GLOBAL PERSONALS BLOG – May 3 - It has become increasingly difficult for independently-owned dating companies to profitably and ethically acquire traffic in this marketplace, when competing with VC-backed entrants like Zoosk or IAC portfolio companies like Match, Singlesnet, Peoplemedia or OKCupid, says Ross Williams, CEO of WhiteLabelDating.com, a subsidiary of Global Personals, a software company that enables partners to set up their own branded, online dating sites.
It is difficult to remain profitable against these companies when you manage your development, hosting, customer support, database, CRM etc in-hous. This is why many dating site operators are deciding either to sell or to move their sites to a white label platform.
But when is the right time to sell?
Quite simply – when you don’t need to. You’ll get the maximum value from your business when it’s still growing, when you’re showing profitability and you can demonstrate future growth. I see too many dating sites looking to sell when the owner is simply jumping from a sinking ship. They’ve lost and they realised it too late.
As a buyer, what do we look for in a dating site?
We look to see where we can add value and where we can eliminate overheads. Through our WhiteLabelDating.com platform, we’re able to pretty much eliminate development, hosting and customer care costs as it is shared with all our partners. We’ll also consider a talent acquisition. Most buyers will consider a buy vs build approach – up to a certain point, it makes sense for them to buy a competitor, beyond that it makes more sense to build their own proposition and steal that niche, technology or marketing strategy.
