Category: All Interviews

Interview With Emil Sarnogoev, CEO & Founder Of Skalfa Software

Posted on February 28, 2012

Emil SarnogoevOPW INTERVIEW – Feb 28 – If you're considering starting a dating site, you can create your own custom software using a programming outfit and get maximum flexibility, or buy software off the shelf, like SkaDate 9, or if you want to focus on marketing and not touch coding or deal with servers, go with a white label dating service (see list).  Here's our interview with Emil Sargonoev, the CEO/Founder of Skalfa Software. – Mark Brooks

SkaDate 9 is now out, and its worth a look-in. 

What improvements have you made with the new SkaDate?
We found out that giants like Facebook have significantly changed the way people interact online. Were we surprised? Not really. Users don't want pure matchmaking sites with limited to no social features these days. What they really want is a hybrid website where they could have fun chatting, playing games and sharing media AND look for a spouse. A social aspect keeps a member engaged and entertained even if 'that model-looking chick' never returns a message. Besides, it creates a more casual and relaxed atmosphere for making new acquaintances.

What makes Facebook equally attractive for a company executive, a college student, and a housewife is the social graph. Besides the social graph, it features the most convenient tool to keep track of on-site activity ever – the newsfeed.  So we took another step towards 'socializing' our dating software, and developed a Facebook-style newsfeed that is now available in SkaDate 9.

We also developed a native iPhone/iPad SkaDate application in close cooperation with our partners – SOD Technologies. Currently we are also putting finishing touches on an Android app (both for smartphones and tablets). All that goes along with the SkaDate mobile browser version that works with Opera mini, Safari and Internet Explorer. We aim to cover all the popular mobile devices by the end of February.

SkaDate 9 side improvements include adding a classifieds module, coupon codes and tools for automatic search engine optimization, and two new templates (adult-themed 'Fab', and social-networking content-based 'Rainbow'), created with direct input from visitors of SkaDate's website.

How is SkaDate different and better than other dating software providers?
I could make it a long talk, but I'll list our three main advantages instead:

  1. SkaDate has unencrypted source code. Which means there are no licensed files that can turn site customization into a nightmare. That also means the customer owns each and every part of their website, and is technically independent from the software vendor. Sounds great, doesn't it?
  2. SkaDate is basically a what-you-see-is-what-you-get solution. It comes packed with the features available on the demo at a fixed one-time cost. So, no headache comparing the product packages, prices, options and such. We do offer a few paid add-ons, but skipping them won't turn your site into an under-featured 'core'.
  3. We strive for quality and innovation. We are always looking for ways to integrate seemingly simple and obvious features that later become fundamental parts of dating-specific software and industry staple. For example, our Points system? If they User Points boosts member activity and encourage users to come back to the site more often – then why not? This was also the case with the Speed-Dating module, and with the Advanced Newsfeed. Our customers appreciate this approach, they love to see their ideas brought to life in new software builds and versions. In return we get loyalty, as is evidenced by our runner-up spot in the Best Dating Software Provider category at the 2012 iDate Awards.

Why would someone want to use SkaDate over a white label hosted provider?
White label solutions are effectively affiliate systems. Technically they are not software but I'll leave this question to purists.

From business perspective white label solutions are good for marketers who have the budget and know how to use it most efficiently for lead generation. Those leads are then converted using the existing online dating paradigms. But there's one important thing to remember: you don't own a site, you don't own content, you don't own revenue. You only get a share from someone who converts your traffic. That's the definition of affiliate systems.

On the other hand, owning software (like SkaDate) is a cheap and fast way to try out your own ideas. This is how PlentyofFish, OKCupid, Mingle2 and others started. You can tweak your site, you can maximize conversion by various optimization techniques, finally you can pivot and experiment with business models. In the end of the day, you own the site, content, and all revenue. This is the best platform for innovation.

A lot of people were skeptical about selling software and support to online dating startups. If the past 7 years of SkaDate are any indication, our business gets more and more and more resilient. Lately we are getting a lot of white label systems refugees.

