THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE ONLINE DATING INDUSTRY WWW.GLOBALDATINGINSIGHTS.COM POWER LIST Sam Yagan Greg Blatt Sean Rad Michael S. Egan CEO Chairman President & co-founder CEO The Match Group The Match Group Tinder Spark Networks Tang Yan Noel Biderman Neil Clark Warren Andrey Andreev Founder & CEO Founder & CEO Founder & CEO Founder Momo Ashley Madison eHarmony Badoo Aaron Schildkrout/ Rose Gong Markus Frind George Kidd Brian Schechter Founder Founder & CEO Chief Executive Co-founders Jiayuan Plenty of Fish Online Dating Association HowAboutWe Cli Lerner Joel Simkhai Robyn Exton Ross Williams Founder & CEO Founder & CEO Founder & CEO CEO & co-founder SNAP Interactive Grindr Dattch White Label Dating Dave Heysen / Brett Harding / Justin McLeod Shayan Zadeh Daniel Haigh Laurence Holloway Founder & CEO Co-founder Co-founders Co-founders Hinge Zoosk Oasis Lovestruck 2 WELCOME & INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Power List 2015, Global Dating Insight’s guide to the most inuential people in the online dating industry. These are the people we believe are driving, shaping and developing this exciting industry. First of all, we have an admission - this is not a scientic process, and if we have made any omissions we apologise in advance. Each person on the following pages meets our strict criteria, they are a proven leader within their eld, with demonstrable power, inuence and budgetary clout. What does it mean to make the Power List? It means the individuals listed are the stars of our industry at this particular moment. Power cannot be determined by your ranking on Google, yet we know it when we see it. Those that make the top 20 and our ve “ones to watch” are leaders of this global industry. These are interesting and exciting times for online dating, from mobile payments to monetisation and wearables, the industry and technology is developing at a rapid pace. These issues may dominate industry debate, but it is talented people who will determine the industry’s future. Finally, a thank you to White Label Dating for sponsoring the rst issue of this annual industry report. Simon Corbett Simon Edmunds Founder Editor 3 WhiteLabelDating.com Launch your own dating site with the world’s leading online dating platform • Over $150m paid out to partners • No up front costs • 40 million members • Over 25,000 sites • Industry leading account management You’re in good company Online Quote “POWERBOOK” to receive preferential revenue shares. Get in touch now on [email protected]. SPONSOR MESSAGE Whilst there may be thousands of dating sites worldwide, the online dating industry’s development is actually led by just a handful of key gures who are collectively responsible for generating over 90% of industry revenue. Some of the inuencers proled in this book have higher proles than others, but they are all united by a common theme: all surround themselves with skilled teams run- ning their businesses from behind the scenes. Last year, White Label Dating achieved annualised revenues of nearly $75m and wel- comed our 40 millionth member. Without the incredible support and hard work of our network of over 1,700 partners, that would not have been possible. This year’s Power List is not just a celebration of the industry’s key players. It’s a celebra- tion of every person, in every online dating business, working together to achieve a common goal: to make it easier and safer to meet people than ever before. It’s this common goal that drives innovation. 2014 was a landmark year for the online dating industry and I’m excited to reveal that founders of the year’s most cutting-edge apps, Robyn Exton of Dattch and Justin McLeod of Hinge, feature in this book. It’s also important that while we celebrate, we reect and recognise that the leaders of our industry are male by majority. If online dating is to truly become the #1 preferred way of meeting new people, we need to attract and retain more female talent in posi- tions of leadership. With proled founders of dating businesses such as Zoosk and HowAboutWe moving on to new ventures at the time of writing, we can look forward to welcoming more diverse, new talent in 2015. It’s the people that make our industry such a force to be reckoned with. That’s why White Label Dating is proud to sponsor Global Dating Insights’ inaugural Power List, in celebration of those who give our industry strength. If you share my ethos, connect with me on Twitter @rosswilliams or LinkedIn. All the best for 2015, Ross Williams Co-founder and CEO White Label Dating® 5 Sam Yagan CEO The Match Group Tang Yan Yagan is one of the most visible Founder & CEO players in the online dating industry, Momo and as a founder of OkCupid, he has been at the forefront of the dating Yan has