Category: All Interviews

Frengo SVP, Dan Mosher – OPW Interview

Posted on April 14, 2007

OPW INTERVIEW — Apr 12 — Frengo is a 'Social Play Network.' It's MySpace on the go, with some fun bells and whistles. Frengo allows users to post to their Myspace profile, make confessions, send polls and plan nights out…via the cell phone. I talked with Dan Mosher, SVP Ops and Business Development (formerly GM of Jamster USA, and was on the Board of Directors of Intermix/MySpace for 6 years). – Mark Brooks

Dan can you tell me what is Frengo, why is it unique and why do people need it?
Frengo is a company that we put together where we created a set of games and text message services. The games revolve around sports and celebrity themes and popular culture themes. And the services revolve around the theme of bringing together groups and connecting groups and providing fun and interactive experiences for groups. We put together a set of services and games that really connect people, provide fun entertainment vehicles and really bridge together some of the social networks that are online today with people’s mobile phones. I think people need Frengo because it makes your phone a lot more useful and allows you to share and compete and connect with friends, and within groups of friends in ways that you could never do before with your mobile phone.

Personally, what is your favorite part of Frengo? What do you find most fun?
My personal favorite is being able to send out polls and questions to my friends. For example, I sent a message out to a group of four friends that I was trying to organize a Friday night with. We wanted to go to a restaurant in San Francisco. I sent out a poll of our 5 favorite restaurants and everybody voted on that over their mobile phone.

You worked with MySpace in the past.  Which of the Frengo services do you think will resonate best within the MySpace community?
We have a service around MySpace which allows you to post comments and bulletins from your phone. So I think for MySpace users that want to connect with their friends, let them know where they are, post pictures in their friends comment fields, I think that’s probably one of the most interesting things that MySpace users will be able to use. No matter what carrier they’re on, no matter where they are, they can post to their My Space profiles. Then we’ve also created a number of widgets, which we think will be interesting where MySpace users can actually post a widget which shows either their final 4 picks or a celebrity quiz that they find interesting, and people can play those games on their phone and have the leader boards and points update automatically on their widget.
 
When was Frengo started and how has the growth been so far?
Frengo launched its beta in December of 2006 and we’ve done a lot of testing of different games and services to understand the resonance with the customer base. We’re in the tens of thousands of users but it’s still very early.

As you were putting the service together, were there any competitors that you considered as role model services?
We looked at Limbo. We thought that it was interesting in that it was a fun type of game. Our service is very different and we’re not similar in terms of what we do but we looked at the aspects of virality of the service. So that’s a company that comes to mind that has done pretty well.

How will Frengo make money?
A couple of different ways. We will sell premium games so customers will pay a monthly fee or a per game fee to participate in some of our games. We also work with brands that want to create a game or a set of services for a brand. We will be paid directly by the brand to set that up.  Going forward we’ll look at advertising and other things.

How can social networking services work with Frengo?
We do a very good job of extending out some of the functionality of social networking services to the phone.  We’re not just taking a social network and trying to replicate it on the phone, we actually have intelligence in the network that allows users to participate in fun things on their phones that tie into their social networking profiles. We extend social networking site functionality and provide users with something interesting to do when they’re on the go.

Are you interested in providing co-brands or white labels?
Yes, we can definitely power an Internet dating service and provide the SMS messaging layer and games.

Which carriers are you on deck with so far?
So far the only deck deal we’ve done is with Boost Mobile and that was around our March Madness NCAA Tournament game. That’s really a wagering game where you bet points on upcoming basketball games throughout the tournament. We’re also live and working across all the major carriers in the U.S. including Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. We hope to announce a couple more deck deals in ’07.

How fast do you see the mobile entertainment services sector growing?
I think that the industry can continue to grow at 30% to 35% per year through the end of 2008. It’s already a multi-billion dollar industry but I think it’s poised for continued growth. Overall, the migration of handsets to higher bandwidths, with higher resolution camera phones is all good new for us.

What are your goals for Frengo in 2007?
Major goals for 2007 are to really get our name out there and then to increase adoption and get hundreds of thousands of customers, and ramp up the services. We’ll really use the feedback loop with our customers to bring to the forefront the games and services that they find most appealing. 

Frengo SVP, Dan Mosher – OPW Interview

Posted on April 14, 2007

OPW INTERVIEW — Apr 12 — Frengo is a 'Social Play Network.' It's MySpace on the go, with some fun bells and whistles. Frengo allows users to post to their Myspace profile, make confessions, send polls and plan nights out…via the cell phone. I talked with Dan Mosher, SVP Ops and Business Development (formerly GM of Jamster USA, and was on the Board of Directors of Intermix/MySpace for 6 years). – Mark Brooks

Dan can you tell me what is Frengo, why is it unique and why do people need it?
Frengo is a company that we put together where we created a set of games and text message services. The games revolve around sports and celebrity themes and popular culture themes. And the services revolve around the theme of bringing together groups and connecting groups and providing fun and interactive experiences for groups. We put together a set of services and games that really connect people, provide fun entertainment vehicles and really bridge together some of the social networks that are online today with people’s mobile phones. I think people need Frengo because it makes your phone a lot more useful and allows you to share and compete and connect with friends, and within groups of friends in ways that you could never do before with your mobile phone.

