Social media networks like Facebook and Instagram have typically focused on giving people that already know each other a space to connect virtually. But what about connecting with new people that could be your friend but you’ve never had the chance to meet? Enter Wizz.
Wizz is a social media discovery app that’s created a space for 13 to 21-year-olds to meet and connect with people that have similar interests as them around the globe. For teens especially, finding a community and connecting with new people can be hard and results in loneliness for many. Wizz, born out of mobile gaming company Voodoo, was created to be a safe space where teens could be themselves and find people like them to build deep connections with. Now, the company has exceeded 16 million users in 25 countries.
Pulse 2.0 interviewed Wizz CEO Aymeric Roffé to learn more about how the company created this safe and positive community that helps teens ‘find their people.’
Aymeric Roffé’s Background
Roffé started coding when he was 14, and it quickly became all he wanted to do. And Roffé said:
“I couldn’t think about anything else, so I ended up dropping out of school and starting an adtech company at a very young age.”
“About five years later, I sold the company to mobile game maker Voodoo and joined Voodoo full-time. I ultimately became CTO and worked with Voodoo’s CEO, to scale the tech team, among other things. We grew the tech team by more than 5x in the first year, and today, we’re at 750 people.”
“After that work, I started feeling the same sort of creative energy that I felt in high school. That launched the journey that ultimately landed me at Wizz, where I am today.”
Formation Of Wizz
How did the idea for Wizz come together? Roffé shared:
“After growing the tech team at Voodoo, I wanted to be back in the trenches building and growing a tech venture. I’m a coder first and foremost.”
“I spoke with Voodoo’s CEO, and he got it. He gave me good advice to start speaking to different people and teams to figure out where I could make an impact. Fortunately, I had the good sense to take this advice.”
“I stumbled upon a group of three developers who were working on an app called Wizz. It had started as an internal hackathon project but had never fully come to fruition because it wasn’t part of the company’s core gaming portfolio. Even though management had stepped away from the project, the developers were determined to keep working on it.”
“The way they described it, it wasn’t a social network. It was more a place where teenagers could discover new friends and connect with people like them, but without the social fears or constraints that they have in real life. Imagine being in high school–but without the social anxiety or self-doubt. That was Wizz.”
“Their passion and vision was contagious. I immediately knew I wanted to join them on their journey. I began working directly with the team on everything from design, user research, and product-market fit.”
“Today, we’re an 18-person team, and we have more than 16 million users around the world.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Roffé shared:
“There’s not one specific memory that comes to mind. Every day is somewhat of an experiment.”
“At any given moment, we’re trying out new things: games, graphics, one-on-one chats, group chats, comments, video, interfaces, profile photo variations–you name it. The features that we test–and keep–in the app are heavily dependent on our users.”
“We regularly talk to our audience, and teens generally, to understand how they think. We’ll host in-person focus groups and frequently collect feedback through the app. This helps us uncover what’s working and what’s not and discover new user trends on the app. For example, we recently discovered a trend among users covering their profile photos–to make a point about not wanting to be discovered on looks alone.”
“One unexpected side effect that we’ve now completely embraced is the impact we’re making on teens’ lives every day. We’ve heard from our users that Wizz is helping them to overcome social anxiety, become more confident, find new friends who share their same interests and hobbies and more. It’s inspiring when you see first-hand that what you’ve built is making a difference in people’s lives.”
“Some of my favorite feedback from users include:
— ‘Wizz has allowed me to step outside my comfort zone and interact with people around my age group which i find really fun.’
— ‘I had nobody to hang out with since i moved away but now i can find people that live near me and make new friends.’
— ‘I’ve met some great people on here and they make me happy giving me a great confidence boost each day.’
— ‘Wizz helps me with a lot such as me loving myself more, and making new bonds.’
— ‘Found my literal best friend on this app, so thankful for this. we have literally been inseparable and i love her sm.’”
Core Products
What are Wizz’s core products and features? Roffé explained:
“We’re a social discovery app, which means that our focus is on connecting people that would likely never have the chance to meet otherwise. This is different from your typical social networking app, which is primarily focused on engaging with people you already know in real life, but online.”
“We decided early on that Wizz would only connect people who are both live on the app at the same time. This is an important distinction between Wizz and other social apps, as it encourages immediate interactions instead of delayed responses or one-way conversations.”
“We also emphasize a user experience that not only connects people and keeps them entertained but one that makes them feel good when using the app. Unlike other social media apps, Wizz doesn’t offer likes or any other form of rankings. This allows users to make friends in a pressure-free space that prioritizes meaningful connections over creating content that’s quantifiable by others.”
