With friend and co-founder Alex Mehr, Shayan Zadeh came to US from Iran at a time when both countries had no diplomatic relations or direct flights. They went on to study computer science, work at NASA and Microsoft, and start Zoosk –&nbsp;an Inc 5000 dating platform that went on to exit for $250 million.&nbsp;

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Shayan about:
• Coming to US as a founder
• Generating and filtering startup ideas
• Weathering a storm vs. Beating a dead&nbsp;horse
• Early days of Zoosk and key pivot
• Why have two CEOs at a startup?
• Cancelling an IPO

Shayan Zadeh is currently the CEO of <a href="https://dressbarn.com/">DressBarn</a>.

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Andrew Vasylyk

Shayan Zadeh, founder of Zoosk: $250 million sale to Spark Networks

With friend and co-founder Alex Mehr, Shayan Zadeh came to US from Iran at a time when both countries had no diplomatic relations or direct flights. They went on to study computer science, work at NASA and Microsoft, and start Zoosk –&nbsp;an Inc 5000 dating platform that went on to exit for $250 million.&nbsp; On [&hellip;]

Startup Exits Episode #18

Shayan Zadeh, founder of Zoosk: $250 million sale to Spark Networks