Personally, what is your favorite part of Frengo? What do you find most fun?
My personal favorite is being able to send out polls and questions to my friends. For example, I sent a message out to a group of four friends that I was trying to organize a Friday night with. We wanted to go to a restaurant in San Francisco. I sent out a poll of our 5 favorite restaurants and everybody voted on that over their mobile phone.

You worked with MySpace in the past.  Which of the Frengo services do you think will resonate best within the MySpace community?
We have a service around MySpace which allows you to post comments and bulletins from your phone. So I think for MySpace users that want to connect with their friends, let them know where they are, post pictures in their friends comment fields, I think that’s probably one of the most interesting things that MySpace users will be able to use. No matter what carrier they’re on, no matter where they are, they can post to their My Space profiles. Then we’ve also created a number of widgets, which we think will be interesting where MySpace users can actually post a widget which shows either their final 4 picks or a celebrity quiz that they find interesting, and people can play those games on their phone and have the leader boards and points update automatically on their widget.
 
When was Frengo started and how has the growth been so far?
Frengo launched its beta in December of 2006 and we’ve done a lot of testing of different games and services to understand the resonance with the customer base. We’re in the tens of thousands of users but it’s still very early.

As you were putting the service together, were there any competitors that you considered as role model services?
We looked at Limbo. We thought that it was interesting in that it was a fun type of game. Our service is very different and we’re not similar in terms of what we do but we looked at the aspects of virality of the service. So that’s a company that comes to mind that has done pretty well.

How will Frengo make money?
A couple of different ways. We will sell premium games so customers will pay a monthly fee or a per game fee to participate in some of our games. We also work with brands that want to create a game or a set of services for a brand. We will be paid directly by the brand to set that up.  Going forward we’ll look at advertising and other things.

How can social networking services work with Frengo?
We do a very good job of extending out some of the functionality of social networking services to the phone.  We’re not just taking a social network and trying to replicate it on the phone, we actually have intelligence in the network that allows users to participate in fun things on their phones that tie into their social networking profiles. We extend social networking site functionality and provide users with something interesting to do when they’re on the go.

Are you interested in providing co-brands or white labels?
Yes, we can definitely power an Internet dating service and provide the SMS messaging layer and games.

Which carriers are you on deck with so far?
So far the only deck deal we’ve done is with Boost Mobile and that was around our March Madness NCAA Tournament game. That’s really a wagering game where you bet points on upcoming basketball games throughout the tournament. We’re also live and working across all the major carriers in the U.S. including Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. We hope to announce a couple more deck deals in ’07.

How fast do you see the mobile entertainment services sector growing?
I think that the industry can continue to grow at 30% to 35% per year through the end of 2008. It’s already a multi-billion dollar industry but I think it’s poised for continued growth. Overall, the migration of handsets to higher bandwidths, with higher resolution camera phones is all good new for us.

What are your goals for Frengo in 2007?
Major goals for 2007 are to really get our name out there and then to increase adoption and get hundreds of thousands of customers, and ramp up the services. We’ll really use the feedback loop with our customers to bring to the forefront the games and services that they find most appealing. 

Ziki SVP Business Development, Andre Taliercio – OPW Interview

Posted on April 7, 2007

AndretaliercioOPW INTERVIEW — Apr 7 — Social networks give browsers an idea of a persons reputation through testimonials and the people they are linked with. Truedater.com reports on daters. Dating sites have considered integrating reputation management tools, but how to? Ziki is one of my favorite reputation management services and might serve as inspiration. I interviewed the SVP Business Development Andre Taliercio. – Mark Brooks

How and why was Ziki started?
Ziki was started by Patrick Chassany in New York. Patrick started a domain buying company in the late 90’s and he realized that buying people’s names and registering them to protect them was the next step. So in 2000 he decided to start a business with this concept. This was how Ziki was formed. Then I joined the company in September 2006 and we decided to add the promotion aspect. Why? Because we believe the name and identity control is a strong concept, combined with self promotion, it brings a unique feature in social networking and it address a need for millions of people.

How does the service work? How does a user use Ziki at its best?
The best use of Ziki is for users who produce content because  Ziki allows them to really aggregate all they have in one place and be visible on major search engines and the Ziki community. Sign up, put a picture and some personal information in and then all the other profiles and blogs that they have will show immediately on their home page. Ziki will allow them to be in control of everything.

How do you compare with Claim ID?
Claim ID is really restricted to the control of identity. In our case not only is all the content you produce in one place, our objective is to really make this content visible and promote it. I believe Claim ID doesn’t do that. I don’t think they want to do that.

You’re allowing people to pay on a PPC basis to bubble up their name in search results, but why would somebody want to do that?
We pay for it. Right now we sponsor our members first and last name. Then their name will show like a paid ad on Google, Yahoo and MSN. We’re paying for it. We’re doing it to show how visible Ziki members can be. So that’s why it’s free. Some people would not pay for it because maybe they don’t feel the need or understand how it works. But if people just try it they will see. It only takes one hour to do the program. You sign up and someone just turns the switch on and you will see your name as an ad, a paid ad.