“We also aim to remove any offensive or inappropriate content and behaviors before users see it. To do this, we work with AI moderation technologies Besedo and Sight Engine, which flag and disable offending content before it’s distributed. And Wizz doesn’t only ban offensive content–it bans the users responsible for posting it, too. Our belief is that it’s better to be too aggressive when it comes to content moderation than not aggressive enough.”
Evolution Of Wizz
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Roffé noted:
“We take a very, I guess you could say, unorthodox approach to iteration and introducing new features.”
“A lot of apps have millions of features so that they can make sure they have something for everyone. We’re the complete opposite.”
“We want to have minimal features that everyone wants to use–and none that only few people like. We are constantly testing out new things and keeping only the ones that are driving engagement. If it’s not something users are excited about, it doesn’t belong in our app.”
“We start by releasing new features to subsets of users. If users respond positively to them, we’ll release the features wider. But, if it’s not working, we’ll change the feature or drop it completely. We’ll make these decisions very quickly.”
“We’re especially proud of the strides we’ve made in using AI for content moderation and age verification in the Wizz app. These are more foundational features that improve the overall experience by making users feel comfortable to express themselves and communicate with others in a safe and secure space.”
“Our priority first and foremost is our users–and we look at everything through the lens of their engagement and building a community they want to be a part of.”
Challenges Faced
Has Roffé faced any specific bottlenecks in his sector of work recently? Roffé acknowledged:
“It comes with the territory, but anytime we move into a new geographic market, we face new regulations and a completely new audience with different preferences and sensibilities. It’s challenging to grow your business in one market, let alone 25 of them.”
“One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced with this has been our growth strategy in these new markets. We’ve quickly learned that what works to scale the app and reach our target audience in one country doesn’t necessarily translate (literally) in another. It’s been a trial and error process, but learning on the job is what has created the app’s success so we’re comfortable operating on the fly as we move into new areas.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Wizz’s most significant milestones? Roffé cited:
“Since our launch in 2019, Wizz has facilitated more than 10 billion conversations across our 16 million users.”
“We reached a new, very significant milestone last year. Our daily active users (DAU) hit 1.5 million.”
“We’re also continuing to expand our app into new geographic markets. Wizz was first available in France, and we’ve since moved into the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and 20 other countries. We have many more countries in the works as well.”
Revenue
After asking Roffé about revenue information, he revealed:
“We’ve experienced over 100% revenue growth YoY for four consecutive years, with our main revenue streams being in-app purchases and advertising. We expect to continue to increase this growth over the next year plus.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Roffé assessed:
“We find that when we focus on user experience, the market naturally finds us. Working this way has benefited us in terms of revenue, user adoption, and retention.”
“Our users are 13-21 years old, in over 25 countries. This current audience is part of the Gen Z generation and are digital natives or have grown up online and on social media. More than half of Gen Zers spend four or more hours on social media every single day, which means they spend more time engaging with these in-app purchases and advertising than the average person online.”
“Because of this, we think our total addressable market may be even larger than what the market is currently valued at.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Wizz from its competition? Roffé affirmed:
“At their core, most social media platforms are laser-focused on downloads, daily active users, user frequency, and time on the app, among other things. While these things will always be a priority for us, they take a back seat to our focus on our users.”
“We knew we wanted to incorporate users’ feedback into the app very early on. We decided to add a single survey question into the app, asking our users the open question, “What is your best experience using Wizz?” We started receiving user feedback from the thousands. This has since evolved to focus groups, longer-form surveys, and even pop-up events across cities. We have built–and continue to build–our app for our users.”
“Our app is not a place for people to simply socialize—it’s a place where people can “find their people” quickly and build friendships to combat the loneliness they feel. To do this, users need to feel like the app is a safe space for them to be themselves. For us, this means ensuring they’re not encountering offensive content or people and having only positive conversations.”
“It’s very important that, as part of this, we also pair users with others in their direct age group. Instead of just asking their age, as many social media apps do, we verify that users are the age they say they are with Yoti, an age estimation technology that accurately estimates a person’s age based on a selfie. This feature is put in place to make sure that users are connecting with real, like-minded, and similarly-aged individuals.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Roffé concluded:
“We’re expanding into new countries and growing our user base across different backgrounds and interests so that every user can continue to “find their people.” Our goal is to become a more mainstream product in every market–both the new ones we’re entering and those where we currently are.”
“And of course, we’ll continue testing and replacing features to create the engaging and positive experiences that Wizz users look for.”
