IRL (In Real Life), the leading group messaging social network that brings people together through groups, events and shared experiences, announced today the appointment of Jason Kirk as Chief Business Officer. Kirk previously served in an advisory capacity before joining the startup full time. Formerly the General Manager at the Disney Accelerator, where he identified relevant startups and helped them secure commercial opportunities within the Walt Disney Company, Kirk brings with him valuable experience and relationships that will aid the continued growth of IRL. In his new role, Kirk will work to grow the team, explore business and monetization opportunities for the company and continue to build meaningful strategic partnerships, like the recent one announced with TikTok that he was instrumental in helping to come to life. This news comes on the heels of IRL’s reaching unicorn status after their $170 million Series C funding round in June.
In addition to his time at The Walt Disney Company, Kirk brings over 15 years of expertise in executive roles at household consumer brands and startups, including HBO, Myspace, Ustream, and his more recent role as Chief Business Officer at Zefr. Kirk has an extensive background in developing global partnerships with major content companies, social platforms and big brands. That experience will aid IRL as it continues to build out its team, its partnerships, and its business in support of the platform’s nearly 13M, predominantly Gen Z users that send almost 100M messages daily.
“IRL has grown by 400% in the last 15 months creating an opportunity to attract incredible new talent,” said Abraham Shafi, CEO and Founder of IRL. “In these early stages of company development, it’s important to align with passionate leaders who have been pioneers within the industry. Jason joining our team will allow IRL to further develop our platform to meet the immense growing demand from our community.”
“I am so excited to be joining IRL because I believe in the company’s mission of helping people do more together in real life or online, especially as we all are craving social connection now more than ever,” said Jason Kirk, Chief Business Officer of IRL. “Through IRL’s group messaging, everyone is a participant, nobody is a spectator. Whether you’re looking to meet up with friends on campus, in Roblox, or just want to chat about your favorite music or sports team, IRL is the place for you. Like photos are linked to Instagram, groups, events and in person connections will be synonymous with IRL. I’m excited to bring people together, and I believe my previous roles have given me the skills to create long lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships and build businesses from the ground up with great people. The opportunity to join IRL is unparalleled to any experience I’ve had in my career thus far, and I can’t wait to dive right in.”
Kirk will hit the ground running, solidifying existing partnerships, implementing new collaborations, growing the team, and brainstorming ideas on how to further serve IRL’s millions of users. Kirk will team up with partners to help engage, monetize and support IRL’s user base. Kirk is excited to participate in the continued growth of the team and find talented self-starters who want to define the future of social and can excel in a remote first work environment.
For more information, please visit: IRL.com
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ABOUT IRL
IRL is building a group messaging social network.
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