Building a Live Social Network
Houseparty founders Ben Rubin and Sima Sistani on pivoting and the future of live social networks.
The rise of social network giants Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn paved the way for the world to connect online and showed the power of people sharing their own ideas, thoughts and images. Today, people share their personal moments billions of times a day yet these platforms are still largely considered asynchronous, meaning you post to your followers and they interact later. The advancement in mobile communication technology has, in many ways, detached the human aspect of communication with the ease and speed of text, “likes” and shares replacing phone calls.
Live group video chat app Houseparty is on a mission to reconnect people in the most human way possible, when they are physically apart. Founders, Ben Rubin and Sima Sistani, have been through the trenches together pivoting from live video app Meerkat to Houseparty. Houseparty is now winning over Generation Z, with more than 1 million daily active users connecting with friends and family through spontaneous togetherness.
The co-founders have deep knowledge of what drives mobile social apps. Previously, Sima was Head of Media at Tumblr responsible for global media strategy and partnership. Ben is a serial entrepreneur who has worked abroad in Israel scaling startup companies and working with large corporations including Intel. In this episode of Greymatter, the Houseparty founders share learning lessons from pivoting a company, the challenges of adopting live video and the opportunity to rethink what it means to communicate online.
Below are some key takeaways from the discussion.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Soundcloud | Stitcher | Casts | 60dB
The Challenge of Consistent Live Video
2015 seemed to be the dawn of the live video era as celebrities and influencers used new platforms, like Meerkat, to connect live with their fans and networks. However, daily and consistent live sharing proved to be unsustainable and emotionally taxing for the every day person. Adoption was slow and Ben realized that going live everyday made sense for a very niche demographic of celebrities, media and news, but not for the average consumer.
Courage is Required to Pivot
Many of today’s great tech products are the result of a pivot including Pinterest, Instagram and PayPal. The decision to pivot is always a difficult choice for founders to make, but Ben suggests dealing with the situation early, decisively and with courage. Hype around a new technology can sometimes outweigh what the metrics actually show. Ben explains there was so much excitement around live video technology that it took additional grit to stand up and explain to the Meerkat community, board members and investors why live video sharing was not going to work as a daily habit.
The Cousin’s Network
Reaching customers and gaining a competitive advantage is key for startups. One of the major takeaways from the Meerkat pivot was the go-to-market strategy for Houseparty. The original target of celebrities and influencers was not the right strategy for the new app, instead the company used what Sima describes as “The Cousin’s Network” to gain feedback from users and make iterations. Houseparty was quietly rolled out to friends and family so the company could make initial changes before releasing to a wider audience. Ben explains that the best product development has a very strong statement and reduces uncertainties right from the start.
The Future of Live Communication
There is a large opportunity to rethink what it means to communicate online. The idea of communicating synchronously is nostalgic for older generations, but Sima explains that this type of communication is a new experience for Generation Z. Tapping into the younger generation’s desire for human interaction is ripe for disruption as today’s social media platforms continue to silo users.
