Early in my career, I worked for IAC, the company behind match.com, where we were trying to revolutionise the way people met, connected and fell in love using the internet. At the time, it was a bold, slightly surreal mission: using algorithms to predict compatibility and connection in something as deeply personal as love. But today as much as 60% of people start their relationships online.
Behind the scenes, we weren’t just innovating relationships, we were pioneering ways of doing business. One of the core innovations that emerged from this period was the concept of Lifetime Value models (LTV for short). These models would predict how much a customer was worth to a company over time. You’d calculate the cost of acquiring a customer, figure out how to convert them into a paying user, then use algorithms to determine how to keep them. Today, this is foundational in how internet businesses operate. Crucially, it shaped my worldview.
