Platform Feature: Zlen

About the Platform

Zlen aims to be the next-generation application where social media meets private messenger. The platform allows you to create a private social bubble with closest friends through messages, groups, polls, posts, status, and display name changes. To do this a Zlen Code is assigned to each of its users, which intends to prevent unwanted people from accessing and lurking around the profile. Without the Code, no one can search for you on the app or add you, unlike other social media apps where your name, number, or email ID is enough to find you.

Snehal Gersappa is the Founder and CEO of the company. He comes with 17+ years of work experience in marketing, sales, and business development across the Banking and Real Estate sectors in Dubai and Mumbai. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, Snehal decided to take the leap and start work on Zlen. The company’s vision is to bring about a revolution in how we use social media to add more meaning to personal lives while showcasing that we can have a space online to enjoy privacy at the same time.

Whom do we cater to?

We are targeting those who have had enough of the issues that are cropping up as social media grows at an exponential pace without any filters. But to be more specific the target audience is Gen Z & Millennials - the two sets of consumers who are facing the brunt of blurring lines on social media between personal and professional life.

What do we offer to our consumers?

Zlen provides consumers with the ability to have their own private social space. From the local restaurant to your boss at work to a third-party vendor, to random acquaintances, everyone has your number. There is nothing to stop anybody from accessing your profile or sending you unsolicited messages on any of the messenger or social media applications today.

What motivated us to start up?

Snehal Gersappa, CEO & founder had always been a social media enthusiast, and as such, was active on various social media and networking platforms. Being a millennial at heart, he had seen and experienced the birth and growth of social media and messaging apps from their early days

However, as years passed, these platforms began to get over-crowded. Soon, his own office colleagues, extended family members, etc. started joining these same networking platforms. This made sharing posts and experiences tedious. He soon realized that he wasn't the only one facing this. Today, another disappointing problem with social media is the constant bombardment of sponsored content and targeted advertisements. A similar phenomenon is occurring even with messaging apps. The whole world seems to be on one's chat list. As a working professional, there was no personal space, making it difficult to maintain the work-life balance.

After identifying the pain points, he was determined to do something to solve them. After detailed research and tracking on consumer behavior, he realized that this modern-day challenge of having your personal space online was something that a lot of people were experiencing. The need of the hour was to create a space where users could have better control over who could enter their virtual personal space – be it for everyday conversations and self-expression. This gave birth to Zlen as the modern-day platform for the purpose.

What's in a name?

It is a wordplay on Zen. Zlen is a place where you can experience Digital Zen.

How do we see social media?

Social Media is fun and exciting. We are connected 24x7 through the platforms, have access to a lot of informative content and entertainment. However, as it is evolving at a breakneck speed, the negative effects associated with it are cropping up faster than anticipated and are going unchecked. There is a lot of overcrowding on all social media platforms. There is scant regard for social etiquettes - especially respect for online privacy. There is also a sense of addiction and obsession that has set in amongst people as a result of competitive social media usage.

We also see that there is an undercurrent of rejection of these negative aspects and life will come back a full circle where users would want to come back to their own space and enjoy that peace of mind. Zlen will aim to be the future of social media where it will separate your private and public life on social media & messenger, hence enabling a more fulfilling experience in the overall sense.

Currently, we are...

It started with just Snehal and Ashwin almost 2 years ago and now the team is a 10-member team, and definitely grow more in the future. We launched last month in September and have currently 10,000 downloads.

Also read: Platform Feature: ClanConnect

Our biggest challenge was...

The biggest challenge was to find the perfect team to execute such a complex project.

We want to dominate the world by...

Zlen is going to fill the gap in the current social media ecosystem by allowing people to separate their private and public life. The platform will bring the revolution wherein users will be able to share and connect with their private circle without being tracked, judged, trolled, or incurring privacy infringement. We will attempt to be that aspirational brand that everyone would want to connect with and become a part of the community.

We’re making moolah by...

In the pipeline, we have app subscription, brand partnerships, Zlen experiences, Zlen World to name a few. 

Our What The **** Moment

10,000 downloads in the first 40 days!

The Industry as we foresee

So far, the name of the game has been combining everything into one place – social connections, family connections, commercial aspects to just name a few. We feel that as more and more people will recognize their need for personal space and look at segregating parts of their social media profiles focused on privacy, the industry will evolve too. Eventually, we will see more innovations where the decision-making of the consumers regarding their personal information will be in their hands.

Lastly, are you hiring?

Yes