Youlike

What did it do?

Youlike, a Turkish start-up, was a platform that matched users according to their tastes. Users shared what they liked and disliked across around 2,000 items in six categories, and the site scored the compatibility between two people and suggested conversation topics and date ideas. It started out as a dating site and then turned towards being a social network.

Why did it shut down?

In autumn 2014 Youlike announced in a short note on its website that its services had ended and that arrangements had been put in motion for its paying members, but it gave no reason. According to a 2016 round-up by Turkishtime, the start-up was set up as a dating site, then changed strategy and tried to carry on as a social network, overhauled its design substantially and gave up after a while. The lesson the round-up drew was the importance of setting up a start-up correctly from the outset. The Internet Archive shows that, just before it closed, the site was once again being presented as a dating site; this back-and-forth suggests that the question of whom the product served was never settled. This is an interpretation.

The story

In 2012 Ersan Özer, one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the Turkish internet, lifted the curtain on the new project he had long been preparing at Startup'12, the conference run by Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site. According to Webrazzi, the project had long been conceived under the name Sosyo.com before settling on Youlike. The co-founders were Ersan Özer, Can Karatoprak and Levent Gültan; investors included Burak Divanlıoğlu and Serkan Borançılı, co-founders of the Turkish marketplace GittiGidiyor, along with Aydonat Atasever. Webrazzi reported that $100,000 had been paid in 2012 for the domain names youlike.com and ulike.com.

The idea was simple: match people according to the things they love and loathe. As Webrazzi described it, Youlike calculated a compatibility score across around 2,000 items in six categories, ranging from familiar habits such as watching films to local tastes in music. The site even suggested to two people what they might talk about and where they might go and eat. According to Turkishtime's 2016 round-up, the company was founded with 300,000 lira in capital, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French versions were prepared, and an office was opened in Istanbul.

Youlike opened to users in July 2012. A new version arrived in December 2012, and Webrazzi wrote that the real change was one of strategy: having set out as a dating site, Youlike wanted to become a social network with real-name membership and personal addresses. Ersan Özer said the dating-site feel had gone entirely.

The search for direction did not end there. In an Internet Archive capture dated September 2014, Youlike was once again presenting itself as the most innovative dating site. Just a few weeks later, in a capture from October 2014, a single note remained on the home page: Youlike's services had ended, users were thanked for their interest, and the necessary arrangements had been put in motion for paying members. The note stayed on the domain for years.

Turkishtime's round-up wrote that the team gave up after the switch from dating site to social network and major changes to the design. Youlike's story shows that, even with an experienced team and strong investors, it is hard to build a lasting community before it is clear whom the product serves and why. This is an interpretation.

Lessons for founders

• Changing your positioning before you are clear about which need the product meets wears out both users and the team.
• An expensive domain name and an ambitious launch do not give users a reason to come back to the product.
• Dating and social network products live on network effects; going global before reaching density in a particular city or community can be risky.

Sources

1. youlike.com closure notice, Internet Archive capture (Internet Archive, 2014-10-18)
2. 50 failed start-ups and 50 lessons from their mistakes (15-30) (Turkishtime, 2016-05-06)
3. Ersan Özer unveils his new start-up Youlike - Webrazzi Startup'12 (Webrazzi, 2012-05-15)
4. YouLike moves closer to a social network with its new version (Webrazzi, 2012-12-26)
5. youlike.com home page, Internet Archive capture (Internet Archive, 2014-09-29)

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