Latest news with #LaurenAntonoff
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Helicopter parent? Yep. Hypocrite? For sure. Why more and more of us are tracking our kids
I slipped into the Apple Store furtively, not quite sure what I was doing was right. My child would soon be walking to school on her own, I said. And I wanted to track her. The shop assistant met my query with total approval. As though what I was seeking – to digitally surveille my own kid – was perfectly normal. So I bought the AirTag, which would nestle into her school backpack and assure me that she had arrived at school safely. Electronic stalking of children by their parents is increasingly common. And it's a controversial topic. Is it a valid and respectful way to ensure our children's safety? Or is it an invasion of privacy which is contributing to the anxiety epidemic among kids who have only ever known a world dominated by the smartphone? The phenomenon brings to mind comedian Tina Fey's quip about using Photoshop to digitally alter images: 'it is appalling and a tragic reflection on the moral decay of our society … unless I need it, in which case, everybody be cool'. Whether it's right or wrong, a bias towards surveillance is clearly the prevailing parental sentiment – this week the California-based family tracking app Life360 reported its half-yearly earnings, which showed record revenue growth. The business is worth $9.5 billion, and is expanding into the tracking of ageing relatives and family pets. In Australia, use of Life360 has surged from 1.9 million monthly active users in 2023 to 2.7 million in 2024. 'We're seeing the rise of what we call the anxiety economy – a shift where families are making more values-based decisions and prioritising peace of mind in how they spend,' said the company's newly announced chief executive, Lauren Antonoff. 'I think of us as the antidote for the anxiety. We're not telling people that there's danger around every corner, but we know that people think about this stuff.' The company recently released an advertisement that went viral, which satirised the very parental anxiety it monetises. The ad featured a mother singing a Disney-style song to her teenage daughter called I think of you (dying) in which the mother voices her catastrophic thoughts about the fatal disasters that could befall her child while she's out of sight. They include getting stuck in a mine, being kidnapped by bandits and bleeding out on the street.
The Age
3 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Helicopter parent? Yep. Hypocrite? For sure. Why more and more of us are tracking our kids
I slipped into the Apple Store furtively, not quite sure what I was doing was right. My child would soon be walking to school on her own, I said. And I wanted to track her. The shop assistant met my query with total approval. As though what I was seeking – to digitally surveille my own kid – was perfectly normal. So I bought the AirTag, which would nestle into her school backpack and assure me that she had arrived at school safely. Electronic stalking of children by their parents is increasingly common. And it's a controversial topic. Is it a valid and respectful way to ensure our children's safety? Or is it an invasion of privacy which is contributing to the anxiety epidemic among kids who have only ever known a world dominated by the smartphone? The phenomenon brings to mind comedian Tina Fey's quip about using Photoshop to digitally alter images: 'it is appalling and a tragic reflection on the moral decay of our society … unless I need it, in which case, everybody be cool'. Whether it's right or wrong, a bias towards surveillance is clearly the prevailing parental sentiment – this week the California-based family tracking app Life360 reported its half-yearly earnings, which showed record revenue growth. The business is worth $9.5 billion, and is expanding into the tracking of ageing relatives and family pets. In Australia, use of Life360 has surged from 1.9 million monthly active users in 2023 to 2.7 million in 2024. 'We're seeing the rise of what we call the anxiety economy – a shift where families are making more values-based decisions and prioritising peace of mind in how they spend,' said the company's newly announced chief executive, Lauren Antonoff. 'I think of us as the antidote for the anxiety. We're not telling people that there's danger around every corner, but we know that people think about this stuff.' The company recently released an advertisement that went viral, which satirised the very parental anxiety it monetises. The ad featured a mother singing a Disney-style song to her teenage daughter called I think of you (dying) in which the mother voices her catastrophic thoughts about the fatal disasters that could befall her child while she's out of sight. They include getting stuck in a mine, being kidnapped by bandits and bleeding out on the street.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Life360 names COO Lauren Antonoff as its new CEO to succeed cofounder
Life360 has named Lauren Antonoff as its new CEO to succeed cofounder Chris Hulls. The move, which has been in the works since Antonoff joined the company in 2023 as chief operating officer, was announced Monday along with second-quarter earnings results for the San Francisco-based developer of popular family safety apps. No one has office friends anymore. Why that's bad news for employers The leadership strategy that's more valuable than performance reviews New research shows why remarkably productive people don't work nearly as hard (or as fast) as you might think The company reported today another quarter of record subscribers, now totaling approximately 88 million monthly active users, up from nearly 71 million a year ago. As the company explores further growth opportunities ahead, including expanding its reach in international markets and adding new offerings, Hulls will stay on as executive chair of the Life360 board and continue working very closely with Antonoff. 'We both have a vision for it becoming a much bigger company,' Antonoff tells Fast Company in an exclusive interview. 