Could you point to a list of preferred programmers who can customize SkaDate?
For a while now we have been providing customization and support services in-house. However, we do understand that customers need alternative options. This could be due to a number of reasons, like more flexible schedules, cheaper freelance fees, etc. To create this alternative we have set up a specialized freelance resource, SkaDateCS, where third-party developers provide customization services for SkaDate clients. In addition we have partnered with the aforementioned third-party development company SOD Technologies, who work on modifications and support services at competitive prices.

Who do you recommend for hosting?
Basically, any software provider, whose servers are configured to meet our system requirements, is a good candidate for hosting a SkaDate-powered site. Also, 24/7 support and server status monitoring are highly preferred, as someone should always be around to get the site up and running in case of server downtime. We have listed a few recommended software providers on our website to ease the choice for SkaDate customers.

See all posts on SkaDate

Interview With Arnaud Passafe, CEO / co-Founder Of Teloop

Posted on February 27, 2012

Teloop logoOPW INTERVIEW – Feb 27 – Arnaud Passafe is one of the two founders and current CEOs of Teloop, a mobile French dating site that launched 6 months ago after one year in Beta. We have interviewed Arnaud for our French version of OPW and here is the translated interview.

What’s the founding story of Teloop?
We are two long-term friends who, while we were still student engineers in 2010, decided to put our knowledge in IT into practice and create a website. At the time we were single, so we had this idea of a dating site.

Given the evolution of smartphones, we thought it’d be interesting to use this technology for the online dating industry. This would allow bachelors to login anytime from anywhere!

We were not expecting this to work out so well but our website meets users’ expectations. According to several predictions, by 2014 one out of two connections on the Internet will be made via cell phones. This is really a developing market.

How is Teloop different from existing online dating websites?
What makes Teloop different in the highly competitive online dating industry is the mobile version, which is compatible with all smartphones available today.

We also put a lot of our efforts in security on the website, which is why all profiles are verified. If we have the slightest doubt, the profile will be deactivated.

Also Teloop offers a geographic localization option to find users near you, on top of all the usual functionality (profile browsing, customized research, blacklisting, contact adding system, instant chat, photo uploading etc.)

Why did you choose the name Teloop?
That’s a good question… There is no particular reason! We liked how it sounds.

How are you monetizing?
The website is totally free for women, so we have nearly as many women as men among users (48% of women, 52% of men).

For men, the site offers a Freemium plan: you can run a customized search for free upon subscription, browse profiles, see photos, or send messages and “bisoop” (virtual kisses and a play on the word bisou, which is French kiss).

For advance functionality such as instant chat, male users can become VIP members for 8€/month.

How are you marketing out your concept?
So far we didn’t want to include external founders, our communication budget is therefore fairly limited. We encourage natural indexing and word-of-mouth.

We have also run a few AdWords campaigns.

Our site currently amounts to 25,000 active users (profiles updated in the last two months).

How do you see Teloop's future over the coming year?
The English version should be launched by the end of the year (finalization in progress).

Besides the mobile version of Teloop, we will launch our website application on the Apple Store and Android Market… Hopefully before the end of this year.

Interview With Frances Maier, Co-founder Of Match.com

Posted on February 7, 2012

OPW INTERVIEW – Feb 6 – We interviewed Gary Kremen last month.

  

You’re the co-founder and were the first GM of Match.com. How did you get involved with Match and what’s your side of the founding story?
Gary and I are good friends, and we were back then.  Gary was looking for somebody to run Match.com. We connected at our reunion and he told me he wanted somebody who really knew how to market women. He thought it was important to get women to Match.com so men would follow.

Gary’s idea was to charge per email or contact. I pushed forward the membership model and of course that’s the model in most online dating sites.

The other important thing was giving people advice on how to use the site better. A lot of people didn’t get that we were creating, not just personals online, but that we were really inventing something. This was back in 1995, before anyone knew about social networking.

What were the companies back them?  Webpersonals.com, matchmaker.com and Match.com?
There were a few but they weren’t sophisticated about the marketing and customer acquisitions.  They didn’t work with any partnerships and I don’t think they thought about targeting women.  We were doing really well at attracting women and keeping them.  

On that point you went on after Match.com to work as VP of Women.com.  What do women want from idating that many dating sites are missing?
Safety, anonymity and fun is really important . If you take care of this, you’re going to do well.  Any respectable dating site gives you enough control to control pics, messages, blocking and filtering etc.  I also think that people need more specialized advice.

