The Internet Dating Excellence Association will host this not-for-profit international gathering of by-invitation-only CEOs and executives of leading Internet dating apps and online matchmaking companies.Â
The IDEA SUMMIT + World Officers Weekend (WOW) is designed to help you get to know other CEOs in the dating industry. The Meet Group will host us at Harvard Club New York and are kindly sponsoring the venue costs, so there is no event fee. The event is led by Geoff Cook, the CEO of The Meet Group, and Mark Brooks, President of IDEA & CEO of Courtland Brooks.Â
IDEA SUMMIT will be small and focused and like no other dating industry gathering you've ever attended. There are 25 places only. You'll meet fellow CEOs and top flight executives from a diversity of leading Internet dating and online matchmaking companies from around the world, and a couple of special guests to help us round out our thinking. Â
The most unusual thing about IDEA SUMMIT is there are no attendees. Just presenters. Everyone is presenting. So please bring one idea on how we can improve our individual dating apps or grow the effectiveness of the dating industry as a whole, or collectively overcome a key current challenge.
Presentations will be 10 minutes each, on your idea. Ideas on matters currently affecting the growth of the industry, dating-related safety, challenging issues worthy of collaboration, opportunities for collective growth, along with your inspirational and informative growth stories.
This event is for C level executives who are exceptionally personally and professionally invested in the dating industry. This will be a unique, uplifting and essential event that will inform your strategy, and help align you and your company with the best of what the dating industry is, and will become, and help you evolve with the benefit of perspective from your peers.
At each IDEA SUMMIT we also try to round out the industry perspective by having a couple start-ups (that we can inspire), an expert on safety, and a supporting vendor-of-interest.
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This is a closed-door session. There will be no reporters, no recording, and no blogging about the details of the event. This is a private gathering focused on the presentation and discussion of opportunities, real issues, and growth ideas.Â
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PLEASE NOTE:Â IDEA EVENTS AREÂ USUALLY FULL WITHIN 72Â HOURSÂ OF INVITES BEING SENT.
...and once again, IDEA SUMMIT filled within 72 hours.Â
After IDEA SUMMIT + IDEA WOW we recommend you consider attending the Global Dating Insights Conference on 10th March, and the Global Love Conference on 11th March.
IDEA: Governments Should Take an Active Interest in Supporting Quality Dating Apps, to Improve Well-Being
Mark's team has worked with 110 dating companies and service providers since 2005. He runs the dating business agency/consultancy Courtland Brooks, along with OPW.news, and IDEA.gp. Mark is your co-host. Mark joined the dating industry in 1998. Â
Andy started in aerospace engineering with Northrup Grumman and then worked with Sabre and Travelocity. He joined the dating industry for a 2 year stint at TRUE in 2006, and has now been at Match since 2010. Andy is Match Group's forward thinker. He holds a very special place in the worldwide dating ecosystem as he is responsible for the skunkworks and new initiatives at Match Group.
Dmitry is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He started his first software development company at the age of 21 and grew it to 500 employees. His other successful startups were UsabilityLab, SoftwarePeople and PayOnline. He also made investments in several venture funds. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy, and has written two books on consciousness and free will. Dmitry joined the dating industry in 2001.
Violet started Lunch Actually with her husband Jamie 16 years ago after a short stint at Citigroup. Today, Lunch Actually Group owns some of South East Asia’s leading dating brands with a presence in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Violet is an industry veteran with thousands of media appearances. Â
For 20 years Dan has carried out market research providing a deeper understanding of target groups and how to effectively influence them. He helps structure the effectiveness of communications and assessment of their effectiveness with behavioural measurement and primary research techniques. He's turned his attention to dating recently, and will present his findings.
For ~20 years Jeff has dedicated his career to helping people control their information and reputation online. His newest technology platform, RealMe Powered by MyLife is a turnkey solution to protect people using dating apps and other online marketplaces. Prior to founding RealMe, Jeff founded several other successful business ventures, including MyLife, GreatDomains, RealtyTracker and MediaPass.