How are you making money?
We’re not, yet. We just started this in September and we’re introducing the interface allowing users to choose their own keywords. They can manage their own advertising campaigns. We make money by optimizing the campaigns on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Because of the optimization we can make money from it. Of course, it makes sense if we can multiply this two cents by many, many users. This none on our business models…

Are you reaching out for any particular partners?
So far we are trying to get as many members as we can to add interesting profiles, meaning, people with content. One day we would like to develop strong intra-communities, with some leaders who will generate content on specific topics. This the beauty of Ziki: it benefits you outside and inside the community.

What are your goals for 2007?
To increase the active membership base and the number of paying customers. That’s what we want to do. We want to be visible but we don’t want to grow too fast. We want to really listen to the members and see how they feel we should evolve.

Now by the end of 2007, let’s say the community grows nicely, the number of members has increased, then we can identify common areas in this community. What we strive to do one day is, for example, to create Ziki.jobs, and Ziki.tech, and many types of sub community. Instead of growing outside with no control, we’re trying to grow inside with quality profiles and have sub communities. Why is this important? By doing this, we create the identify of the community, it’s culture.  One of the objectives for us is to create a culture within Ziki. 

Ziki SVP Business Development, Andre Taliercio – OPW Interview

Posted on April 7, 2007

AndretaliercioOPW INTERVIEW — Apr 7 — Social networks give browsers an idea of a persons reputation through testimonials and the people they are linked with. Truedater.com reports on daters. Dating sites have considered integrating reputation management tools, but how to? Ziki is one of my favorite reputation management services and might serve as inspiration. I interviewed the SVP Business Development Andre Taliercio. – Mark Brooks

How and why was Ziki started?
Ziki was started by Patrick Chassany in New York. Patrick started a domain buying company in the late 90’s and he realized that buying people’s names and registering them to protect them was the next step. So in 2000 he decided to start a business with this concept. This was how Ziki was formed. Then I joined the company in September 2006 and we decided to add the promotion aspect. Why? Because we believe the name and identity control is a strong concept, combined with self promotion, it brings a unique feature in social networking and it address a need for millions of people.

How does the service work? How does a user use Ziki at its best?
The best use of Ziki is for users who produce content because  Ziki allows them to really aggregate all they have in one place and be visible on major search engines and the Ziki community. Sign up, put a picture and some personal information in and then all the other profiles and blogs that they have will show immediately on their home page. Ziki will allow them to be in control of everything.

How do you compare with Claim ID?
Claim ID is really restricted to the control of identity. In our case not only is all the content you produce in one place, our objective is to really make this content visible and promote it. I believe Claim ID doesn’t do that. I don’t think they want to do that.

You’re allowing people to pay on a PPC basis to bubble up their name in search results, but why would somebody want to do that?
We pay for it. Right now we sponsor our members first and last name. Then their name will show like a paid ad on Google, Yahoo and MSN. We’re paying for it. We’re doing it to show how visible Ziki members can be. So that’s why it’s free. Some people would not pay for it because maybe they don’t feel the need or understand how it works. But if people just try it they will see. It only takes one hour to do the program. You sign up and someone just turns the switch on and you will see your name as an ad, a paid ad.

How are you making money?
We’re not, yet. We just started this in September and we’re introducing the interface allowing users to choose their own keywords. They can manage their own advertising campaigns. We make money by optimizing the campaigns on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Because of the optimization we can make money from it. Of course, it makes sense if we can multiply this two cents by many, many users. This none on our business models…

Are you reaching out for any particular partners?
So far we are trying to get as many members as we can to add interesting profiles, meaning, people with content. One day we would like to develop strong intra-communities, with some leaders who will generate content on specific topics. This the beauty of Ziki: it benefits you outside and inside the community.

What are your goals for 2007?
To increase the active membership base and the number of paying customers. That’s what we want to do. We want to be visible but we don’t want to grow too fast. We want to really listen to the members and see how they feel we should evolve.

Now by the end of 2007, let’s say the community grows nicely, the number of members has increased, then we can identify common areas in this community. What we strive to do one day is, for example, to create Ziki.jobs, and Ziki.tech, and many types of sub community. Instead of growing outside with no control, we’re trying to grow inside with quality profiles and have sub communities. Why is this important? By doing this, we create the identify of the community, it’s culture.  One of the objectives for us is to create a culture within Ziki. 

Baihe CEO, Jason Tian – OPW Interview

Posted on March 31, 2007

Baihe20logoOPW INTERVIEW — Mar 31, 2007 — Baihe.com is China's 'eHarmony.' Baihe received funding last year from Mayfield's partner in China, GSR Ventures. They received $11 million of funding in 2005 after attracting 5 million free members. I interviewed Baihe.com's CEO, Jason Tian. – Mark Brooks

How and why did you start Baihe.com?
When Myspace started there were many companies similar to it in China and none of them had a revenue model. We found most users are actively seeking dating relationships, so we wanted to do something in the dating area and we wanted to be more focused. Then we researched the other online dating models and services and we found the eHarmony personality test based model to be the most effective, so we decided to do something like that. Then we launched Baihe.com in May of 2006. In Chinese, Baihe has three meanings: “one hundred years happy marriage”, “100% match”, “lily flower”.

