Jonathan Zarra

Jonathan Zarra (born 1988) is the founder and former CEO of GoChat, a geolocation based chat app for iOS and Android popularized by Pokémon Go, having millions of users. In the months following his departure from GoChat, Zarra then launched a mobile software platform called Wiksi Apps.

Jonathan Zarra
Born1988 (1988)
United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forGochat, The Bulbapedia App, Reverse Number Lookup, Pokemon Card Value

Career

GoChat

Zarra was the founder of GoChat. Despite the early success of GoChat, the app saw its fair share of struggles. Within days of its original release on Google Play and Apple's App Store, GoChat had already amassed millions of active users and was having trouble keeping its servers online.[1] After news of the app went viral, Zarra received many different investment opportunities before accepting funding from angel investor Michael Robertson.

Once funded, the app continued to grow to well over 2 million users within its first 2 weeks. GoChat later was acquired and Zarra stepped down as CEO and from the board of directors to pursue other projects.

Wiksi Apps

Zarra then launched The Bulbapedia App under his new mobile software platform "Wiksi Apps". It was the only app available for Bulbapedia, the online community driven Pokémon Encyclopedia. The app was so successful that within 3 days following its release, it was acquired by and made the official app of Bulbapedia.

Short Code Directory

In an effort to combat unwanted SMS text messages, Zarra launched the short code directory. Users have the ability to report companies using short code numbers that they believe are not following industry regulation and make unwanted text messages public knowledge. Within its first 6 months, the website accrued over 600,000 short codes and thousands of users from the community submitted reports about company specific short code operations.[2]

Amico Facebook ChatBot Platform

After the creation of the shortcode directory, Zarra began work on Amico, a Facebook Messenger Bot Platform. Its main purpose was to offer an evolved alternative to SMS Marketing by leveraging the billions of users on the Facebook Messenger app directly. In an interview with Forbes, Zarra stated "It is our firm belief that an advertisement platform as big as this deserves to be equipped with proper technology to prevent this unwanted abuse of its systems."[3]

Switcher.gg

With the release of the Nintendo Switch and the disappointing online infrastructure, the concept of Switcher.gg was born. In an initial Reddit post, Jonathan was quoted as saying "I love Nintendo, but between Nintendo friend code IDs, many games not offering online multiplayer, and the online multiplayer that does exist often being difficult to find new players for, there’s a real issue here that I believe could use some solving."[4] Within just weeks of the site's release, it grew in popularity and was said to have passed over 40,000 Switch users.[5] The Switch matchmaking website would go on to grow in popularity, spreading throughout the Nintendo community and connecting switch players to this day.

gollark: YOUR ARCHITECTURE IS PROBABLY BAD AND UNSAFE IS A MONKEYPATCH ON TOP OF THAT!
gollark: You need it in *low-level code*, not *normal application stuff*.
gollark: Unsafe is GENERALLY ILL-ADVISED because it ignores all the benefits of Rust.
gollark: Can we ban <@593113791252660224> from Rust?
gollark: STOP USING RAW POINTERS WHYYYYYY.

References
  1. Newton, Casey (Jul 11, 2016). "This man's Pokémon Go chat app is so successful that it's driving him bankrupt". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "Watchdog probes £4.50 premium rate texts". Jul 11, 2017. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "What's Bad For Facebook Ads, Is Also Bad For America". Dec 11, 2017. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Some Switch Players Are Looking Outside Nintendo For Matchmaking". Nov 6, 2018. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "Fan-Made Website Which Helps Switch Owners Find Online Players Is About To Reach 40,000 Users". Oct 26, 2018. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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