Ben Rubin
The humble founder and CEO of Meerkat
Discussion
M
Ben Rubin
@benrbn · Co-founder, Life On Air Inc
Hi I'm Ben. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Life on Air Inc., which most recently released the popular Meerkat app. I work with my team to pioneer "participatory media" through life-streaming communities. Ask me anything!
upvotesharetweet・
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
As you know, big fan of Meerkat and how you think about community-building (Ben and I have had a few conversations about this in private and on episode #37 of Product Hunt Radio with @joshelman and @eriktorenberg).
Question: Meerkat blew up quickly and instantly became a darling within the startup community. What are you most afraid of?
@rrhoover That as we transition and grow up, that unique value proposition of live-video-button-for-twitter is gone, and we need a be much more clear with value prop for new users. -as in "why would normal people should stream on MK" (or at all) . I think we are doing great steps with participatory content, but we have much more work with unlocking new communities and being more clear with our mission.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
How has your personal life changed since Meerkat blew up? How have you dealt with people treating you differently all of a sudden?
Austen Allred
@austenallred · co-founder, Grasswire
What was your reaction the first time you saw Periscope? Did you know about it before Meerkat was a thing?
@austenallred here it is! http://www.producthunt.com/tech/...
Hussein Yahfoufi
@husseinyahfoufi · Family. Tech. Real Estate. Flamenco.
@benrbn awesome camaraderie!
Hi @benrbn, big fan of Meerkat. Has being named in MIT's Technology Review's 35 innovators under 35 changed your life? And what's your favorite emoji? #😻
soroush ghodsi
@soroushg_ · Founder & CEO of Slik. 13yrs old.
@benrbn Do you think live-streaming will be a zero-sum game?
@soroushg_ the way i view the space, is that live video is a whole new category. -participatory content. with mobiles, and internet connected touch screens & internet connected cameras (at the audience's end!). --so for me is like saying that only one social network exists 😃
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Super important question: what's your favorite movie and why?
Eric Willis
@erictwillis · Working on something new
@benrbn You mentioned that Meerkat was one of several ideas in the works. As we all know, the first one took off. Can you share what the others ideas were?
Jeff Needles
@jsneedles · BI @ Meerkat & Maker of Things
@benrbn What is one word you would want associated with meerkat in every user's mind? Also, what made you build a ball pit in your Tel-Aviv office?