How is it going so far?
We are the first in China to launch that type of service and we executed correctly so we’re growing very fast.  We have more than 8 million users to date.

It’s a free site, isn’t it?
We have tried to collect membership fees for some time but we found that in China the online payment system is very weak, so out of ten people who want to pay only one can pay successfully. If we charged now it would delay our growth. In China, at this stage, online dating is in its early growth stages. So we decided to offer our service for free, and this should help us to grow fast.

In late 2006, we launched a VIP service offering for busy professionals. We trained love consultants to serve them, to filter and verify identification of potential candidates and to help them in communicating with each other. In Q2, 2007, we are planing to launch more automatic value added services which will generate revenue for Baihe.

How is Baihe.com most different from eHarmony?
eHarmony is a paid service and we offer a free service. We also offer search for the users. eHarmony doesn’t allow their users to search but we allow Baihe users to search. Also, we sponsored top psychological research centers in China to develop a personality test and matching system for Chinese people.

What do you think are the main differences between the Chinese online dating market and the American online dating market?
In the Chinese market, I think the people treat marriage more seriously in general. We have a lot of users that are seeking serious relationships and they are in their early 20’s. For girls, maybe after 25, they are very seriously seeking a husband. I suppose in the U.S., and on eHarmony, users will be about 30 but in China the age will be younger than in the U.S.

The second difference is, the serious online dating market in the U.S. already has 10 years of history. But in China there isn’t a dominant player in the market. We only started to enter the market last year, so we’re in the very early stages in China.

Have you ever considered offering your site in English and reaching out to the American market like Asia Friend Finder?
For us, we think the China market is large enough. Secondly, we don’t think we understand the U.S. market well. Compared with eHarmony, we haven’t found any competitive advantage besides the cost. Maybe our R&D cost is much lower than eHarmony. We can translate our website into English and launch in the U.S. but we don’t know how to market in the U.S.  English is not our priority at least for the next two years.

Is Mobile Internet Dating big in China?
Yes. There are 400 million mobile phone users. This year there are 80 million new users in China, so we also launched a mobile service several months ago and we have around a half million users now. They are very active.

What do you hope to achieve through the end of 2007?
We want to establish our revenue model. It is our top priority for 2007, and to break even by the end of 2007 is our goal. 

Baihe CEO, Jason Tian – OPW Interview

Posted on March 31, 2007

Baihe20logoOPW INTERVIEW — Mar 31, 2007 — Baihe.com is China's 'eHarmony.' Baihe received funding last year from Mayfield's partner in China, GSR Ventures. They received $11 million of funding in 2005 after attracting 5 million free members. I interviewed Baihe.com's CEO, Jason Tian. – Mark Brooks

How and why did you start Baihe.com?
When Myspace started there were many companies similar to it in China and none of them had a revenue model. We found most users are actively seeking dating relationships, so we wanted to do something in the dating area and we wanted to be more focused. Then we researched the other online dating models and services and we found the eHarmony personality test based model to be the most effective, so we decided to do something like that. Then we launched Baihe.com in May of 2006. In Chinese, Baihe has three meanings: “one hundred years happy marriage”, “100% match”, “lily flower”.

How is it going so far?
We are the first in China to launch that type of service and we executed correctly so we’re growing very fast.  We have more than 8 million users to date.

It’s a free site, isn’t it?
We have tried to collect membership fees for some time but we found that in China the online payment system is very weak, so out of ten people who want to pay only one can pay successfully. If we charged now it would delay our growth. In China, at this stage, online dating is in its early growth stages. So we decided to offer our service for free, and this should help us to grow fast.

In late 2006, we launched a VIP service offering for busy professionals. We trained love consultants to serve them, to filter and verify identification of potential candidates and to help them in communicating with each other. In Q2, 2007, we are planing to launch more automatic value added services which will generate revenue for Baihe.

How is Baihe.com most different from eHarmony?
eHarmony is a paid service and we offer a free service. We also offer search for the users. eHarmony doesn’t allow their users to search but we allow Baihe users to search. Also, we sponsored top psychological research centers in China to develop a personality test and matching system for Chinese people.

What do you think are the main differences between the Chinese online dating market and the American online dating market?
In the Chinese market, I think the people treat marriage more seriously in general. We have a lot of users that are seeking serious relationships and they are in their early 20’s. For girls, maybe after 25, they are very seriously seeking a husband. I suppose in the U.S., and on eHarmony, users will be about 30 but in China the age will be younger than in the U.S.

The second difference is, the serious online dating market in the U.S. already has 10 years of history. But in China there isn’t a dominant player in the market. We only started to enter the market last year, so we’re in the very early stages in China.

Have you ever considered offering your site in English and reaching out to the American market like Asia Friend Finder?
For us, we think the China market is large enough. Secondly, we don’t think we understand the U.S. market well. Compared with eHarmony, we haven’t found any competitive advantage besides the cost. Maybe our R&D cost is much lower than eHarmony. We can translate our website into English and launch in the U.S. but we don’t know how to market in the U.S.  English is not our priority at least for the next two years.

