Sam Yagan

“Your goal in an online dating profile and in your first message to somebody is to strike up a conversation.”

“I don't have the looks to compete at a bar, and I'm not that funny. So the last thing I want is to be in a situation where that's what I'm competing on. I'd rather be on OkCupid or Match, where I can write a 300-word essay about myself that's really good.”

“We've learned a bunch of things; when you send a message to people, keep those messages short. Imagine walking up to a girl in a bar and going into a four-minute speech about how great you are. No one wants to hear that.”

“Immigration is the ultimate entrepreneurship.”

“One thing matters more than anything else for a dating product, and that is the quantity and quality of the people who use the product. It's really freaking hard to get critical mass.”

“I hated meeting people at bars when I was single because it's all about the looks and the funny line.”

“I have never written a line of commercial code in my life. Nor should I.”

“In dating, the question is how many Tinder knockoffs are we going to have, and are any of them going to take off?”

“I'm 34 years old. In most jobs, your early 30s to early 40s are your power years.”

“I get to be the nosiest friend or acquaintance that anyone has because it's - my job is to ask you about your dating life all the time.”

“OkCupid has users from 18 to 80 on the site. And we get to observe all of their actions. We get to watch how they use the site, how they interact with other people.”