Alon Carmel @ Jdate: The Real Estate Investor Who Took Niche Dating Mainstream
Description
When Alon Carmel launched JDate in 1997, he wasn't a pioneer in the online dating industry. He wasn't even a pioneer in the online Jewish dating industry. In fact, by the time he had the idea for Jdate, the Web already contained over a hundred Jewish themed dating websites. But rather than seeing all that competition and thinking the market was saturated, Alon saw the competition and figured: "It must be a good business."
Recognizing the opportunity, Alon and his friend, Joe Shapira, focused on creating a popular brand. And it worked.
From lavish parties to billboards across Times Square, Alon wanted to make sure everyone in the world knew about Jdate, even if not everyone was his customer. The result was the world's most popular dating website for Jewish people and a strategy for online dating focused on niche communities that Alon and his team expanded well beyond Jewish dating. It ultimately led to Spark Networks, one of the largest and most profitable networks of dating websites in the world.
For a complete transcript of the episode, click here.
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