Month: April 2017

How Bruce Croxon Would Startup Lavalife Today

Posted on April 17, 2017

Lavalife bruce croxonITWOLRD CANADA – Apr 14 – If Bruce Croxon could go back to 1988 and his startup days at Lavalife again, he'd put his CIO at the centre of the company. There's no doubt Lavalife was a success, attracting 2M users, and making an exit worth $180M. But Croxon realizes that if he tried to run a startup founded in 2017 in the same way, it'd only lead to heartache and debt. Croxon says the role of the CIO is becoming more important. "The tools available to figure out the gap between what a customer costs and what a customer is worth are now available to even small businesses," he says. "It's the CIO's job to figure that out." Those tools weren't available in the days Croxon was running Lavalife.

by Brian Jackson
See full article at ITWorld Canada

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Polyamory Is More Common Than We Thought

Posted on April 17, 2017

Polyamory picCHICAGO TRIBUNE – Apr 14 – An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in the idea of soul mates. Psychologists and relationship experts are saying that multiple people can match each other romantically. "There are likely several people with whom any one individual could be compatible," says relationship expert Gary Lewandowski. A 2016 Match.com survey found that men fall in love over three times in their lives, while women fall in love a little more than twice in her life – a stat that appears to dispute the idea that "you're the only one for me." Part of the reason why love interests change over a lifetime is because people change – and partners might grow apart.

by Danielle Braff
See full article at Chicago Tribune

See all posts on Match.com

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Snap Introduces Microtransactions To Its Video Platform

Posted on April 14, 2017

Snapinteractive logoACCESSWIRE – Apr 13 – "Microtransactions are the newest tool we are utilizing to further monetize users on our video platforms and increase lifetime value," commented Alex Harrington, Snap's CEO. "Since launching this initiative, we have begun to monetize users who have not previously subscribed to a premium membership."

See full article at Snap Interactive website

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Indian Investors May Hold 49% In Dating App ‘Happn’

Posted on April 14, 2017

Happn iconECONOMIC TIMES – Apr 13 – Dating app Happn officially launched in India earlier this month. Its Indian investors Nimish Arora of DCTex Furnishing, South Indian music label Lahari Music and two high net worth individuals (HNIs) will hold 49% ownership in the French company's Indian subsidiary. Launched in Feb 2014 in Paris , Happn has ~17M users.

by Gaurav Laghate
See full article at Economic Times

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

How Much People Spend On Their Dating Life

Posted on April 14, 2017

Dating-costs-jpgWASHINGTON POST – Apr 13 – The average unmarried American spent $1,596 on their dating life in 2016, according to a Match survey of 5,500 singles around the country. In Washington, it was $1,788; in New York, $2,069. This average includes bar tabs and dating site memberships, but also haircuts, manicures and new date outfits; entrance fees to dating events and money spent on matchmakers. Men spent more ($1,855 on average) than women ($1,423).

by Lisa Bonos
See full article at Washington Post

See all posts on Match.com

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

How A Rescue Dog Helped Match.com’s CEO Avoid A $430K Tax Bill

Posted on April 12, 2017

Greg-blatt-thelmaDALLAS NEWS – Apr 11 – Match Group chairman Gregory Blatt became an official Texan in 2009 thanks to his elderly dog, according to a recent ruling by a New York judge. Blatt moved to Texas from New York in 2009 when he became CEO of Match. New York tax authorities were not convinced of Blatt's new Dallas fandom since he kept his New York condo. They audited him in 2011 and determined that he owed $430,065 in personal income tax plus interest and penalties for 2009 and 2010. However, administrative law judge Donna M. Gardiner found that Blatt fully embraced Dallas as his new home – citing his decision to move his large elderly dog to Texas' hot climate, among other factors. Blatt moved back to New York in 2011 after he was promoted to become the CEO of Match's parent company, IAC.

by Dennis Jansen
See full article at Dallas News

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New App Curvy Doesn’t Accept Slim Chicks

Posted on April 12, 2017

Curvy iconPR NEWSWIRE – Apr 11 – Curvy, a BBW dating and hookup app, is directed at full figured women and those who admire them. This app operates very similarly to Tinder and other swipe based apps.

The full article was originally published at Yahoo Finance, but is no longer available.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Matrimony.com’s CEO: Matchmaking Wins Over Dating Apps

Posted on April 11, 2017

Matrimony ceoTHE HINDU BUSINESS LINE – Apr 10 – Online matrimony remains a growing segment despite apps, says Matrimony.com CEO J Murugavel. Matrimony.com had launched a dating app 'Matchify', two years ago but was shut down a year later. "We launched the app as we did not want to miss out on the disruption dating apps were causing. We invested close to ₹13 crore ($2M)," he said. "We felt it was not serving the purpose with which it was started, facilitating meetings with the intention of marriage. So I decided to switch back to our core business, which is online matchmaking," he said. Number of profiles in Matrimony.com grew 20% last fiscal. ~80% of the profiles were created by individuals rather than parents. Matrimony.com has a market share of 60% in online marriage services in India.

by Swathi Moorthy
See full article at The Hindu Business Line

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Bots Are A Whole New Form Of Media

Posted on April 11, 2017

BotsQUARTZ – Apr 11 – Bots aren't new tools – they have been used in simple chats. What is new, however, is that their function has moved beyond the ferrying of basic messages and toward comprehensive social uses. Bots are a new form of adaptive media that live within social media platforms. The most powerful function of bots is to collect, organize, and communicate information in ways that exceed human capacities for information storage and retrieval.

by Samuel Woolley & Douglas Guibeault
See full article at Quartz

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

The Success Of Hater, The Dating App For Haters

Posted on April 11, 2017

Hater welcome screenCBS NEWS – Apr 9 – Brendan Alper says: "People hate things everywhere; everyone likes to complain." That truth led the former Goldman Sachs finance associate to quit his job and launch a dating app Hater that matches users based on what they hate. Users swipe on ~3k topics, loving or hating as many as they want. Mutual dislikes are a better sign of compatibility than mutual likes, and two studies seem to back it up. After a month, Hater had 350k users all around the world.

by Susan Spencer
See full article at CBS News

See all posts on Hater

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team