Is Mobile Internet Dating big in China?
Yes. There are 400 million mobile phone users. This year there are 80 million new users in China, so we also launched a mobile service several months ago and we have around a half million users now. They are very active.

What do you hope to achieve through the end of 2007?
We want to establish our revenue model. It is our top priority for 2007, and to break even by the end of 2007 is our goal. 

Lavalife CEO, Marina Glogovac – OPW Interview

Posted on March 23, 2007

MarinaglogovaccolorOPW INTERVIEW — Mar 23, 2007 — Marina Glogovac is the new CEO of Lavalife. Here's my recent interview with her… – Mark Brooks

What's your background Marina?
I moved to Canada from Belgrade, ex-Yugoslavia in 1987 where I had just completed a degree in Comparative Literature and worked as a free-lance journalist and writer. When I moved to Toronto I  began my career in the advertising industry. From there, I found my way into ad sales and publishing; my first such job was with Toronto's alternative news weekly, NOW Magazine. 

I spent the next several years with NOW, growing and expanding it and launching other alternative news weeklies and ventures such as the North by Northeast (NXNE) music festival and conference. During that time, Lavalife was an advertising client of mine, though at that time they were strictly operating their IVR Telepersonals system, known today as Lavalife by Phone. While at NOW I earned a Master in Organizational Learning and Change with a focus in Strategy Development from the University of Toronto.

I continued my career in magazine publishing, and worked on a variety of media outlets as well as events. Over the next 10 years, I oversaw the development of some of Canada's best-known media brands.

After I left the magazine world, I worked with CueBall, a U.S.-based consultancy to the international media and entertainment industries. In 2004, I did some strategy consulting work around direct marketing as well as ad sales for Lavalife.com which ultimately led to a full-time role with the firm, overseeing the company's online dating website. It was one of the first Internet dating sites to emerge and has been a leader in the industry since its inception. After joining this incredible team and working with them to expand the company's vision and services, I assumed control of other revenues streams and was named Chief Executive Officer in October 2006.

How is Lavalife differentiated in the online dating market?
Lavalife is more than a web-based business. We operate products and services on three consumer platforms or channels. The first is our voice business, Lavalife by Phone, launched in 1987. Actually, Lavalife invented technology-based dating. We have recently transitioned our voice business onto a VoIP-based platform, enabling us to acquire additional voice customers via web-based fused applications and earning a prestigious award for technical innovation from the Canadian Information Productivity Awards along the way. The second platform is our Web platform, Lavalife.com. The third platform is our Mobile platform, Lavalife Mobile, which is where we've focused much of our attention on this past couple of years. We are currently the North American Mobile dating leader with half a dozen mobile-based chat and entertainment products, and this will continue to be a high growth zone for us.

One of the key things differentiating Lavalife from its competitors is its strong brand. It is one of the most recognizable brands in Canada and is similarly well-established in most large U.S. cities and in Australia. Most dating sites do not have a brand. We have invested heavily in the development of the Lavalife brand over the last few years and we have developed a brand that resonates with downtown, cosmopolitan, liberated, open-minded, youthful singles. Brands are complex and highly valuable assets. The Lavalife brand is more about casual dating and celebrating singlehood. In the world of an abundant Internet universe with low barriers to entry and low differentiation due to new programming languages and other technological advancements, brand and branded content will continue to be important to consumers, suppliers, partners and other stake holders.

We have also been broadening the scope of our business through the development of new content. We recently launched LavalifeMagazine.com, which has received an incredibly positive response from both advertisers and, most importantly, from our members. The magazine has myriad regular features, including an interactive column titled the Profile Doctor. Every day, our members submit dozens and dozens of profiles to be evaluated and edited by our experts. We have recently acquired a ring tones company. Both of these new developments add additional content and services that help not only connect but engage and entertain our members and also attract a new audience and users to Lavalife.

We're especially lucky to have diverse and synergistic revenue streams, ranging from our different platforms, our broad product offerings, as well as advertising revenue. This is a key difference between Lavalife and almost all of our competitors, who are singularly focused. 

Another differentiator for Lavalife is our highly successful Event series, which takes the online dating experience "offline" and allows us to come face-to-face with singles. For the past year, we have hosted monthly Flirt with Flavor events in Miami, Boston, New York and Chicago in some of the hottest, new clubs in partnership with Absolut Vodka. The events were a huge success. We also recently launched a large event series in Canada this fall called Click-at-a-Flick. I attend as many of these events as possible, because it allows me to see first-hand what singles are up to and to get to know our users – which I love.

How are you seeing the online dating and singles industry evolving, in your favor?
So much is happening in the world of online dating. The shifts have been quite similar to any new media or communication channel that first emerges, and then matures, expands, niches and fragments. The activity and the growth is fueled by an enormous increase in the time consumers spend on the web – not just younger people, but also the 40+ age group as well.