You are involved with two Internet dating start-ups.  Could you tell us about those?
The first one is TheComplete.me and I think it’s very unique and very exciting because it really talks about your social graph on Facebook. The other start-up I’m involved in is “Three Day Rule”. It’s a completely different approach although it shares that social aspect.  It’s based in LA and focuses on high end events.

See all posts on Match.com

Interview With Eric Silverberg, co-Founder Of Scruff

Posted on January 16, 2012

OPW INTERVIEW – Jan 16 – Eric’s story is similar to Joel’s at Grindr. He runs a gay dating app, and its doing quite well. Here’s his story. – Mark Brooks

How many users do you have now?
We’ve had more than a million registered users since we launched in 2010.

You’re MIT educated and you worked at Intel, Microsoft and Google.  What led you to create the Scruff App and what’s your founding story?
It was the end of 2009 and I wanted to learn more about app development. I looked at the apps that were on the market at that point and I really wanted to do something different for the gay community. I partnered with my good friend Johnny and after some exploration we launched Scruff. In addition to Scruff being a dating/social app for the gay community we wanted to create a new kind of brand that people wouldn’t be embarrassed to say: “We met on Scruff”.

Are you going to launch a straight App?
Right now we’re happy with where we are so probably not any time in the near future.

You’ve replaced winks with woofs. How many woofs are people sending around the world?
Quite a lot. It’s a really easy way to interact with people in addition to chat. At this point we see more than 30 messages a second being sent over our platform.

How else is your service different from the likes of Grindr?
We’ve built a rich, multi-platform set of features. We’ve also thought a lot about different ways that people can interact with each other in addition to chat.  For example; woofing, rate one another, see how you’ve been rated. We’re building a community around Scruff and Scruff is a group that encompasses lots of different types of people. It’s definitely resonated.

You’ve got a couple of paid subscriptions now.  What do people get for the paid services and how much are they?
We’ve launched a premium version that includes Browsing Pro and Messaging Pro. One enables you to view more profiles and customize your grid to a greater degree. The other gives you an unlimited inbox and message history.

Are you profitable at this stage?
We have just become profitable. 

Are you looking for funding?
No we’re not looking for funding right now.  It was a challenge in the beginning but we got through it and now it’s really exciting for us.

Where are you going to be in a year’s time? 
We’ve recently relocated back to Manhattan, which is really exciting! We’re seeing great growth globally and hope to do more global travels.  In the next year we have a lot of really cool features we are going to launch – more with albums, search filters and a lot of events. We hope to bring Johnny Scruff and our team to even more events around the country and the world.

Interview With Johnny Du, CEO Of 51taonan, China’s Top Free Dating Site

Posted on January 11, 2012

JunOPW INTERVIEW – Jan 11 – Johnny Du runs 51taonan. Turns out, the Chinese like free dating as much as the West. Here's Johnny's story. – Mark Brooks

What's the founding story?
51taonan was founded in January 2011 in China. We wanted to leverage from the significant business opportunities in the online dating industry in China. There's no major free dating site in China and so we wanted to take and own that position in China. Currently most dating site in China are paid dating sites. The first year has been very successful with high rates of user acquisition, and a reasonable conversion from registered users to active users. In less than two years, without much marketing 51taonan has gained over 3.5 million registered users. In May this year, we were the first dating company in China to introduce a location based mobile internet dating service, which supports smart phones such as Android, IOS, Symbian, blackberry. Now we have over 250K mobile internet users.

We're now the No.1 free dating site in China. Overall, in China, we're ranked the No.4 dating site, after JiaYuan, Baihe and Zhenai.

Would you say you’re the Plentyoffish of China?
POF is currently the No.1 free dating site in North America and UK.  We're the No.1 free dating site in China in terms of the status in the market, so yes its fair to say we're the POF of China.

How is 51taonan different from POF?
POF is a very successful and mature company. We like the POF business model and want to duplicate its successes into China. However, we're a pretty young startup company with serveral million users.

We're still exploring ways to monetize. We want to learn from POF and all other successful free dating companies. Our ultimate goal is to provide a totally free dating services to Chinese users in a successful way.

