Few apps have instantly captured the hearts, minds and eye-rolls of the tech scene like Meerkat. And to think Ben Rubin was building something else. The CEO of Life On Air was working on a private live-streaming app for groups of friends when Meerkat’s public streaming app suddenly took off. Without hesitation, he reassigned his 10-person team to Meerkat, and now its little “LIVE NOW” links are taking over Twitter.
In May, Rubin will join us for a chat at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, his first major onstage talk since his app took off.
We’ll ask Rubin about how to blow up on Product Hunt, pivoting a rocket ship in mid-flight, and whether live-streaming is just a fad. He’ll give fellow entrepreneurs insights about re-prioritizing projects and features in response to customer demand.
And of course, we’ll discuss the dark cloud on the horizon. Twitter has acquired, but not yet launched, a Meerkat competitor called Periscope. That doesn’t bode well for Rubin’s product, which is built entirely on Twitter. What will Meerkat do? How will it compete with a native Twitter product?
And luckily, since all of Disrupt is live-streamed on TechCrunch, Rubin won’t have to hold his phone up the whole time.
Rubin joins our speaker list that’s packed with notable founders and successful investors. Many more will be announced in the weeks leading up to Disrupt NY.
Disrupt NY will take place May 4-6 at the Manhattan Center. General admission tickets are currently available at an early-bird discount rate. Startups can also register to exhibit in Startup Alley.
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