The Internet space and the online dating industry is very fluid. When an industry initially develops, there is usually one dominant business model. However, any industry will begin to diversify creatively and become more in tune with consumers – it's a type of collaborative learning together that is especially fast on the Internet. As the industry segments and matures, it diversifies its offerings and it develops deeper, more specific and nuanced bonds with its consumers

To that extent, we are seeing rapid popularity of free, ad-revenue based websites. This is supported by ever increasing online marketing budgets of advertisers. I believe that both free and paid models can co-exist, and that the emergence of the free model does not mean the demise of the consumer paid model. Consumers know the difference between the two and will view them differently. They may in fact have different expectations from each. I think it's safe to say that both models will find their place, and as the Internet continues to grow, there will be a greater variety of business models and their hybrids.

There are other trends developing in the online dating industry. We see more performance advertising and brand advertising on online dating sites. I think we will see more sites make a concentrated effort to bring in synergistic brand advertising that may be viewed as adding value to the member experience. 

Another trend is niching. I think the industry is evolving in this direction, and I think all sorts of niche strategies and niche communities will emerge. 

There are opportunities in Mobile dating. I believe the mobile web will grow to be even more important than the PC web. Everything that has to do with mobile will continue to grow exponentially for many years to come. Lavalife has been focusing on mobile and entertainment during the past couple of years and today we market half a dozen mobile-based chat and entertainment products.

What does the future hold for Lavalife?
With our historical product, marketing and technological know-how in all three consumer channels – and with the firmly established convergence of these channels in the market – we are in a great position to use this to our advantage going forward. We are currently working to introduce several exciting new products and services. I'll be back to fill you in and to talk specifics closer to those launches – but stay tuned for exciting new things for Lavalife.

Lavalife CEO, Marina Glogovac – OPW Interview

Posted on March 23, 2007

MarinaglogovaccolorOPW INTERVIEW — Mar 23, 2007 — Marina Glogovac is the new CEO of Lavalife. Here's my recent interview with her… – Mark Brooks

What's your background Marina?
I moved to Canada from Belgrade, ex-Yugoslavia in 1987 where I had just completed a degree in Comparative Literature and worked as a free-lance journalist and writer. When I moved to Toronto I  began my career in the advertising industry. From there, I found my way into ad sales and publishing; my first such job was with Toronto's alternative news weekly, NOW Magazine. 

I spent the next several years with NOW, growing and expanding it and launching other alternative news weeklies and ventures such as the North by Northeast (NXNE) music festival and conference. During that time, Lavalife was an advertising client of mine, though at that time they were strictly operating their IVR Telepersonals system, known today as Lavalife by Phone. While at NOW I earned a Master in Organizational Learning and Change with a focus in Strategy Development from the University of Toronto.

I continued my career in magazine publishing, and worked on a variety of media outlets as well as events. Over the next 10 years, I oversaw the development of some of Canada's best-known media brands.

After I left the magazine world, I worked with CueBall, a U.S.-based consultancy to the international media and entertainment industries. In 2004, I did some strategy consulting work around direct marketing as well as ad sales for Lavalife.com which ultimately led to a full-time role with the firm, overseeing the company's online dating website. It was one of the first Internet dating sites to emerge and has been a leader in the industry since its inception. After joining this incredible team and working with them to expand the company's vision and services, I assumed control of other revenues streams and was named Chief Executive Officer in October 2006.

How is Lavalife differentiated in the online dating market?
Lavalife is more than a web-based business. We operate products and services on three consumer platforms or channels. The first is our voice business, Lavalife by Phone, launched in 1987. Actually, Lavalife invented technology-based dating. We have recently transitioned our voice business onto a VoIP-based platform, enabling us to acquire additional voice customers via web-based fused applications and earning a prestigious award for technical innovation from the Canadian Information Productivity Awards along the way. The second platform is our Web platform, Lavalife.com. The third platform is our Mobile platform, Lavalife Mobile, which is where we've focused much of our attention on this past couple of years. We are currently the North American Mobile dating leader with half a dozen mobile-based chat and entertainment products, and this will continue to be a high growth zone for us.

One of the key things differentiating Lavalife from its competitors is its strong brand. It is one of the most recognizable brands in Canada and is similarly well-established in most large U.S. cities and in Australia. Most dating sites do not have a brand. We have invested heavily in the development of the Lavalife brand over the last few years and we have developed a brand that resonates with downtown, cosmopolitan, liberated, open-minded, youthful singles. Brands are complex and highly valuable assets. The Lavalife brand is more about casual dating and celebrating singlehood. In the world of an abundant Internet universe with low barriers to entry and low differentiation due to new programming languages and other technological advancements, brand and branded content will continue to be important to consumers, suppliers, partners and other stake holders.

We have also been broadening the scope of our business through the development of new content. We recently launched LavalifeMagazine.com, which has received an incredibly positive response from both advertisers and, most importantly, from our members. The magazine has myriad regular features, including an interactive column titled the Profile Doctor. Every day, our members submit dozens and dozens of profiles to be evaluated and edited by our experts. We have recently acquired a ring tones company. Both of these new developments add additional content and services that help not only connect but engage and entertain our members and also attract a new audience and users to Lavalife.

We're especially lucky to have diverse and synergistic revenue streams, ranging from our different platforms, our broad product offerings, as well as advertising revenue. This is a key difference between Lavalife and almost all of our competitors, who are singularly focused. 

