This Week in Startups

E1026: Cocoon Co-Founders Sachin Monga & Alex Cornell are building an intimate app to connect close circles, share insights on key standout features, raising money as a messaging app, breeding trust via strong domain names, ideal customers & more

Feb 7, 2020

Sachin Monga, Co-founder and CEO of Cocoon, teamed up with Alex Cornell, its designer and former Facebook Live team member, to create a private social networking app. They discuss their motivation for building an intimate platform amid privacy concerns in social media. The duo shares insights on the importance of a strong domain name for trust, the challenges of competing with giants, and their unique ad-free monetization model. Innovative features like virtual acknowledgments aim to deepen friendships, showing their commitment to fostering authentic connections.

55:30

Creator website

Episode guests

Sachin Monga

Alex Cornell

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

6min

Nostalgia and Challenges in Facebook's Evolution

4min

Creating Connections with Cocoon

8min

Building an Ad-Free Intimate Messaging Space

8min

Innovative Connections in the Digital Age

5min

Navigating the Messaging App Challenge

8min

Efficiency in App Development with Small Teams

4min

Investing in Tech Startups

7min

Finding Developer Product Fit

5min

0:57 Jason intros Alex & Sachin
4:46 When and why did they start Cocoon?
6:40 Why did Facebook keep changing their developer tools platform?
9:22 What is the vision for Cocoon and who is it made for?
14:58 How did they get the cocoon.com domain name and why do strong domain names breed trust?
16:57 What are they doing with customer data and how will they monetize?
20:20 Cocoon demo and Alex takes us through some key features
29:45 How difficult was raising money going up against Facebook, iMessage, etc.?
33:04 Who is their ideal customer?
38:35 Building a company in San Francisco vs. outside of it
41:57 Jason tries to invest in Cocoon live on air
47:45 Growing Cocoon in the crowded app store
51:51 Why do Cocoon founders use Notion?
54:37 Jason calls Ben Horowitz

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