created a massive messaging and industry for over 10 years. After he irt app, in the shadow of giant competitors sold OkCupid to IAC and became the like WeChat and Line. Their brand of CEO of IAC’s dating segment, The location-based social discovery has proved Match Group, he now has massive hugely popular in China, with around 180m inuence over three of the industry’s users. Momo recently led for a US IPO, biggest brands: Match.com, OkCupid looking to raise $300m. Yan happily and Tinder. As CEO of The Match describes Momo as a cross between Group, Yagan guided these Snapchat and Tinder, and it has gained businesses to generate revenues of notoriety as a hookup app in a conservative over $780m, and prots of more than culture - being dubbed “the magical tool for $260m, in 2013. He was also named in getting laid”. Considering the huge TIME’s 100 Most Inuential People in possibilities for dating services in Asia, the World list. Momo could well be seen as a trailblazer in years to come. Sean Rad President & co-founder Tinder Rad created the industry’s biggest success story in years with Tinder - which came out of IAC’s Hatch Labs - alongside Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen. Although he has recently lost his position as CEO of Tinder, he will continue on as President and have a seat on the board. The app, which has an estimated 50m users, has changed the online dating industry and Rad has a huge part to play in this. Tinder has also recently added two premium features, which may inuence how mobile-only apps monetise in the future. How long Rad decides to stay on at Tinder remains to be seen, but his place in the history of the dating industry is secure. Greg Blatt Chairman Michael S. Egan The Match Group CEO Spark Networks As with Sam Yagan, Blatt is a highly visible and inuential gure in IAC’s Match Group, After a fraught leadership crisis at Spark making top decisions about the strategy of Networks last year, Osmium now control the their dating segment. Prior to this, he was board of the dating company, who own CEO of IAC, and the CEO of Match.com. As sites including JDate and Christian Mingle. Chairman, Yagan reports to Blatt, and both push the nancial growth and business Former CEO Greg Liberman has since development of their dating portfolio, which departed, and Egan has been appointed the has consistently maintained its position as company’s new leader. Egan has a tough job IAC’s biggest area of revenue and growth. on his hands, and will be seeking to reign in With his extensive experience running marketing spending and reposition these Match.com, Blatt would be the perfect two huge brands, in order to steady the leader should IAC Chairman Barry Diller company and push growth again. decide to spin o The Match Group. © 2015 GLOBALDATINGINSIGHTS.COM 6 Noel Biderman Founder & CEO Ashley Madison As one of the most controversial gures in the industry, Q Professional inspiration: Biderman is never far from the media spotlight. Despite what you think of Ashley Madison, the site has seen huge growth over the past few years, and their Ambassador - I know that I marketing campaigns have continued to create noise around the brand. They are also expanding into new would make a great diplomat, markets in Asia, where many other companies have not ventured. The online dating industry certainlyMichael relies on S. Eganafter all the world travels and perception from the public, and Biderman is an Chairmanmedia experience I’ve had over important and key player in shaping this. “ Spark Networks the last decade. Q Your career highlights: Yet to come I hope! Q My alternative career would be: Q App you can’t live without: The General Manager of an NBA basketball team. Minecraft. It keeps my son occupied on any ight. I would do that job for free! Q Q ” Favourite quote: Best advice you have received: "Never invest in anything that eats”. My grandfather. Pursue perfection, and everything else will fall into place. Q Outside of dating, the brand you admire most: Loro Piana. Some of the absolute best design in the world. © 2015 GLOBALDATINGINSIGHTS.COM 7 Neil Clark Warren Rose Gong Founder & CEO Founder eHarmony Jiayuan As founder of eHarmony, Warren is a As the founder of China’s largest online highly visible and well known gure in dating site, Gong’s story is one of the the US, having created one of the most industry’s best startup successes. Above successful dating sites ever. Recently the average age of marriage in China, and returning to helm eHarmony, the site of nding current matchmaking solutions very poor, Gong decided to create her own 13 years is moving itself forward, and he site - a story that is often-trotted out in the has been instrumental in reshaping the industry - with no prior experience, business.