success on “open” Platforms
• No single Arbitrage will last forever
• Establish a direct relationship with “your user”
• Figure out your unit economics
– Different businesses REQIURE different models
– Free, Freemium, and Paid all have it; figure it out
– After finding a market fit, this is the hardest problem to solve
– AND if the math doesn’t work, you won’t last
– Examples
• LTV and acquisition cost
7. Pillars of Success on “open” Platforms
• No single Arbitrage will last forever
• Establish a direct relationship with “your user”
• Figure out your unit economics
• Experiment, Experiment, Experiment
– Not just important on open platforms
– Make them short and cheap
– But do a ton of them
– Examples
• What would happen if I ask my users to pay
• What would happen if we remove this field from
signup form?
