The best way to create real, authentic connections is by going on real dates with real people. When you can look into someone’s eyes, see their smile, and hear their voice, the spark is obvious.
Teleport is the new way to date — an online event where you meet your people on video from the comfort of your own home. We are making dating online feel real, exciting, and meaningful. In a world fueled by mindless swiping, endless scrolling, and directionless texting, we’re bringing people back to their roots. We may be more connected than ever, but we are the most socially isolated that humans have ever been. We are leading a cultural revolution where our behavior online is just as intentional and serendipitous as our experiences in real life.
The telephone totally revolutionized the way we could communicate with people all over the world. But then came email and took it to the next level. And then came text messaging. And then came video calls. And so on…What’s next? What’s just around the corner?
In this interview series, called ‘The Future Of Communication Technology’ we are interviewing leaders of tech or telecom companies who are helping to develop emerging communication technologies and the next generation of how we communicate and connect with each other.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chad Goodman.
Chad is a consumer technology entrepreneur who is building an online world that lets you live in the moment. Over the past six years, Chad has focused exclusively on evolving communication, dating, and breaking the perpetual cycle of mindless, habitual apps. His products have connected over 30,000 daters with the people they’re looking for. His new product Teleport is in private beta, so the number of connections is growing exponentially.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Ofcourse, thanks for having me.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved building tools to solve problems. In fact, my childhood bedroom is still littered with solutions for trivial problems. However, it only clicked in University that building products for others could be something I devoted my life to. In 2015 I spent months in the engineering library on campus learning and building my first project — a POS device that operated like Amazon GO. When I successfully completed the prototype it became clear that I could build anything. When I learned that, I was never the same again.
The next year [and a few projects later] I became obsessed with the relationship between communication and attraction. I was fascinated by how language is the most evolved form of communication, yet we are terrible at using it to communicate the most important emotions.
I decided to learn how to design and code to bring my innovations to life. Six years later, and that’s single handedly the best decision I have ever made.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The first iOS app I built was a dating app exclusively for college. We believed that people in highly social environments already knew exactly who they were interested in, but communicating that was near impossible. My co-founder Michael Ding and I spent two years living on the campus of our pilot school, building, learning, and iterating with our users.
When we released our fourth and final version of the product, it immediately took off. In a matter of days more than 70% of our pilot school had downloaded the app and was using it more than 20 times per day. People loved what we built — it was intoxicating. However, after a few weeks, Facebook shut off our access to their friend graph API, which our relevancy algorithm was perfectly reliant on. In a matter of hours our product was unusable, and a few weeks later Facebook launched an exact replica of our product.
The lesson was loud and clear — never build a company that’s reliant on any other entity.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right.” — Confucius
I’ve always believed that there’s nothing I can’t do. However, while you’re trying to do something against the grain, it takes an insane amount of perseverance, passion, and stubbornness to filter out the negativity of those around you. Most people will make it clear that they don’t believe that you can pull it off. But, when you realize that they’re just empathizing and projecting, it becomes simple to listen to your inner voice.
If you genuinely believe that you can do something, then it’s not if, it’s when.
You must be hungry and foolish to truly push the world forward.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It’s really important to acknowledge my privilege. Not only was I born into a family of entrepreneurs who understand risk, but also to a family that can support my risk. I was given the opportunity to forgo a paying job after I graduated to focus on starting a business. Without my parents’ support, I’m not sure I would have had the opportunity to learn how to code, design, and experiment this early in my career. This is why I am so driven to use the gifts I have been given to create technological solutions that uplift and evolve humanity.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I believe that generational positivity, progress, and happiness are a result of delightful innovation. If you devote your time to solving the world’s most urgent problems, then you will inherently inspire change. With that said, success is about bringing goodness to the world. It’s about solving ubiquitous problems and dramatically evolving our quality of life.
Love is at the heart of all positive change, yet modern dating is dehumanizing. Traditional dating apps are mindless, objectifying, addictive, and out of touch with reality. The internet was supposed to be this place that connected us, but somewhere along the way we lost touch. We are recreating what it means to “date online” by focussing on the authenticity of a real, face-to-face romantic encounter.
Ok wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about the cutting edge communication tech that you are working on with Teleport? How do you think that will help people?
