Startup exits are the most sought after events in Silicon Valley, but very few people get to experience them. On the Startup Exits Podcast we chat with founders that started, ran and sold a tech company to learn about how it all went down. This podcast is hosted by Andrew Vasylyk and produced by StartupSoft – visit www.startupsoft.com for more info and other great content.
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episode 18: Shayan Zadeh, founder of Zoosk: $250 million sale to Spark Networks
With friend and co-founder Alex Mehr, Shayan Zadeh came to US from Iran at a time when both countries had no diplomatic relations or direct flights. They went on to study computer science, work at NASA and Microsoft, and start Zoosk – an Inc 5000 dating platform that went on to exit for $250 million.
On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Shayan about:
• Coming to US as a founder
• Generating and filtering startup ideas
• Weathering a storm vs. Beating a dead horse
• Early days of Zoosk and key pivot
• Why have two CEOs at a startup?
• Cancelling an IPO
Shayan Zadeh is currently the CEO of DressBarn.
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