Path CEO Dave Morin On Building A “Personal” Social Network For Mobile Devices

At the time that Path was first introduced as a new social network for mobile devices, there were already many options for connecting with friends, family, and coworkers. So why build another? Path CEO and co-founder Dave Morin told me in an interview backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt that he and his cofounders were looking for ways to connect users closest to one another — and building for mobile was the best way to do that.

“If you look at how people use mobile phones… You really don’t have that many people on your favorites list,” Morin said. “We looked at mobile as this medium which people use to communicate and manage and maintain the relationships of the people that are closest to them.” As a result, one of the reasons Path took the strategy it did was to focus on the people who are family or very close.

With that close-knit community focus, Path tries to solve a different problem than other social networks. Morin said that previously, there was no good way to share thoughts or photos with those closest to you, except through SMS and email. “Our competition isn’t what anyone else is doing in the social networking world, it’s actually SMS and email,” Morin told me. “We’re going and creating a better experience for sharing these important moments of your life.”

“We like to call Path a personal network,” Morin said. “What would you expect in your home? What would you expect in your personal life? A lot of the types of content we allow people to share has direct impact on people’s personal lives.” Morin noted that when people go to sleep or wake up is something that their significant others would know about. And if you go to a lot of movies or restaurants, that’s the type of information you would share with your closest friends.

For more, check out the video above.