Beep..... Taylor,
So I'm stood here on the side of the Lake of the Bays in Muskoka in Canada with lots of my immediate family which is always good to recenter in some ways and throw everything out in other ways.
Thank you for your voice note, for your voicemail, I chose to do this as the last thing of my week as a point to counter the beginning of the week and I cannot believe how much has happened since you left me that voicemail.
I don't know if it's 12, 13, 14, 15 conversations that we've had with groovers, new groovers, existing groovers, pro-groovers, but I feel very grateful that as we're moving into this new phase of Groove, this new product that we're imagining and as we're figuring out what is going to come from the old product into the new one, that dialogue with groovers is the richest source of insight to make sure that we're on the right path and seeing the emergent clarity is just really energising.
So firstly I'll just share things that I'm very alive about, find very alive, I think that the metaphor that emerged this week of checking in at the co-working space and instead of sitting down at a specific table, but being visible that you're in the space, that other people can see you and that you're here, like you're here with a mindset to work and you want to get on with things, really opens up a shift to take a lot of the pressure off of starting a groove or even joining a groove that maybe I don't know who those people are.
We've had a lot of feedback over a very long period of time that the easiest way to say it is that Groove becomes a bit too chat roulette-esque and I think this is a big step, fundamentally a big step in the right direction to create a possibility of an interaction that feels very different, that feels much more natural, that allows the coordination around the groove to happen much more seamlessly as we re-centre chats and how people connect.
So that emergent thing that came out of the insights and then came out of the conversations was really, it's just leaving me really excited and I think that's a lead-in to what is the biggest thing that is alive for me right now and it's funny because I think about our voicemails and they're all touching on some similar theme but as we look to launch a new version of Groove this year, we've been taking steps over time to make Groove more and more social but how do we ensure that we're positioning Groove and people see Groove and perceive Groove truly as a social product, a social product not a social media platform.
How are we making sure that it's not old social, that we're learning from social and not that it's even new social but it doesn't propagate values or principles or ways of playing with a product that are not supportive of people thriving and these kind of new emergent insights, checking in, the fact that the product is going to feel way more focused on discovery and fostering relationships than it ever has been and making sure that we really set people up for success and that promise of surrounding yourself with people that light you up every day, that is just really exciting and I have a little bit of a concern that we're going to, are we going to go far enough, are we going to truly listen to the insights in a deep enough way or are we going to stay too connected to what Groove currently is to allow us to take the steps that we need to move forward and I think and I hope
I'm excited to see you next week in person in New York and as we reimagine the launch of this new version of Groove, that we're being really mindful of that, that we're not being bound by anything that currently is but we're really allowing ourselves to lean into what can be and that we're building this next version of Groove based on all of the learnt insights up until now and going from there and I'm just, I'm energised because it feels like we now have a possibility as we sort of set ourselves a goal that this week we're going to have clarity around what is the, what exactly is this first version of Groove, first version of the new version of Groove and exactly when are we going to launch it and as we drive towards the momentum of that, we're starting to build something new.
This is really a new Groove, this is really a new business, this is really a new opportunity to move quickly, to learn and to make sure that the simplest version of the product that we can get out to deliver on what people are really asking for, we can make happen as quickly as possible.
I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you in person next week. Look forward to continuing in this unfolding and rapid process.