This online event is by invite-only from your host and organizer Mark Brooks. Please reply to Mark's email invitation or email mark@courtlandbrooks.com if you have any questions that aren't answered here... Â
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and is the online event for leaders of companies that bring people together for all forms of relationships, via technology. Â
Welcome to Edition 21 of the LTR online conference experience. In this edition we will hear from Joel Simkhai, Founder & CEO of Motto, who will be interviewed by Mark Brooks. Then  Daniel Salmon, Partner at New Street Research, will present "Current Worldwide Trends in Online Dating".Â
LTR is a fast-paced 90 minutes.  Join us at 12 midday EST (New York time) on Wed 5th April. We'll have 30 mins of networking followed by 50 mins of presentations and discussions, and then another short networking session.
LTR is designed to help you get to know other CXOs and leaders of online dating companies. This event is small, focused, and by-invite-only. You'll meet a diverse group of CEOs and top flight executives. We have some brilliant speakers, and attendees, that can help you think outside the box and inspire you about the future and growing your business.
The LTR conference is hosted and attended by the Internet Dating Excellence Association (IDEA). If you got an email invite, you're in the group, and very welcome to join us. Email mark@courtlandbrooks.com to inquire about joining IDEA.
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Presentations are typically ~20 minutes each. You'll hear ideas on growth opportunities and user experience, challenging issues worthy of collaboration, interesting new technology and inspirational and informative stories to help enhance your understanding and sharpen up your strategy. After each presentation you'll have the opportunity to ask questions.
LTR is a unique and uplifting and essential event that will help you and your company align with the best of what the dating and social community industries will become. LTR will help you evolve and help you connect with and get more perspective from your peers.
This LTR is sponsored and supported by these technology providers:
  Livebox - The top livestreaming video and creator economy platformÂ
   Courtland Brooks - Internet dating and communities consultancy-agency
  Matchmaker.com - Make money by referring users to experienced matchmakersÂ
Mark runs the niche agency-consultancy Courtland Brooks focusing on strategy, marketing and business development for Internet dating companies and online social communities. He's served POF, The Meet Group, and 120+ companies since 2005. Prior to this, he worked with Friendster, and ran an adventure club in Silicon Valley. Mark has been quoted in press 288 times (18 times in WSJ).Â
He heads IDEA.gp (since 2007) & OSCA.gp, hosts LTR, and publishes the executive news summary services Online Personals Watch (since 2004) and Very Social Network (since 2006). He also runs BehavioralEconomist.com (130k+ community).
Mark is a graduate of Harvard Business School (PLD) and London School of Economics (Exec. MSc, Behavioral Science).
Mark is committed to helping dating and social industry executives connect, learn and share, and get inspired for an even more effective and prosperous future.
Joel is an Israeli-American tech entrepreneur who is best known as the founder and former CEO of Grindr, a location-based dating app designed for gay and bisexual men.
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Launched in 2009, Grindr quickly gained popularity and revolutionized the way people connect with each other in the LGBTQ+ community. Simkhai served as CEO of Grindr until 2018, when he sold the company to Chinese gaming company, Kunlun Group.
Joel was named one of Forbes' "30 under 30" in 2012 in the Technology category for his work in creating and developing Grindr.
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He has recently launched a new gay dating app called Motto. The app is designed to provide a different experience than other dating apps by showing users a limited number of profiles per day. Motto is primarily geared towards casual dating and hookups within the LGBTQ+ community.Â
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Dan Salmon leads the US Internet research team. He joined New Street Research in 2022, and prior to that spent 18 years at BMO Capital Markets and led the US Internet & Media research team. Dan graduated from Princeton University and lives in New York City.Â
His insights are widely sought after by investors and industry insiders. He has been quoted in major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, and is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences.
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Here is a complete list of RSVPs to LTR Edition 21
Adam Cohen-Aslatei, Founder & CEO, S'More and MD, Tawkify
Alex Mellor-Brook, co-Founder, Select Personal Introductions
Alex Tam, CEO, Paktor Group
Amanda Ortiz, Event Manager, Flare Events
Andy Palmer, Founder, Worldwide Dating
Armen Grigoryan, Founder, The Fun Singles
Arsen Kazibekov, co-Founder, SANA
Ayo Olatoye, co-Founder, Trueflutter
Ben Goodman, Marketing and Events Consultant, CitySwoon
Bernadett Simon, Marketing Director, Dating Central Europe Zrt
Bill Alena, Chief Investment Officer, Dating Group
Brad Jones, Founder & CTO, Meet Kinksters
Bruno Mustone, MD, Forcespenpals.co.uk
Chara Dela, co-Founder & CMO, NUiT
Christof Wittig, Founder & CEO, Hornet
Christoph Reisner, co-Founder, Koko
Eddy Ankrett, President, DatingAgencyAssociation
Emily Stykes, Equity Research Associate, New Street Research
Firas Abdallah, Founder, Ur My Type
Geoff Cook, Founder, The Meet Group
Gypsy Seaton, Chief of Staff, Together Light
Hannah Shimko, CEO, Online Dating Association
Haze Deng, Chief Revenue Officer, Ruby Life
Heaton Dyer, Chief Growth Officer, Pink Triangle Press
Henning Wiechers, CEO, Metaflake
Isabell Springer, Founder, SHiFT App
Jacopo Marchiori, COO, Mad Collective
Jean-Marc Larouche, CEO, Belovy
Jens Kammerer, co-Founder & CEO, Jaumo
Julie Spira, Founder & CEO, Cyber-Dating Expert
Laura Matter, co-Founder & CEO, noii
Lemarc Thomas, Founder & CEO, The Relationship Consultancy
Lluis Carreras, co-Founder & CEO, Mobifriends
Lubo Smid, co-Founder & CEO, STRV
Luke Tarsitano, Marketing Director, Together Light
Maureen Shaw, Founder, SexyAds
Michael Carter, President, Passions Network
Mike Carroll, VP Operations, Brotherton Holdings
Milan Kovacic, CEO, Cosmic Latte
Moses Brown, President, Mobeze, Inc.