'We see ourselves as the family super app, making everyday family life better.' Opportunity for growth The company is more than halfway toward reaching one of its long-term strategic goals of 150 million monthly active users, though it's not as far along in achieving annual revenue that exceeds $1 billion. In addition to adding new subscribers, particularly in markets outside the U.S., Life360 wants to serve those customers in new ways, such as expanding its focus on aging parents, Antonoff says. 'Our opportunity is really unlimited,' she adds. 'We are still very early in our journey, and we have a ton of value to create.' Founded in 2008, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Life360 offers both a free and paid service that allows users to track the locations of their family and friends in real time via a smartphone app. The company acquired Tile Bluetooth trackers in 2021, and users can now keep tabs on the locations of pets and other valuables, while it has also built upon an advertising program from last year that includes targeted ads based on the real-world behavior of users. It has been making 'good progress' toward these long-term goals, Antonoff says, and stock market investors seem to agree. Since its initial public offering in June 2024, Life360 shares (Nasdaq: LIF) have nearly tripled in value. What's for dinner? Antonoff came to Life360 after rising the ranks at GoDaddy to president of its U.S. small business segment, as well as a nearly 20-year career at Microsoft. One commonality between her days at Microsoft and Life360, she says, is that the people who are paying for the products may have differing priorities than the users. At Microsoft, that was the IT department; at Life360, that's overwhelmingly moms. The only way for Life360 to be successful for families is if teenagers also get something out of the experience, Antonoff says. And one testament, she says, is that many children opt to return to the app after turning 18 because they also like to know where their parents are. 'You have to make a product everybody feels good about using, otherwise you don't get the adoption,' she says. Even though she's 'not a big worrier,' Antonoff has found more use cases for the apps than she ever would have imagined—it makes something as simple as picking someone up much easier. 'Knowing where your people are makes life better in 1,000 ways you didn't expect,' Antonoff says. 'Often, I'm just checking when my husband is bringing home dinner.' Family focus Antonoff has been key to the company's expansion—including adding tracking for pets and other items, along with the launch of the ads platform. Looking ahead to some of the goals for her first year in this new role, she says one thing users can expect is a richer app experience. Following last year's integration with Uber, she says Life360 will look for additional integration opportunities—all in an effort to better serve the needs of everyday family life. More tech companies are vying to provide location services to their users. Instagram recently debuted a location-sharing Map feature that has raised privacy concerns and prompted many users to turn it off. Meanwhile, Apple has for years offered a free location app. And yet, people still opt for Life360 because it provides the answers people want—faster, more reliably, and in a family-oriented way. Despite more competition, users still opt for Life360's services, even as other companies explore location-based services. 'They're not investing in family the way that we are,' Antonoff says. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘I disdain corporate speak': Tech founder disregards comms and legal in tell-all sign-off post about the heavy weight of being CEO
Life360 co-founder Chris Hulls ignored legal advice and the boilerplate, 'I want to spend more time with my family' in an announcement about why he's leaving the CEO role. Hulls said there were aspects to being the CEO that he loved, but there are parts that drain him. 'The honest truth is that my brute-force style got results and still can, but being the backstop of last resort, 24/7, year after year, comes with a constant weight.' He is now the executive chairman and ex-COO Lauren Antonoff is the new CEO. Life360 cofounder Chris Hulls is resigning in his own unfiltered way after 20 years—and he isn't sanitizing the reason the $9 billion location-tracking company has appointed chief operating officer Lauren Antonoff as his replacement. 'I disdain corporate speak and owe more than the standard 'I want to spend more time with my family and Lauren is a great visionary product-centric strategic operator,'' wrote Hulls in a sign-off blog post. 'Comms wrote me a draft. Legal wanted to chime in too. A lot of people had advice on what to say. But I ignored it and decided to share my own thoughts without talking points or filters, in this single message to anyone who wants to read it.' According to Hulls, he's burned out. 'After nearly two decades of being the last line of defense, I feel it more than I used to,' wrote Hulls. 'There are parts of the CEO role I love that fuel me, and parts that drain me. When I'm running on empty, everything suffers.' Hulls wrote that he told the board two years ago when he turned 40 he wanted to transition out of the CEO position before he turned 45, and when the company and the senior leadership team were ready for it. Hulls is stepping aside now to serve as executive chairman because the CEO role should be held by someone who is 'all in on every aspect of it, every single day, and that's Lauren,' he wrote. Hulls said his brain isn't wired for cleaned-up messages and superlatives common in CEO communications. 