sam yagan at hustle con 2016: from sparknotes to okcupid: how great content created sustainable...

From SparkNotes to

OkCupid

Sam Yagan CO-FOUNDER: SPARKNOTES, EDONKEY,

OKCUPID, TECHSTARS CHICAGO, & CORAZON CAPITAL

How great content created sustainable competitive

advantage

My story

•  Studied Applied Math •  Co-Founded TheSpark.com •  Pivoted to SparkNotes •  Co-Founded eDonkey •  Got an MBA •  Co-Founded OkCupid •  Incubated Tinder •  Co-Founded Techstars Chicago •  Co-Founded Corazon Capital

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Content: commodity or king?

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TheSpark’s Fat Project

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Day 0: the weigh-in

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Day 15: the mid-point

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Day 30: the final weigh-in

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SparkNotes

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OkCupid

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Intermission AUDIENCE INTERACTION

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Predictors of relationship success

1.  Do you enjoy horror movies? 2.  Have you eve traveled around a foreign

country alone? 3.  Wouldn’t it be fun to chuck it all and go

live on a sailboat?

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Show of hands…

Men 1.  In a certain light,

wouldn't nuclear war be exciting?

2.  Assuming you were in the position to do so, would you launch nuclear weapons under any circumstances?

3.  Could you imagine yourself killing someone?

Women

1.  Do you like the taste of beer?

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Back to OKC

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No need for click bait

- TheCaseForAnOlderWoman- YourLooksandYourInbox- HowYourRaceAffectsTheMessagesYouGet- ExactlyWhatToSayInAFirstMessage- WhatIs*Your*BestProfilePicture- TheMathemaJcsOfBeauty- WeExperimentOnHumanBeings!

Mtch.com

Sam Yagan CEO

#hustlecon @samyagan