Meerkat

Associated With

Ben Rubin and a cofounder identified as Itai; corporate name not established in the retained records - associated person

Defining Feature

One-tap mobile livestreams automatically announced through Twitter

Status

Discontinued - The team decided to pivot away from Meerkat four months after launch

Overview

Meerkat launched in February 2015 as a mobile app for broadcasting live video through Twitter.

Every stream was automatically tweeted to the user’s followers, while comments, re-streams and likes were connected to Twitter interactions. After setup, another live broadcast could begin with one tap.

Greylock documented its investment in March 2015. Ben Rubin later said weak broadcaster retention led the team to decide on a pivot four months after launch.

Why It Mattered

Meerkat made mobile livestreaming unusually direct by connecting one-tap broadcasts to an existing Twitter audience. Its short path from launch to pivot also showed the vulnerability of a service whose distribution and interactions were closely tied to another platform.

One-Tap Broadcast Flow

• A new user could sign up and begin a live stream in two taps.
• After setup, starting another live stream took one tap.

Twitter-Linked Interaction

• Every Meerkat stream was automatically tweeted.
• Comments, re-streams and likes were designed around Twitter replies, retweets and favourites.

Launch, Investment and Pivot

• Meerkat launched in February 2015.
• Greylock publicly documented its investment in the live-video company in March 2015.
• Ben Rubin said weak broadcaster retention led the team to decide on a pivot four months after launch.

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