Nadav Mills, Director of Product, DOWN
Natalia Sergovanseva, Founder, SoulMatcher
Natalie Frangi, co-Founder & CEO, NUiT
Nevine Coutry, Founder & CEO, PlayDate
Radha Patel, Founder, Single to Shaadi
Rob Fisher, Director of Product Development, Pink Triangle Press
Robin Helmreich, Product Owner, LemonSwan
Sanjay Panchal, Founder, Elate
Sarah Louise Ryan, Director, Tailor Matched
Serge Roberge, Technology Director, Pink Triangle Press
Shaina Semiatin, Head of Talent Acquisition, Grindr
Sunali Aggarwal, Founder, As You Are
Tammy Shaklee, Founder & President, H4M Matchmaking
Thomas Kuschel, co-Founder, noii
Timothy Sexton, Founder & CEO, DNARomance
Uwe Thomas, CEO, Icony.com
Valeriia Krasilnikova, Investor Manager, Russmedia Equity Partners
Viktor Cindric, Director Of Design and Optimization, First Beat Media
Vladimir Zoric, Project Manager, First Beat Media
Wan Hasifi Amin, MD, Baituljannah
Wesly Michel, Founder, DinnerTalk
William Ho, CTO, Playdate
Professor Paul Dolan is a behavioral economist from the London School of Economics. He has an affinity for the dating industry. He wrote the book Happiness By Design and spoke at LTR 20 about how dating apps can work with academics. Then we had an overview of the Real Gifts platform by the CEO of Real Gifts and Reflex Media, which also operates Seeking. Ruben Buell is a datingindustry veteran.  Â
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
At edition 19 we had the pleasure of Geoff Cook and Carmelia Ray presenting. Geoff, who is the CEO of The Meet Group, and co-CEO of ParshipMeet Group, presented on innovation and made some really interesting observations about the nature of the arc of innovation. Carmelia Ray is a celebrity matchmaker from Mom vs Matchmaker, and gave us some insights on "the future of content marketing, social selling, and brand recognition through TV and media."
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
Edition 18 was focused on one topic. Influencer marketing is a hot topic. Fitness focused dating apps are doing a good job with influencer marketing. We invited the CEO of Datefit to speak and he was kind enough to give us an overview of how he does influencer marketing, along with some of the idiosyncracies of the channels he is working with.
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
Our 17th edition was focused on Asia, and was set on Asia time for a change. The CEO of Paktor, Alex Tam, spoke about how Paktor has brought Asia together, and their various offerings. Delbert Ty is the CMO of Coffee Meets Bagel and spoke about dating industry maturity. Mark Brooks then held an extended Q&A, and covered topics such as influencer marketing.
See invitation site here: shows speakers and attendees
Dr Haluk Akin gave us an overview of how to manage multiple dating products with unified technology. Dr Akin is CEO/Founder of the 'meaningful relationships' focused dating service in Turkey: Pembe Panjur. Then Adam Cohen-Aslatei, CEO/Founder of S'More presented why community is so important for dating apps in the future.
See invitation site here: shows speakers and attendees
Paul Larsen has been focused on payment processing for 30 years now, and has advised the dating and social industries. He gave us a crucial update on new challenges, opportunities and a recommended list of providers for dating and online social communities.