What does the name 51taonan mean?
The numbers 5 and 1, means I want. Tao means find and get.  Then nan means man.  So 51taonan means I want to find/get a man.  Women find this amusing and seem to like it a lot.

How fast is 51taonan growing?
We have about 100K users signing up at our site each month.  We're seeing the hottest growth coming from mobile internet as well as 2nd and 3rd tier cities in China.

How are you monetizing?
Right now, advertising is the major source of our income. We're also looking for any other innovative ways to monetize.

Are you looking for funding?
Yes, absolutely! In order to continue our growth, we're looking for outside investment, with a focus on 'smart money.'

(Disclosure: 51taonan and POF are clients of Courtland Brooks)

See all posts on 51taonan

Gary Kremen, Founder Of Match.com And Founder & CEO Of Sociogramics

Posted on January 3, 2012

OPW INTERVIEW – Jan 3 – Gary Kremen, started it all. He’s the original CEO and the founder of Match.com. Here’s his story. – Mark Brooks

You founded Match.com in 1993. What was your original vision?
Our original vision was a dating service based on email. My genesis and idea was to find the right woman for myself.  I had the idea that if I put all the women in the world in a database and sorted it on my criteria I’d find the right woman to marry.

How do you think the site has improved over the years?
Clearly the web and mobile interface has reached consumers and what they are doing today. Deeper databases, different ways of reaching…it has been improvement.

Back in 1996 you had a disagreement with the VC’s that were funding Match.com regarding serving alternative markets.  What were the alternative markets?  
I saw an opportunity. Match.com was about long-term relationships that were not considered casual dating. The long term relationships definitely could give online dating present value but I thought that short term relationships, gay/lesbian dating, different ethnic group targeting was the way to go. They were embarrassed by the whole thing.

Are you surprised by the level of innovations that has occurred since you started Match.com, one way or the other?
Match.com was not the first into mobile, not the first in using new technology/new platforms like Facebook. I would say that the innovation is at the rest of the market, not ahead of the market.

Internet dating really seems to be be moving onto the mobile phone. What do you think is going to be the next big move?
I think using GPS/location data to date more people around you and maybe social graph data.

If you were betting on a particular dating site which horse would you put your money on? Say we’re going to invest a couple of hundred thousand dollars.
I’ve been looking at Skout who have an interest in mobile product and more short term dating than long term but I don’t want disparage with any public bets. It’s a tougher business today because customer acquisitions costs are so high.

Skout sounds like a great horse. Tell us more about it.
They believed early on in using mobile location based data and using applications where the urban consumer would want to use it. I’ve been helping them out from time to time

So you do have an interest in getting back into the Internet dating arena?
I wouldn’t say that. I think there’s a time for everything and I think the time is gone for being the first mover. There’s other businesses out there that excite me, other technologies, other things that add different types of value to society.

So let’s move onto Sociogramics because that sounds very timely and another great cause. How does Sociogramics help the underbanked and those with little credit?
There’s a lot of borrowers out there, let’s call them fallen angels, underbanked that deserve credit that aren’t being given chances by traditional lending institutions. So we are trying to help traditional lending institutions by bringing back the importance of character to lending so people who want to pay back can. One of the things that we learned in this financial crisis is that there are a lot of people that didn’t. Can we go find people that really do want to pay back that aren’t given the chance? Character and community is the bottom line.

See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on Skout

Interview With Laouari Medjebeur And Thomas Nomaksteinsky, Founders Of Mektoube.fr

Posted on December 30, 2011

Mektoube.fr foundersOPW – Dec 30 – Mektoube.fr is a dating site dedicated to the Muslim and Maghreb community in France. We have interviewed its founders Laouari Medjebeur and Thomas Nomaksteinsky. (See full version in French).

Mektoube.fr has constantly expanded since it was launched in 2006, how do you see its future in France?
We are still expanding. Half of our new members come by word-of-mouth.

For any markets, the short-term future is on mobiles. Currently, 20% of our traffic comes from our Web application. We are developing platforms for Android and iPhone.

The online dating market is experiencing a massive growth, how is Mektoube.fr different from others?
French niche market, as well as the French web itself, is fairly specific. Most of the dating sites are too small and will not reach a significant size. There aren’t many major dating sites. There is jDate but it is run by an American company. There is nothing for the Black community. 