The best way to create real, authentic connections is by going on real dates with real people. When you can look into someone’s eyes, see their smile, and hear their voice, the spark is obvious.
Teleport is the new way to date — an online event where you meet your people on video from the comfort of your own home. We are making dating online feel real, exciting, and meaningful.
In a world fueled by mindless swiping, endless scrolling, and directionless texting, we’re bringing people back to their roots. We may be more connected than ever, but we are the most socially isolated that humans have ever been. We are leading a cultural revolution where our behaviour online is just as intentional and serendipitous as our experiences in real life.
How do you think this might change the world?
Your online social life is inherently anti-social. It is designed to engage you with the people you already know, not connect you with the people you want to know.
Imagine if the people you were looking to meet were a click away. Imagine if that encounter felt as real and spontaneous as in person. Imagine a dating experience online that is just as real, exciting, and meaningful as meeting someone in person. No swipes. No catfishing.
This is what will make Teleport the best way to meet your people. With just a simple video chat, an incredible experience, and the right people, we’re already lightyears ahead of swiping and scrolling.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
I love that you asked this question. Our team talked quite a lot about the dystopian technological future of dating, however, we think we’re already living in it. What a horrifying reality. We spend so much time swiping mindlessly for the dopamine rush of a “match”, and rarely ever connect beyond a “hey”.
That’s why we decided to completely redesign the dating “app” and step away from the traditional user interface. Teleport is not a dating “app”. We don’t do “matches”. We don’t do “swiping”. We do real, authentic, face-to-face connections and conversations — our technology is a stepping stone that gets you that much closer to the actual in-person meet.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
Teleport has built-in distribution. Our dating events are hosted by the best marketers in the world: communities, influencers, and brands. By creating an exclusive event for their community, they are bringing together the exact people who want to meet each other.
Our distribution model allows us to stay focused on building a phenomenal dater experience. With a simplified, yet fun product, availability on all app stores, and an incentivized group of hosts, we will quickly become the new standard in meeting new people.
The pandemic has changed so many things about the way we behave. One of them of course, is how we work and how we communicate in our work. How do you think your innovation might be able to address the new needs that have arisen as a result of the pandemic?
The high majority of your social encounters are now online. They lack depth and authenticity because they were designed for a different world. While professional communication was forced to adapt immediately, social environments can’t be evolved as simply.
Now that the world has experienced the power of live video, there’s no going back. You stay in touch with your friend who lives across town, your parents who live in a different state, and work closely with colleagues in a different time zone. The days are gone where you’d trek downtown to spend time with a complete stranger, when you know in the first minute if you even want to be there.
The pandemic proved that video is the best way to have a first encounter. In fact, we don’t even call it a “Zoom Meeting” anymore, but rather, just a “Meeting”.
Teleport will bridge the gap between the offline and online ways we socialize. We make it possible to build real, meaningful relationships in a new and exciting way.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Hire people who are 10x better than you at the job. An inexpensive hire is more expensive than top talent. You don’t hire talented people to tell them what to do. You hire talented people for them to tell you what to do.
- Consumer software is a zero-sum game. Your product needs to have an inherent moat and a plan to put competitors out of business.
- Human behaviour and social dynamics don’t change, they adapt. When building a new product, don’t force a behaviour that doesn’t already exist.
- Customers don’t know what they want — that’s your job! Instead of asking customers what they’d like to see in the future, ask what they’d like removed.
- Early on, partner with creators, not investors. You need to surround yourself with people who have succeeded at bringing a company from 0 to 1. These people will dramatically improve your odds of success.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Live in the moment and be present. Stop swiping. Stop scrolling. Stop clicking mindlessly. The best experiences are fun, exciting, and make you feel full of life. The future of consumer software is more intentional. A social life online that feels as real and authentic as being in person.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow me on Twitter @ChadGoodman. For those of you reading who want to host or experience an entirely new (yet familiar) way to date online, you can check us out at www.teleport.co, and follow us on all social platforms at @teleportdates.
Thank you so much for the time you spent doing this interview. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success.
About The Interviewer: David Liu is the founder and CEO of Deltapath, an award-winning unified communications company that liberates organizations from the barriers of effective communication. Liu is known for his visionary leadership, organic growth strategies, and future-forward technology. Liu is highly committed to achieving a greater purpose with technology. Liu’s business insights are regularly featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Tech Crunch, and more.