Zenly's Antoine Martin on Next-Level Location Sharing at Disrupt London 2016 | Summary and Q&A

Transcript

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Summary

In this video, Antwon Martin from Zenlea discusses their location-sharing app, Zenlea, and why it stands out among other similar apps. He explains how Zenlea has overcome technical challenges and adapted to changing user privacy concerns. Antwon also talks about the app's primary user base of teens and other potential use cases. Additionally, he shares insights on Zenlea's fundraising journey and their plans for future growth.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is Zenlea and how does it differ from other location-sharing apps?

Zenlea is a location-sharing app that allows users to share their location with friends in real time. It goes beyond traditional check-ins by providing a more seamless and convenient way to meet up with friends.

Q: How does Zenlea compare to other popular location-sharing apps like Foursquare and Swarm?

While Foursquare and Swarm have been popular in the past, Zenlea differentiates itself by offering a more efficient and effective way to share location. The app has overcome technical limitations and privacy concerns to provide a superior user experience.

Q: What were the main barriers Zenlea faced in creating their location-sharing app?

Zenlea's main challenges included technical limitations and user privacy concerns. In the past, it was difficult for devices to continuously share location without draining the battery. Zenlea has spent years working with experts in low-level technologies to overcome this obstacle. They have also adapted to evolving user privacy preferences.

Q: How has Zenlea evolved over time and what was their previous project called Alertus?

Zenlea started its journey five years ago with the vision of continuous location sharing. However, they initially focused on safety-related use cases with their previous project, Alertus. They used this project to learn more about the technology and user behavior, ultimately leading to the development of Zenlea.

Q: Why do teens make up the dominant user base for Zenlea?

Teens are drawn to Zenlea for several reasons. Unlike older generations, they are less concerned about privacy and more willing to share their location with friends. Additionally, teens see utility and benefits in services that disrupt their culture. Sharing location with friends is seen as a positive and useful feature by teens.

Q: What are some potential use cases for Zenlea besides meeting up with friends?

Zenlea has various use cases, such as ensuring you are present for events and parties, easily finding the location of a particular place, and capturing real-time moments. The app provides an accurate reflection of what people are actually doing at any given time.

Q: How does Zenlea address the concerns of parents who may be worried about their teen sharing their location?

Zenlea allows users to choose who they want to share their location with and provides options to hide from certain individuals. Parents can also be involved in their teen's network by seeing who is in it and monitoring their child's location-sharing.

Q: Has Zenlea spent money on marketing to attract new users?

Zenlea has primarily relied on organic growth and word-of-mouth to attract new users. They have experimented with some marketing strategies recently but believe that producing core value and driving user engagement is the most effective way to grow organically.

Q: How did Zenlea manage to raise such significant funding?

Zenlea's fundraising journey involved building credibility over time. They initially raised a small Series II round with leading VCs in France. This allowed them to push their vision further and gain the attention of prominent investors such as Peter Fenton from Benchmark and Jerry Murdoch. Both investors saw the potential behind Zenlea's technology and were eager to be part of the project.

Q: How does Zenlea plan to go from 2 million to 200 million downloads in the next few years?

Zenlea's main focus is on user engagement to create word-of-mouth and virality. By delivering core value and enhancing the user experience, they aim to make Zenlea one of the most frequently opened and indispensable apps for users. The goal is to infiltrate users' networks and become one of the top 10 most important apps.

Takeaways

Zenlea aims to revolutionize location-sharing by providing a seamless and efficient way for users to share their location in real time with friends. They have overcome technical and privacy barriers to create a superior user experience. Zenlea's primary user base consists of teens who are more open to sharing their location and see the utility in the service. The app has various use cases, including meeting up with friends and ensuring users are present at events. Zenlea has successfully raised significant funding from notable investors and plans to continue growing organically through user engagement and delivering core value. Their ultimate goal is to become a widely-used social app with billions of users.