HUFFINGTON POST – Oct 13 - Shayan Zadeh is co-founder of Gear Zero. He started Gear Zero to rethink the way people work. Previously, Shayan co-founded Zoosk.
Q: Could you give us a brief account about your life?
A: I was born to a middle-class Kurdish family in Iran. I discovered software programming when my parents bought me Commodore 64. At the age of 16 I already had summer jobs coding in local software companies. I got into the best technical school in the country, Sharif University of Technology. I wanted to continue my education in US. I joined Microsoft as a software engineer to both learn how a big enterprise works and also get on the path for green card. During the five years at Microsoft I managed to get my MBA at University of Washington.
Q: How did the idea for your business come about?
A: While in grad school, I attended a series of talks on entrepreneurship. I had never seen someone talk about their job like that before and I was instantly hooked. I wanted to be like that person. I regrouped with my best friend, Alex Mehr, to start Zoosk.
Q: How different is Zoosk compared to other dating apps?
A: Instead of asking people what they want, we look at their actions and optimize their experience based on this data.
Q: What was the biggest hurdle to overcome?
A: My own mental blocks. We have a hard time imaging big things because our brain is not used to thinking big. Once you overcome that internal obstacle, you can accomplish amazing things.
Q: To what do you most attribute your success?
A: Hard work.
Q: What has helped Zoosk become one of the world's largest online dating platforms?
A: That we made significant investments on mobile way ahead of our competition.
by Jahandad Memarian
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NYTIMES – Oct 15 – In August, traffic on Spokeo, an online verification service, more than doubled. Others are using private investigators and matchmakers to do the vetting for them. Selective Search, an executive matchmaking firm based in Chicago, also reported a bump in calls after the Ashley Madison hack. And Tawkify received more inquiries from people wanting to meet someone who has been properly vetted, said E. Jean Carroll, a co-founder of the matchmaking service.
