Chris Stang & Andrew Steinthal
Co-Founders of The Infatuation
Discussion
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
Hi, we are Chris Stang & Andrew Steinthal, founders of The Infatuation, a web destination, app, and text messaging service designed to help you find restaurants that don't suck. We also created the #EEEEEATS Instagram hashtag that has been used over two million times. Ask us anything!
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Corley
@corleyh · COO @ Product Hunt
Hey there, Chris and Andrew! It is so much fun to have you here on Product Hunt today. 👋
So, I walk into SoulCycle yesterday and see from the door that you are doing some marketing work with them. It was clearly you. How do you think about brand consistency and its value when you are working with other companies that have a very clear brand identity, too?
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Chris Stang
@houseofstang · Co-Founder & CEO, The Infatuation
Thanks @corleyh, love you guys and glad to be here. I'm also very glad to hear that our brand came across so clearly to you when coming across it at Soulcycle. For us, creating a strong brand with a strong identity and a clear message is our number one mission. Without that, nothing else works, from the reviews and recommendations to the social accounts, to the other brand partnerships we engage in. To that end, we always try and work with other companies that have a strong brand - certainly in identity but most importantly in values. We try to work with other companies that value integrity, credibility, and authenticity. Things that align with our core values.
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@corleyh That's awesome you saw those SoulCycle #ATHLEEEEEATS guides in the studios. Always nice to see that people are seeing those! We are very specific and calculated about the brands we work with and try to only align with folks who are "on brand" for us if you will. It's the only way to keep people trusting us. We love working with other brands that have a lot of brand equity tied to them, like SoulCycle, Budweiser, American Express... All brands we work with closely that have very distinct brands and voices that mesh well with our own identity.
neeharika sinha
@neeeharika · Google, Threadchannel
Another question in early days what growth initiative worked best for infatuation?
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Chris Stang
@houseofstang · Co-Founder & CEO, The Infatuation
@neeeharika we did a lot of work on Twitter - seeking out communities and people with similar interests and engaging with them. As time went on, that same strategy applied to Instagram, which was obviously a huge deal for us. That platform proved to be a perfect way for us to build our brand and community. Turns out people REALLY like to take pictures of their food.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
Recently, I deleted Yelp after being steered in the wrong direction repeatedly. What's your 140 character pitch to a user of Yelp, Foursquare, etc.? What about someone who doesn't currently use an app?
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Chris Stang
@houseofstang · Co-Founder & CEO, The Infatuation
@andrewmettinger Yelp and Foursquare are great places to go for a data point, but when you want a clear and unbiased opinion from someone who you can trust, where do you go? Google? COME TO US. How many characters was that? I'm bad at Twitter.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@houseofstang 176, but it's fine, I just used ShareMeow. (Boom! We just solved Twitter's 140 character problem) h/t @mscccc
Alice Villalta
@alice_villalta · Research Analyst, TNS
How were you inspired to make the Infatuation with competitors such as Yelp and Foursquare in the market space? And what were your careers before #EEEEEATS life?
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@alice_villalta Yelp and Foursquare were a big reason why we actually launched Infatuation initially - while they were certainly useful in some scenarios, you couldn't trust their POV. It's all user generated content. Lots of noise. As restaurant goers ourselves, and consumers of food related media, we just felt like there was no relatable, trustworthy, authentic voice in the market that you'd trust to make decisions for you, and we thought we could vill that void. Before we went full time Infatuation, we were both in the music business. I was in PR at Warner Bros Records and Stang was in marketing at Atlantic. We spend 5 years building Infatuation while we had full time jobs and then made the leap to full time in early 2014.
Alice Villalta
@alice_villalta · Research Analyst, TNS
@schmooey That's awesome! I prefer your reviews on restaurants than reading it on other sites. It's more genuine and personable. Thanks :-)
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@alice_villalta Appreciate that. Yeah, we just try to tell it like it is.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What's something you used to believe that you now see as fundamentally misguided?
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Chris Stang
@houseofstang · Co-Founder & CEO, The Infatuation
@eriktorenberg that email was dead. We focused heavily and early on social, but we should have paid more attention to email in the early days. It's still very powerful.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hi Andrew and Chris! What have been some of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome in the early days of The Infatuation? How did you overcome them?
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@ems_hodge Oh hey Emily. The first big challenge was trying to figure out how to raise money. We came from the music biz, and had no idea what a convertible note was when we first started the process, let alone how to make a business model or pitch deck. But, you throw yourselves to wolves and figure it out. I wish we had video from the first couple meetings we took, because we had no idea what was going on. Another big challenge was prioritizing. When you're first starting to build a business, there are so many things that need to get done, and so many things you want to get done. Making sure you focus on the right things can certainly be challenging, and you need to manage your time wisely.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What are your favourite places to eat?
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@ems_hodge if i could be eating in one place for the rest of my life, I think it'd be Napa Valley. Everything is so damn good. If I had to pick one "restaurant," it's a dive called The Candlelight Inn in Scarsdale, NY, where I grew up. Best damn wings anywhere near NYC. Order the hot teriyaki extra wet, extra sloppy. THE DREAM.
Adam Dadson
@adam_dadson
Hello! So what has gone differently than planned in launching The Infatuation? Sometimes surprises yield the best results.
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Chris Stang
@houseofstang · Co-Founder & CEO, The Infatuation
@adam_dadson we were pretty excited about Text Rex last May when we launched it, but if I told you that I knew day one it would be as big as it has been in NY, I would be lying. We sort of looked at Text Rex like an interesting experiment, but it was immediately clear once we launched that it was going to be very important for us. That was a nice surprise.
Kelsey
@kelseyjensen · J. Crew
How many times do you eat somewhere before you do a review? Also curious how you decide what to order and if you try to try everything on the menu.
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@kelseyjensen what up kelsey. re: how many times you eat before we review. All depends. Sometimes its only once, if we go with a big enough group, sample enough of the menu and generally feel like we "get it" if you know what I mean. Other times, we'll go four or five times if it's a spot that has great brunch and lunch and dinner and a huge menu. We over order. A lot. We try and go with a nice amount of people so we can all share and sample a bunch of stuff. Want to come on one of our next dinner excursions?
Kelsey
@kelseyjensen · J. Crew
@schmooey Yes, please! I'm still convinced I'm a spokesperson for Infatuation for how much I talk about it! I'm a little (a lot) obsessed! :)
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Andrew Steinthal
@schmooey · Co-Founder/Partnerships, The Infatuation
@kelseyjensen LETS DO IT, email me: steinthal@theinfatuation.com Just saying J Crew x Infatuation partnership would be 🔥