Another differentiator for Lavalife is our highly successful Event series, which takes the online dating experience "offline" and allows us to come face-to-face with singles. For the past year, we have hosted monthly Flirt with Flavor events in Miami, Boston, New York and Chicago in some of the hottest, new clubs in partnership with Absolut Vodka. The events were a huge success. We also recently launched a large event series in Canada this fall called Click-at-a-Flick. I attend as many of these events as possible, because it allows me to see first-hand what singles are up to and to get to know our users – which I love.

How are you seeing the online dating and singles industry evolving, in your favor?
So much is happening in the world of online dating. The shifts have been quite similar to any new media or communication channel that first emerges, and then matures, expands, niches and fragments. The activity and the growth is fueled by an enormous increase in the time consumers spend on the web – not just younger people, but also the 40+ age group as well.

The Internet space and the online dating industry is very fluid. When an industry initially develops, there is usually one dominant business model. However, any industry will begin to diversify creatively and become more in tune with consumers – it's a type of collaborative learning together that is especially fast on the Internet. As the industry segments and matures, it diversifies its offerings and it develops deeper, more specific and nuanced bonds with its consumers

To that extent, we are seeing rapid popularity of free, ad-revenue based websites. This is supported by ever increasing online marketing budgets of advertisers. I believe that both free and paid models can co-exist, and that the emergence of the free model does not mean the demise of the consumer paid model. Consumers know the difference between the two and will view them differently. They may in fact have different expectations from each. I think it's safe to say that both models will find their place, and as the Internet continues to grow, there will be a greater variety of business models and their hybrids.

There are other trends developing in the online dating industry. We see more performance advertising and brand advertising on online dating sites. I think we will see more sites make a concentrated effort to bring in synergistic brand advertising that may be viewed as adding value to the member experience. 

Another trend is niching. I think the industry is evolving in this direction, and I think all sorts of niche strategies and niche communities will emerge. 

There are opportunities in Mobile dating. I believe the mobile web will grow to be even more important than the PC web. Everything that has to do with mobile will continue to grow exponentially for many years to come. Lavalife has been focusing on mobile and entertainment during the past couple of years and today we market half a dozen mobile-based chat and entertainment products.

What does the future hold for Lavalife?
With our historical product, marketing and technological know-how in all three consumer channels – and with the firmly established convergence of these channels in the market – we are in a great position to use this to our advantage going forward. We are currently working to introduce several exciting new products and services. I'll be back to fill you in and to talk specifics closer to those launches – but stay tuned for exciting new things for Lavalife.

Romance Coach, Kathryn Lord – OPW Interview

Posted on February 24, 2007

Kathryn_lord_1OPW INTERVIEW — Feb 23, 2007 — Kathryn Lord is a romance coach and writes for Yahoo Personals. She has written a book for baby boomer women and a book to help singles expand their social circles by hosting parties. She met her husband on Match in 1997, so she's walked the talk. She knows the ins and outs of online dating and provides great advice to her clients. Here's her story… – Mark Brooks

Kathryn, how did you become a romance coach?
I signed up for Match back in 1997 and met my husband there in 1998. I've been a psychotherapist for almost 30 years and I decided to get training in coaching and settled on romance coaching. I thought that it was something that people really needed. When I was doing online dating, I didn't know anyone who was doing it, nothing had been written about it, and it was pretty scary. So I was convinced that online dating could be better and easier and that I could help. I started in romance coaching in January 2002.

What is a typical client?
I would say my most typical client is a female and over 40. Although I'm having more and more men get in touch with me now, particularly around writing dating profiles. I do profile reviews and work ups for people, and romance coaching. I've worked with people as young as their mid-20's through early 70's.  My average client is between 40 and 60 and female.

What kind of income do they have?
I think that one of the difficulties of that population is that the women do not tend to have as high an income as men. Their earnings are around $40,000 on up. I have some clients who are fairly wealthy.  But, people want to find a partner so badly that they pull together the money that they need to, to be able to afford my services.

How long does a typical client work with you and what sort of hourly rate do you charge?
Almost all my work is done by phone. I have clients everywhere. My fees start at $75 a half hour and people buy them in packages, usually packages of four, so that's $300 up front. I do profile work ups for $99. When people sign up for four sessions of coaching I will do the profile work up as a part of that first package. Some people I've worked with for as long as a year to a year and a half, but sometimes people just need a little profile work or some help figuring out the mechanics of dating. Mostly clients stay with me 6 to 9 months with some intense work at the beginning tapering off as they get their feet under them. I will keep in contact with folks until they've found their partner.

When your clients first approach you, typically what dating services are they using?
I always recommend the big dating sites. My favorites are Match.com and Yahoo Personals. I usually suggest to folks that they pick one of those two and then if they have some other sub interest like they're looking for someone who is Christian or Jewish or vegetarian, maybe one of the smaller sites. E-Harmony as a third and maybe JDate. 

Have you worked with any dating sites?
I think I was the first romance coach that had the experience of marrying through a dating site myself. I have the added experience of 30 years of psychotherapy work and have spent the last 5 years really learning this niche. I've approached Match.com a couple of times, and Yahoo Personals connected with me a year ago. I write for their online magazine.

