FORTUNE – June 22 – After hearing negative comments about pregnant founders, Talia Goldstein, CEO of Three Day Rule, says she felt that the only way to raise money was to hide her pregnancy. During this time, a well-known LA investor wrote a blog post about his struggle over whether or not invest in a company run by a pregnant CEO, which included the chilling line: “A pregnant CEO is going to fail her company.” (Ultimately, he did invest.) In April 2014, Three Day Rule raised a Series A from IAC/Match. Since then, they’ve launched in six cities. "The difficulty I faced while fundraising as a pregnant woman is only one example of the prejudice against mothers that remains pervasive in startup culture. Now, as I begin another round of fundraising while pregnant again, I am determined to take a stand", she said.
Category: Outlets – Fortune Magazine
Would You Consider Accepting Bitcoin On Your Dating Site?
FORTUNE – Mar 27 - OkCupid already accepts it. You could say that accepting bitcoin was just a marketing gimmick—that OkCupid was just looking to garner some goodwill and buzz among tech types. OkCupid founder and CEO Sam Yagan reasoned at the time: “There’s no question that these digital currencies are going to be the future.” Zoosk's CEO Kelly Steckelberg remains hesitant. “I don’t know that bitcoin is at a place yet that it makes sense for us,” she says, “but certainly if it ever got there, we would consider it, absolutely.
by Daniel Roberts
See full article at Fortune
Kelly Steckelberg – The Woman Tasked With Saving Zoosk
FORTUNE – Mar 26 – Kelly Steckelberg took Zoosk’s top job in Dec 2014. Since then, she’s been clearing a path to profitability. Less than one year ago, Zoosk had filed for an IPO. Things quickly changed. In December, the company called it off and its two co-founders, CEO Shayan Zadeh and president Alex Mehr, stepped down. And in January, it laid off 15% of its staff. Kelly Steckelberg, the new CEO, has been at Zoosk for 4 years and held roles as its CFO and COO. When asked what sets Zoosk apart, Steckelberg was unconvincing. “I think we consider ourselves a serious dating site". Zoosk took in ~$200M in revenue in 2014 but lost money. It had been profitable in 2013 for the full year. What changed? Steckelberg says Zoosk decided to invest heavily in growth, “even at a loss situation.” The company also overstaffed. Zoosk seems to have been operating with the startup mentality that profit doesn’t matter. Zoosk will announce that it was profitable in Q1 2015 and Steckelberg hopes the company’s finances will stay that way.
Tinder Has A New CEO – Chris Payne, Ex-eBay Exec
SEEKING ALPHA – Mar 20 – Chris Payne, until recently the head of eBay's North American marketplaces ops, has been named the CEO of Tinder. Payne replaces co-founder Sean Rad.
by Eric Jhonsa
See full article at Seeking Alpha
Update from Fortune: CEO & Co-founder Sean Rad will reportedly continue to take charge on product and marketing aspects.
Lesbian Dating App Dattch Is Now Her
FORTUNE – Feb 26 – Robyn Exton wanted to help a gay girlfriend who had gone through a break-up get back on the market. She created Her, a free app for women looking to date other women. The idea is to create a community for lesbians looking to make friends, chat, and date. Dating apps specifically for gay women are limited. The most prominent is Brenda, an app similar to Grindr that was created by a man. Exton herself is gay, and says her San Francisco-based team is made up of four queer women and two straight guys. Exton originally named the service Dattch, a blend of the words “date” and “catch.”
Dating Apps Created By Women For Women
FORTUNE – Feb 10 – Women have been subjected to harassing comments on dating apps, like Tinder and OkCupid, which have been created by largely male teams. Several new dating apps have been created by women such as Coffee Meets Bagel that has attracted $2.8M in funding, and Bumble. On Bumble, only women can initiate the conversation. Three Bay-Area sisters, Arum, Dawoon and Soo Kang launched Coffee Meets Bagel. It uses Facebook info to match users with friends of friends. They get one match a day. If both parties decide they want the introduction, the app sends an ice-breaker question to both. Dattch is a dating app aimed at lesbians. Dattch features a pinterest-like layout which is heavy on pictures. The pictures remove the need for self-description and instead drive conversation towards interests and hobbies.
by Shalene Gupta
See full article at Fortune
See all posts on Coffee Meets Bagel
See all posts on Bumble
See all posts on Dattch
Online Dating App “The Grade” Kicks Out Bad Daters
FORTUNE – Dec 11 – The Grade, a new dating app developed by Snap Interactive, gives users a letter grade, and kicks off anyone who earns an “F”– which turned out to be 5% of its early users. The app launched last month. “We want to hold users accountable for their behavior,” says Cliff Lerner, CEO of Snap Interactive. “We believe the next big thing in online dating is accountability.” The grades are determined by an algorithm that looks at everything from grammar to how often users respond to messages. Overall grades are calculated based on the profile quality, responsiveness, and message quality.
The Guy Behind Momo, China’s Tinder
FORTUNE – Nov 3 – Tang Yan started a Chinese social network called Momo that now has 60M monthly active users. He spent eight years at the news site of 163.com, one of China’s top Internet portals, eventually running it, before getting the idea for Momo when location apps like Foursquare were gaining popularity. Momo has become one of the most popular apps in China, and is planning an IPO that values the company at $3B. Momo brings in cash from some paid add-on features, and is exploring new business models, such as running ads from close-by restaurants and small businesses.
Grindr’s Performance Issues Could Doom Its Relationships
FORTUNE – Dec 6 – One serious glitch is all users need to abandon one service for another. Just ask the Friendster folks. Grindr's consistent user complaints are creating opportunity for competitors like Jack'd or Scruff. Yosuke Matsuda made Jack'd fast and reliable. 5.4M users registered for the app, 1M log on daily. That's still shy of Grindr's 7M registered users and 1.2M daily active users. But Jack'd began outpacing Grindr this spring, adding 100K monthly active users. Grindr's monthly active user base is growing ~200K over at least seven months.
by JP Mangalindan
The full article was originally published at CNN Money, but is no longer available.
The Mail Order Bride Boom
FORTUNE MAGAZINE – Apr 9 –
AnastasiaDate.com is a "premium international dating" service for singles looking for love abroad. Premium international dating is a new name for what's traditionally referred to as the mail-order bride business. The company made $110M in 2012. In 2013, it projects it will make $140M. The site's traffic grew 220% in 2012. It now has 4M users. According to Experian, the top 10 premium international dating sites drew 12M visits in March, 29% increase YOY. "People are realizing that there's a bigger world than Match.com," says Chief Strategy Officer Mark Brooks. The company will have to overcome the deep stigma. The practice conjures images of women desperate to marry out of failing economies; and of unappealing American men looking for a traditional mate to keep the house clean. Brooks sees international dating today as being on the cusp of respectability — in much the same way online dating was in its early stages. AnastasiaDate.com is also trying to clean up its act. "We are very, very sensitive to reputation now", says Brooks. The company is planning a crackdown on its local partner agencies who pay women to interact on the site. The site's most active users are American men 35-60 years old, making ~$100K. To interact on the site, they can buy credits. IM chatting costs one credit/minute. There can also be real safety risks for women. A pair of high-profile murders of foreign brides prompted the enactment of federal legislation in 2005 to protect women brought to the U.S. via The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act. "The industry has grown to appreciate it," he says. "It was designed to provide a very high level of comfort and safety to female members of international dating sites, which is, of course, of utmost importance to us."
by Anne VanderMey
The full article was originally published at Fortune Magazine, but is no longer available.