Mektoube’s users are part of the French Maghreb “community”, although this is not one group but French people of North-African origins, who share common traditions.

Mektoube.fr is currently number one dating site for the Muslim and Maghreb community, how do you promote the site?
We ran a casting via Facebook to find our next models for our advertising campaign.

We also launched a TV commercial campaign in July and it worked well, so we’ll probably do this again.

The "communitarian drifting" potential issue has been raised. How do you respond to these concerns?
The development of websites aiming at communities has raised questions regarding any potential communitarian drifting. Mektoube.fr itself saw one of their advertising campaigns rejected because of the risks implied by possible misunderstandings over the contents of the ad itself. Yet Mektoube.fr never used, and will never use, religion as a commercial argument.

What are your projects at an international level?
Mektoube.fr will soon be launched in North African countries.

Your website mostly aims at French people originally from the Maghreb area, how are you planning to export the concept around Europe?
As for Europe, the Maghreb diaspora is a phenomenon specific to France, other countries mostly having only first or second generations of migrants. The Maghreb diaspora in Belgium has a similar structure as in France, but the market is too small to justify a move.

Both of you are experienced entrepreneurs. According to you, what’s specific to the online dating industry compared to other Internet based activities?
The online dating industry is not so different from any other e-shops: it’s important to gain new users so that the members have a wide range of choice.

There are two major points that make the online dating market different. It is more difficult to sell a service that implies feelings than actual goods. On the other hand, good e-shops can build on costumer loyalty, whereas dating site users will not come back once they have found love. As a result, the goal is to provide the best services possible so that the word-of-mouth brings more members in.

CEO Interview: Levent Gultan, CEO Of Turkey’s Top Dating Site Network, Istanbul.net

Posted on November 4, 2011

OPW INTERVIEW – Nov 4 – We’re extending our coverage on Online Personals Watch to more markets. I met Levent at iDate a few years ago.  He now runs Turkey’s top dating sites. Here’s his story. – Mark Brooks

What’s your founding story?
We got into the dating scene quite late. We entered the market in 2006 and the concept was a local dating site based around city neighborhoods. It caught on quickly and within the first 3 or 4 months we had the 3 main cities in Turkey. Over the years we have expanded our network into different cities adding a new one this month.

We were lucky as there were not many Internet start-ups going after city names so we got high profile cities such as Instanbul.net easily. The city name helps with SEO rankings and marketing the site.

There’s about 35 million Internet users in Turkey at this time and about 1/3 are under 15. Have you found similar?
42% of the 35 million are under 35. Our subscribers are on average 33 years old so not that young at the moment.

What do you charge? What is the propensity for people to pay for internet dating in Turkey?
We’ve had over 5 million subscriptions to date.  We don’t charge the female subscribers which helps us keep the male/female ratio balanced. On the male side we are converting about 15%.

How would you describe your dating positioning, in terms of being serious like Match.com or a little bit more casual?
There’s actually no real translation for the word ‘dating’ in Turkey. At the end of the day we are all called ‘friendship’ sites which has a lighter feel to it. You can mix being a member looking for dates with finding friends. So probably more casual.

Are you making use of Facebook?
We are but not as much as we would like to. Our users don’t want to really disclose their identity. Turkey has the highest Facebook usership in the world with over 90% of people using it. The challenge is to find ways to make Facebook users feel comfortable to load profiles to dating sites but still in an anonymous way. We are also trying to advertise with Facebook.

Overall would you say that the rise of social networking and Facebook is good or bad for your Turkish dating sites?
I think through Facebook everybody has a reason to be online. But the flip side is that people tend to be resistant to other things online.

Are there any other particular difficulties with operating in Turkey or challenges  doing business as an Internet dating service?
We have similar challenges to all online dating sites. There has been a lot of abuse with mobile dating apps. We had to make sure we provide a very secure service with a money back guarantee to build user confidence in the market.  

How do people usually pay? What are the modes that are most popular?
Credit card is the most popular. There are over 40 million credit cards in Turkey right now due to low interest rates with our banks. We also have a small portion of wire transfers. Paypal is on the rise.