IDEA:Â The Data in Dating: Customer Satisfaction, Interesting Cyclicality, Payment Processing, and the Future
Jon has a Stanford PhD in statistics and ran Yield Dynamics for 10 years building yield optimization software for the semiconductor industry. He was enticed into dating by industry luminary Andrew Conru (who started the first Internet dating company, Webpersonals, in 1994). Jon joined the dating industry in 2015 as CEO of FriendFinder Networks which runs 20+ niche and lifestyle specific dating communities.Â
Kenji-Travis Yamazaki is a lawyer by training, worked with Goldman Sachs, and became a hedge fund and LBO advisor. He joined and helped start East Meet East with Mariko Tokioka and never looked back. Kenji runs the live streaming and subscription businesses and all marketing activity at East Meet East. He joined the dating industry in 2015.
Kenneth is a Stanford economist by training, and a growth marketer. He built My Purity Test, a facebook quiz and matchmaking app in 2007, which drove 6M+ sign ups, and was acquired by Speeddate.com in 2009. After a stint at Microsoft he resolved back to dating in 2012 to co-found the modern matchmaking service Tawkify.
Zackary is a former US Marine, successful serial entrepreneur and expert in streaming and mobile app technologies. Following a successful exit from his audio streaming network in 2014, he founded Say Allo in 2015, a relationship discovery app that uses a continuous learning algorithm, video and a compatibility index co-developed by the inventor of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Â
Leigh is a TV news reporter turned adjunct Professor teaching media, terrorism and disaster studies to graduate students in the Homeland Security Studies program. Then in 2017 the dating industry stole her attention as her dating app Dig took off. "Dig connects people online and at hyperlocal events so pets and pet-lovers can live healthier, longer, and more joyous lives together in a more pet-friendly world."Â
Casey started her career at Red Bull and branched out to brand design and art director roles at leading design firms working on Emirates, Reebok, Hertz and numerous leading brands. The dating industry corralled her attention in 2017 when she started Dig with her sister, Leigh. Leigh and Casey are commended for their fresh thinking and unique approach to dating in the not-so-small niche of pet-loving singles.
Ross started White Label Dating and built it to be the leading turnkey SaaS for online dating. Venntro Media's White Label Dating product now powers thousands of dating sites around the world and sites on the platform have generated over $390m revenues to date. Ross joined the dating industry in 2003.
Robyn moved from working at branding agencies to start Dattch, a lesbian dating app, in 2011. Then she raised $1m and renamed the app to HER, which is now positioned as a lesbian social app. “HER is about creating a space where lesbian, bi, queer, curious, flexisexual, pansexual and not-so-straight women can meet and find out what’s going on in their lesbian world." Robyn joined the dating industry in 2011.
Adam has spent 6 years of his career working with leading dating companies. First he worked with The Meet Group, then after some time in consulting he joined Magic Lab as the MD of Chappy. Then he started S'More. "Imagine a dating app that starts with getting to know a person before swiping on them. Where character is considered before physical attributes"
Geoff Cook and Mark Brooks are your hosts.Â
Geoff is the CEO of The Meet Group and is co-hosting and leading the first ever American IDEA SUMMIT. The Meet Group are kindly sponsoring the Friday venue at HCNY.Â
Mark heads IDEA, and is CEO of Internet dating agency-consultancy Courtland Brooks and is organizing and co-hosting. Â
The event is by-invitation-only for the most senior members of IDEA.gp.Â
Online Personals Watch is the media sponsor. See OPW.news
RealMe is the vendor-of-interest sponsoring the Thursday evening dinner. Â
The second formal event took place in December 2019 in Berlin in the Spark Networks HQ board room and hosted by Jeronimo Folgueira, the outgoing CEO of Spark Networks, along with Eric Eichmann, the new CEO. An all-star group of executives from some of the top dating and matchmaking companies on the planet were present, and presented their growth ideas to the group. See photo below. Â
See invitation site here. Â
The first formal event took place in April 2019 this year in Chennai, India which is the home of Matrimony.com. The weekend prior to the event we held a WOW, World Officers Weekend, where we toured the sights and sounds and culinary delights of Chennai. Then the first IDEA SUMMIT was held in Matrimony's boardroom and hosted by Muru, the CEO of Matrimony.com.Â
See invitation site here.
IDEA mixers have been happening for the last 10 years but the first semi-formal event was in Malta in November 2018. The World Officers Weekend brought together a group of dating executives to learn and share and have a long weekend in Malta.
See invitation site here.
