May 2011

May 2011
Darrell Lerner

Q & A:

• What was your favorite class, who was your favorite professor, or what is your fondest memory of Hofstra?
  I enjoyed Business Drafting in law school because I felt it had practical applications to many things I would be working on in the future. A dozen years later, I have actively participated in drafting, modifying and reviewing many of the documents that comprised the class's curriculum.
• What was your first job after graduating from Hofstra, and what was the most valuable thing you learned there?
  After law school I founded an Internet sports company called Fantasy Sports Net. The company created online fantasy sports games for major media partners such as WFAN. The most valuable thing I learned was how to success in developing and running a start-up company. The experience I gained at Fantasy Sports Net provided me with a foundation for future success with SNAP Interactive, Inc.
• What is your field of specialty, and how did you come to work in the industry?
  I am the co-founder of SNAP Interactive, Inc., a leading social application provider. Our core brand, AreYouInterested.com, is one of the largest dating applications on Facebook. We are also publicly traded, and much of my focus is on the legal and administrative responsibilities within the company.
• What advice would you give current Hofstra students?
  The advice I would give to students is to learn programming! There is a shortage of quality programmers, and the demand is going to increase in the future. Knowing how to program opens up so many doors: from great job opportunities, to positioning yourself to open your own Internet start-up, as well as simply being able to build websites for fun. When going on job interviews, spend a few minutes researching the company you are visiting. If you speak intelligently about a company's business practices, it shows you are prepared and helps you stand out from other candidates.
• In one word, how would you describe Hofstra?
  Exciting.
• What gave you the idea to start this app?
  I have always been entrepreneurial, and in 2005 my brother and I founded SNAP Interactive, Inc. We both had previous experience with online dating sites and felt we had some distinctive ideas. When Facebook opened up its application platform, we recognized the unique opportunity and shifted the company's focus toward building dating applications on social networking websites.
• What is the single most rewarding experience in your career thus far?
  Watching SNAP grow from my brother and I working in shared office space, with one part-time programmer, to today employing 24 people, with 40 million users of our products and becoming one of the leading companies in the world in social space.