Finance Journey

INTRODUCTION: MTCH the parent company for a large number of successful dating apps e.g. Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, their growth has grinded to a halt recently with a very unique business model where the more successful/effective their product is the more subscribers they lose. Management has laid out several game plans such as increasing marketing spend, releasing higher priced tier e.g. HingeX and Price & Margin Optimization through removing introduction & discount pricing. REVENUE: The largest difficulty I faced when forecasting subscribers for MTCH is their unique business model. However, good dating apps are able to grow faster than their subscribers churn as the word of mouth advertisement and successful couples being a walking billboard for them are all a crucial part of the business model of MTCH. So, when creating a revenue model I was under the assumption that the churn isn’t to a significant amount. I believe it's much less accurate to try and forecast churn into ...

Introduction: DUOL is a freemium app that offers language learning in a gamified form. It is the largest language learning app by subscriber in the market and the only one which can be used almost entirely free. Management's path forward is well defined, releasing an additional tier that utilizes generative AI to personalize the learning experience and leveraging off any future AI development to help with their business. Management has identified 3 broad areas that they are working on (1) how well they teach, (2) how well they monetize and (3) how well they retain. Investment Thesis 1: Advantageous Business Model DUOL is free to use as compared to their competitors, this easy access to DUOL may be advantageous as 67% of people want their language learning app to be free ( SOURCE ). Their close competitors such as Rosetta Stone, Babbel and Busuu all require a monthly subscription. DUOL is currently the only language learning app to be able to offer their services for free (excluding...