We interviewed the CEO of Pemberpanjur recently and their main competitor is e-cift in Turkey.  Do you think these more serious models have legs in Turkey?  
People are still learning about online dating through the casual sites. As time goes on they will be looking for more serious sites. The good thing is that there is traction in the market but serious sites are not as popular are casual sites.

What aspects of your service will you be focusing on for the next year?
We want to introduce new features that you wouldn’t see in general dating sites. In terms of strategy there is still a lot of room for growth and we are looking into some more serious dating sites as well as wanting to explore new geographies.

CEO Interview: Michael O’Sullivan, CEO of Sites Instantly

Posted on October 26, 2011

OPW – Oct 26 – I ran into Michael O’Sullivan at iDate Moscow.  He runs Sites Instantly, a little white label upstart based out of Russia. Here’s his story. – Mark Brooks

How was Sites Instantly started?
It was started in 2002 by a colleague of mine, Tobias Heaton Armstrong.  He saw a gap in the market for white label software and he recruited our current development team which is based in Russia.

What’s your background?
Primarily I’m a technical computer engineer by trade but I’ve always ended up in a sales environment.  

What do people typically earn in the part of Russia your team are based in?
Developer costs are probably 60% of what you would pay in the UK so it’s not cheap as chips but price determines quality. Russian mentality is very good for understanding technical tasks; if you get the right guys who have a bit of imagination you can do some great things.

How many people do you have there?
We have 7 people working in Russia, almost an ideal size for software development. If it’s any bigger you run into problems like no-one knows what someone else is doing. Cupid has 100-200 developers and that is a real management challenge.

What sets Sites Instantly apart?
Two things…We’ve spent a lot of time on ease of use. You can create the site in 2 minutes. We try to make it easy for people to roll out sites, people who are not technically minded. We find our features work well in casual and niche markets. The other good thing is that we are small tight team so with our top web masters we are able to do things that some bigger players can’t purely by nature.  Once the supertanker gets going its very hard to custom features for someone.

Magic question:  what do you pay out?
50%. I agree that 50% is fair to everybody; nobody is motivated more or less that way for your success.

What markets do you convert in?  What markets are you beyond critical mass in?
I would definitely say UK is our biggest market; it’s probably about 70% of our paying members. Continental Europe after that and USA is about 5-10%

Can you disclose revenues?
Yes, it’s all public information after all! It’s about £70,000 per month, obviously that is split between our white label partners.

So you’re pushing 1 million pounds a year in revenue. What are your goals for 2012-2013?  Where will you be in 2013?
We want to earn significantly more in the next couple of years. We have a bunch of initiatives to help us grow revenue. The UK is a lucrative market for us so we want to grow there. We have members on a management team who are based in Shanghai and we are waiting on reports of how we can crack the Chinese market.

CEO Interviews: Shellie Hunt, President of OM Dating, Dating Site for Those Who Practice Meditation and Other Spiritual Activities

Posted on October 7, 2011

OPW INTERVIEW – Oct 7 – Shellie hunt is a success coach with her own reality TV show called ‘remake my life.’  She concentrates on empowering women, and has created the dating site OM Dating. – Mark Brooks

What is your goal with starting an online dating site?
Being a single woman myself, I think the real goal was being able to fine like minded people, that not only were in the industry or around circles that I was in but also were causal, driven by a higher purpose. People that understand higher purpose, people who are outward focused. Does this person volunteer for certain things? Do they own non profits, participate in non profits?  Are they more globally minded?

How do you promote it?
Initially there were campaigns that we did inside workshops, seminars, retreats.  All different types of works in the human potential industry.  We marketed it in a place where like minded people could come together.  But it is very exclusive. OM Dating isn’t something that anybody can come on to. OM is very exclusive with their members. There are certain questions we ask. For example: What’s important to you as far as your integral values?  

What do you not like about other online dating sites?
It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack and I think when you can make the haystack smaller and more refined then it’s easier to find partners.

Now you’ve got a number of single events listed on the website too.
Yes, there are a number of events listed for people who wish to apply for OM dating.  It definitely gets you out of your own back yard.  Many people there travel and are worldly.  If we only stay in our own backyard its difficult, if you broaden it then there’s so many different options.

The difference is these people are actually taking action, actually engaged.  It’s the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people.  We take action and we’re engaged.