How textPlus is attacking the phone stack and why 25,000,000 downloads is just the start – with co-founder Scott Lahman
December 15, 2011 
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On first pass textPlus could be misconstrued as a simple SMS or group texting alternative – that has been downloaded over 25 million times. Once you take a look the team behind the company you quickly realize this isn’t your average company chasing the average outcome.
Scott Lahman and his team at textPlus have already proven themselves as a founding team having sold their mobile game company JAMDAT to EA for $680 million in 2006. That same team is now attacking the phone stack with textPlus – with text and now voice services.
This great conversation with Scott covers his vision for textPlus, how they are working to make communications seamless for the consumer, why they are attacking the stack instead of building on top of it, what the transition was for him from a product to sponsorship revenue model and where he sees the disruption happening in his space.
Enjoy!
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About Scott Lahman
Scott is Founder and CEO of GOGII, Inc. GOGII’s mission is “freeing communication, and its flagship product, textPlus, has been downloaded almost 25 million times on Android and iOS alone.
In March 2000, Scott Founded JAMDAT Mobile with Austin Murray and
Zachary Norman. JAMDAT Mobile had a successful IPO in 2004 and was eventually
sold to Electronic Arts for $680 million in February 2006. Scott served as JAMDAT’s
President, and built a worldwide, industry leading deployment and studio operation capable of releasing tens of thousands of versions of its software on a monthly basis.
Prior to founding JAMDAT, Scott joined Activision in 1994 as one of the first several dozen employees of Bobby Kotick’s restart. At Activision, Scott served in a variety of roles and was elevated to Vice President, Studios in 1997 where he ran Activision’s largest internal studio. As a corporate officer, Scott was on Activision’s M&A team responsible for integrating multiple acquisitions as well as representing the company in outward corporate sales.
Scott began his career in the film and television industry, most notably as a development
executive for Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, Scott was part of the founding team for Tribeca Interactive – which became the bridge to Activision and a career change to tech.
Scott holds a BA
from Columbia University
Scott lives in Venice Beach with his wife and two children and spends free time with them pursuing a variety of “ings.” These include traveling, fishing, cycling, hiking, swimming, skiing, reading and surfing (web only).
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