See invitation site here, with attendees
Bill Alena gave us his and Dating Group's vision of the future for dating and social tech. specifically on how 'digital intimacy' will transform the space. Bill is Chief Investment Officer at Dating Group and actively acquiring and investing. We also had Courtney Kovacevich give us an overview of the Women In Dating initiative
See invitation here, with speakers and attendees
Hal Burg gave us an overview of how product placement works, and walked us through some examples in the dating and social space. David Siegel clarified on the meaning of Metaverse, and how it will warp and advance the way we experience social and dating. LTR online is now only 90 mins long. A networking session. plus two presentations.Â
This time we focused on interesting and inspiring startups. The CEO / Co-Founders of Fika, The Sauce and Himoon presented their founding and growth stories. Six co-founders in all. Denis Sandquist and Oscar Luo from Asian dating app Fika presented "How 'Real' is Better Than 'Perfect'". Emma Clark and Sachin Karia gave an overview of how they had integrated video profiles into The Sauce. Louis Dresse and Michael Couvreur from Himoon shared their founding story, challenges and vision.Â
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
At LTR 11 Geoff Cook, CEO/Co-Founder of The Meet Group gave us an overview of the creator economy and how The Meet Group is enabling companies to open up in one-to-many social/dating video. Then Neil Davis, CBO of The Real Me presented the year so far for advances in safety. We were then able to capture veteran Eddy Ankrett's personal story, and his thoughts on why the dating industry should work more closely with the matchmaking industry.Â
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
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All LTR events are diverse. LTR 10 was no exception. At LTR edition 10 we heard from the amazing Professor Pepper Schwartz on the science of matching.  Then Sean Lawrence from The Meet Group gave us an overview of how The Meet Group made video fun with gamification. Finally we got clued in some current issues and growth opportunities on Facebook and Instagram marketing with expert Dennis Yu, who formerly worked in the dating industry many years ago at Yahoo Personals. Â
We enjoyed a phenomenal presentation by Yu-kai Chou, a gamification and behavioral design master, and author of Actionable Gamification. Then Dr Timothy Sexton gave us an overview of how he is on a mission to use DNA to forecast 'romantic chemistry.' Finally, Simon Corbett and Mark Brooks introduced the calendar of IRL GDI conferences and LTR Summits in 2021-2022, an entire year of events pre-planned, and then interviewed each other about their involvement with the dating and social industries.
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
LTR Edition 8 welcomed author Jon Birger to speak about his latest book "Make Your Move" and the key relevant points for dating communities. Then Barbara Soltysinkska, the CEO of International influencer network Indahash, gave us the inside track on how to work with influencer networks.. Shauny Ullman then gave us an overview of her new service, Clean Bill of Health, (CBOH). There's a need for communicating covid status and other health information, and her platform is an example of one that fulfills that need.
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
Another sold-out LTR, we were super thrilled to hear Dr Helen Fisher, a powerhouse top-flight anthropologist with a long history in Internet dating. She is Chief Scientific Officer at Match since 2005, and is Senior Research Fellow at Kinsey Institute. Then Carsten Boltz presented on growth strategy. He's CEO of Online Personals Group with properties in 37 countries and a team of 160. Carsten is a member of IDEA Ten Year Club, Anthony Volpe, CMO at Tawkify, overviewed how Tawkify has done well despite the pandemic.
Gitte Bendzilla, the MD of public company, Spark Networks was interviewed by Mark Brooks about her 2 years at Spark. Alex Durrant, the CEO/Founder of Jigsaw talked about the rise and recent raise of Jigsaw. They just raised $3.7m. Henning Wiechers is a long term mega-affiliate in Germany who is an expert on the DACH market and he gave us the benefit of his insights on the DACH markets. All in all, another diverse and fascinating line up, enjoyed by a packed room of online community leaders and luminaries.Â
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
Edition 5 in Feb 2021 featured celebrity matchmaker Patti Stanger, a.k.a. the millionaire matchmaker. Patti produced and starred in "The Millionaire Matchmaker" for 7 years and is probably the world's most famous matchmaker. Geoff Cook gave us an overview of the vPaaS product which enables PlentyoffFish and is opening up to work with more dating and online social communities. Zach Zhleien is a startup CEO with a penchant for data and video, and gave us his thoughts on video dating.
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
Our 4th LTR featured noted conversions and digital design specialist Tim Ash talking through some fascinating pricing model designs. Ross Williams from White Label Dating appealed to the industry to work together more and gave some examples of lucrative ways to do that. David Minns of Platform Dating talked us through some of his extreme niche products and gave us insight on why the products work, and how well they're doing.
See invitation site here with speakers and attendees
LTR #3 was another landmark event. Harvard Business School's Professor Ashley Whillans gave us an overview of her findings from behavioral science on how our time can be used in a more personally fulfilling way. Dr Mari-Sanna Paukkerri, CEO of Utopia Analytics, shared how advanced language independent AI is being used for UGC review. Then Catherine Connelly, a notable long termer in the dating industry started her company at age 15, and has guided The Meet Group to it's current $360m a year.
See invitation site here: shows speakers and attendees
Once again, LTR filled to capacity within 72 hours of invitations being sent out. The CEO/Founder of Hornet explained how he transitioned Hornet from being a dating app to being an online social community. The CEO of RealMe defined how reputation data is making users safer. Professor Robert Metcalfe walked us through how we can measure consumer value. We also got a half hour networking session before and after the speakers session, so attendees could meet fellow industry leaders on small tables of six. Â
See invitation site here: shows speakers and attendees
The very first LTR online conference happened September 10th, 2020 and was attended by 99 leaders and luminaries (including 72 CEO/Founders of dating and online social communities). Professor Iyengar of Columbia University spoke about the Art of Decision Making. Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group gave us the inside-track on the rise of video. The Godfather of reality TV, Jon Murray, was interviewed. Â
See invitation site here:Â shows speakers and attendeesÂ