Adam Sachs is the co-founder and CEO of StepOut.com (erstwhile Ignighter.com), a group dating site based in NYC, aimed at changing the way that young people in India go out and meet new people. Before Ignighter, Adam studied Radio/TV/Film at Northwestern University and then went on to work at Sony Pictures Television. In an exclusive interview with India Digital Review, Adam Sachs describes the story behind the recent rebranding and the company’s way forward.

Ignighter entered India in early 2011 and rebranded to StepOut in January 2012. What is the specific objective behind rebranding the property?

The objective behind the rebrand was to more closely align our brand and positioning with the Indian market. We'd been successful in India with the old brand, Ignighter, but that was unanticipated success. We knew that if we optimized the brand for the local market, we could do even better. That proved to be true. Immediately upon launching the new brand, our conversion rate shot up 30%. Now almost 10 months later, it's up 80%.

We noticed that there has been a pivot to being an online meeting place from being an online dating platform. Any specific reasons behind that?

After seeing our initial success in the Indian market, we decided to do a deep dive into research. We did focus groups, online surveys, we studied usage patterns on the site. We learned a LOT about our users and potential users. One thing that we learned is that the term "dating" is not a term that resonates with young people in India. They don't say "I'm going on a date". They say "I'm going out with friends" or "I'm going out to meet new people".

What is StepOut’s funding status and plans?

We're venture funded, we've raised a few rounds of funding over the past four and a half years. We're now starting to think about what we want to do in terms of our next steps for financing.

What is your user base in India?

It's well over 4 million users and growing quickly.

Since signing-up for the service is now made free, what is your business model in India?

We've created a points based economy where users can buy or earn points (through various actions on the site) and then redeem those points for a variety of functions on the site including open ended communication with other users and promotion of their own profile for added exposure.

Besides offering premium features, what are the other revenue streams of StepOut in India?

We've partnered with some big brands and we'll be announcing those partnerships soon. That will be driving revenue. We also generate ad revenue.

What are your immediate priorities in the Indian market?

First and foremost we want to continue to be the best place for young adults in India to meet new people, have fun experiences and form real life relationships. More specifically, that will mean continuing to improve our user experience everyday and also making a big bet on mobile.

What are your thoughts on the social network market in India?

In terms of social networking, Facebook dominates the "connect and communicate with people you already know. StepOut is the leader in connecting with people you want to meet."

How big is the competition with Facebook here?

Our companies are very different and like I said above, we're distinguished by the user intent and user experience. Facebook is meant for connecting with those you already know. StepOut is meant for connecting with new people. I love Facebook and I use it all the time, but my grandparents are on Facebook. I don't want to mix my world of meeting new people with my grandparents!

How do you see brands in India take to social media marketing as of now?

To me it seems like brands make big bets on Facebook in India. Twitter as a powerful social medium still seems a little nascent in India. I think as Twitter becomes more popular here, it'll become a more common social media marketing tool. Content is a powerful weapon in the social media marketing arsenal. In order for social media to be effective, it needs to be a dialogue rather than a one-way blast of advertising messages. Without anything creative to share, it's difficult to create that dialogue. We've created, what I believe is a smart, snappy, progressive online magazine called the StepOut Scoop. We're already seeing men and women alike engaging with the articles, debating via the comments section, and sharing them with friends.