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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