I have one book already out called, Find a Sweetheart Soon – Your Love Trip Planner For Women which I wrote for those aged 40 to 60. I have another book coming out about how to build a social circle by entertaining.

How can people improve their chances on online dating sites?
I have recommended getting new pictures to every single one of my clients and virtually every single one of them has resisted. I always recommend them to LookBetterOnline.com. I think they do a fabulous job and give a fabulous price. I have a hard time understanding what the resistance is to getting a good picture, but that's the biggest one, bad pictures.

Secondly profile essays are usually poorly written. I did a job for this fellow the other day told him his profile was too sexy. Women understand that sex is part of dating but they don't want to see it in the essay. Men put too much sex in the essays. Women don't want to see that.

Then, the spelling and grammar errors. Frankly. I'm cleaning up their profiles and getting the "I's" out.  People talk about themselves too much and they need to ask questions and engage the reader.

What should dating sites do to make their services easier for matchmakers to use?
I would make them all searchable in the same way. As a romance coach, I find it very difficult to go from one site to another and figure out how to find things. I would like to see a uniform platform. It would make it easier for the coaches. Secondly, weed out the scammers. I think that would be reassuring for daters. How do you spot a scam?  I'm going to do some writing about that. 

Romance Coach, Kathryn Lord – OPW Interview

Posted on February 24, 2007

Kathryn_lord_1OPW INTERVIEW — Feb 23, 2007 — Kathryn Lord is a romance coach and writes for Yahoo Personals. She has written a book for baby boomer women and a book to help singles expand their social circles by hosting parties. She met her husband on Match in 1997, so she's walked the talk. She knows the ins and outs of online dating and provides great advice to her clients. Here's her story… – Mark Brooks

Kathryn, how did you become a romance coach?
I signed up for Match back in 1997 and met my husband there in 1998. I've been a psychotherapist for almost 30 years and I decided to get training in coaching and settled on romance coaching. I thought that it was something that people really needed. When I was doing online dating, I didn't know anyone who was doing it, nothing had been written about it, and it was pretty scary. So I was convinced that online dating could be better and easier and that I could help. I started in romance coaching in January 2002.

What is a typical client?
I would say my most typical client is a female and over 40. Although I'm having more and more men get in touch with me now, particularly around writing dating profiles. I do profile reviews and work ups for people, and romance coaching. I've worked with people as young as their mid-20's through early 70's.  My average client is between 40 and 60 and female.

What kind of income do they have?
I think that one of the difficulties of that population is that the women do not tend to have as high an income as men. Their earnings are around $40,000 on up. I have some clients who are fairly wealthy.  But, people want to find a partner so badly that they pull together the money that they need to, to be able to afford my services.

How long does a typical client work with you and what sort of hourly rate do you charge?
Almost all my work is done by phone. I have clients everywhere. My fees start at $75 a half hour and people buy them in packages, usually packages of four, so that's $300 up front. I do profile work ups for $99. When people sign up for four sessions of coaching I will do the profile work up as a part of that first package. Some people I've worked with for as long as a year to a year and a half, but sometimes people just need a little profile work or some help figuring out the mechanics of dating. Mostly clients stay with me 6 to 9 months with some intense work at the beginning tapering off as they get their feet under them. I will keep in contact with folks until they've found their partner.

When your clients first approach you, typically what dating services are they using?
I always recommend the big dating sites. My favorites are Match.com and Yahoo Personals. I usually suggest to folks that they pick one of those two and then if they have some other sub interest like they're looking for someone who is Christian or Jewish or vegetarian, maybe one of the smaller sites. E-Harmony as a third and maybe JDate. 

Have you worked with any dating sites?
I think I was the first romance coach that had the experience of marrying through a dating site myself. I have the added experience of 30 years of psychotherapy work and have spent the last 5 years really learning this niche. I've approached Match.com a couple of times, and Yahoo Personals connected with me a year ago. I write for their online magazine.

I have one book already out called, Find a Sweetheart Soon – Your Love Trip Planner For Women which I wrote for those aged 40 to 60. I have another book coming out about how to build a social circle by entertaining.

How can people improve their chances on online dating sites?
I have recommended getting new pictures to every single one of my clients and virtually every single one of them has resisted. I always recommend them to LookBetterOnline.com. I think they do a fabulous job and give a fabulous price. I have a hard time understanding what the resistance is to getting a good picture, but that's the biggest one, bad pictures.

Secondly profile essays are usually poorly written. I did a job for this fellow the other day told him his profile was too sexy. Women understand that sex is part of dating but they don't want to see it in the essay. Men put too much sex in the essays. Women don't want to see that.

Then, the spelling and grammar errors. Frankly. I'm cleaning up their profiles and getting the "I's" out.  People talk about themselves too much and they need to ask questions and engage the reader.

What should dating sites do to make their services easier for matchmakers to use?
I would make them all searchable in the same way. As a romance coach, I find it very difficult to go from one site to another and figure out how to find things. I would like to see a uniform platform. It would make it easier for the coaches. Secondly, weed out the scammers. I think that would be reassuring for daters. How do you spot a scam?  I'm going to do some writing about that.