'I've never overhyped or played into the Silicon Valley kool-aid drinking tech bro stereotypes,' wrote Hulls. Antonoff's appointment took effect this week. Record-High Turnover in the Corner Office The CEO transition triggered at Life360 comes as corner-office turnover is smashing new records for frequency. Data from executive recruitment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found CEO exits at U.S. companies rose 12% during the first half the year with 1,234 CEOs leaving their jobs behind. The latter is a 12% increase over last year and the highest year-to-date number since Challenger began tracking CEO departures at public, private and non-profit companies in 2002. Among tech firms, 138 CEOs left their roles through June 2025, a 16% increase over 2024. Challenger attributed the rise in CEOs heading for the hills to uncertainty, seismic shifts in tech, and mounting pressure on traditional leadership structures. The firm found one-third of new CEOs were interim appointments rather than full-fledged, succession-vetted replacements. Overall, some 47% of CEO replacements came from outside the company while internal appointments, like Antonoff's at Life360, occurred 53% of the time. Only 25% of new CEO appointments in 2025 so far are women. Future Plans Antonoff has served as chief operating officer at Life360 since May 2023 and previously held senior positions at GoDaddy and Microsoft. As CEO, Antonoff will collect a $515,000 salary and a target bonus of the same amount. Life360 also granted her one-time promotion equity grants valued at a total of $8.4 million and split among restricted-stock units and performance-based stock units. She also got another performance-share grant valued at $3.6 million. Hulls said he and Antonoff are completely aligned when it comes to Life360 users and long-term vision, but in other ways the two are 'polar opposites.' 'The challenges that wear me down at this scale are exactly the ones that fire her up,' Hulls wrote. 'She's fresh, relentless, and loves the work. I can call her at midnight to talk Life360, and she's not just available, she's energized.' Over the past year, Hulls and Antonoff have been testing out a setup in which Hulls served as exec chair with Antonoff steadily taking on more and more responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the company, he wrote. Hulls and Antonoff found the two 'click in a way that makes product work a joy.' 'We spar, challenge each other, and sharpen ideas, and we have a lot of fun doing it,' Hulls wrote. 'I hope one day we can be like Jeff Weiner and Reid Hoffman at LinkedIn, one of those leadership duos people point to as a model for how to scale and evolve a company. Much of what's launched this year, and what's still to come, has her fingerprints all over it.' The Life360 board will also undergo a small shakeup with the Antonoff appointment. John Philip Coghlan, who served as chairman of the board for 16 years, will continue on as a director while Hulls serves as executive chair. The board appointed Mark Goines as lead independent director to counterbalance the new structure. Goines has served as a board member since 2019. In a statement, Antonoff thanked Hulls. 'Chris has been an amazing partner, and I'm thankful to him and the Board for the trust and confidence they have placed in me. I'm energized and honored to lead the company forward, staying grounded in our mission and focused on delighting our members with products that deliver real peace of mind.' Hulls said he'll be there if Antonoff needs her. 'If she ever needs a pit-fighter, I'll be here to tussle—whether that's taking on patent trolls, bottom-feeding class action lawyers, causing trouble on TikTok, or injecting a little crazy in a way only a founder can,' wrote Hulls. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Life360 Inc (LIFX) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Growth in Users and Revenue Amid ...
Release Date: August 11, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Positive Points Life360 Inc (LIFX) reported a record-breaking Q2 2025 with all-time highs in monthly active users (MAUs) and paying circles. The company achieved a 25% year-over-year increase in MAUs, reaching 88 million, and a 25% growth in paying circles. International expansion is a significant growth driver, with MAUs outside the US growing 34% and paying circles up 28%. Q2 revenue increased by 36% year-over-year to $115.4 million, driven by strong subscription growth and other recurring revenue streams. Gross profit grew 42% year-over-year, with gross margin expanding to 78%, reflecting a favorable revenue mix. Negative Points The company faces material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements. Hardware revenue increased only 3% year-over-year, with higher unit volumes offset by promotional pricing. Operating expenses increased by 34% year-over-year, driven by timing and not a change in cost structure. The advertising platform is still in the early stages of revenue ramp-up, indicating a long-term build rather than immediate returns. The transition in leadership, with Lauren Antonoff stepping in as CEO, may bring uncertainties despite being part of a long-term succession plan. Q & A Highlights Warning! GuruFocus has detected 8 Warning Sign with LIFX. Q: Can you provide an update on the pet tracking launch, including expected launch countries, sales channels, and pricing details? A: Lauren Antonoff, CEO: We are on track for a holiday season launch. Specific details about the launch locations and pricing will be shared closer to the date to ensure a successful rollout. Q: Could you explain the new advertising products, Place Ads and Uplift, and their impact on revenue and user experience? A: Lauren Antonoff, CEO: Place Ads are in-app experiences that send messages based on location, while Uplift measures offline impact. These are high-value advertising units designed to enhance member value and are part of our long-term advertising strategy. Q: What are your top priorities as the new CEO over the next 12 months? A: Lauren Antonoff, CEO: My focus will be on engaging users, growing our ads business, driving international growth, and establishing Life360 as the super app for family life. Q: How is the international expansion progressing, and what localization efforts are being made? A: Lauren Antonoff, CEO: We aim to achieve strong product-market fit globally, similar to the US. Efforts include ensuring our services work in non-car-centric regions and understanding safety needs in different countries. Q: With the transition to executive chairman, how will your role change, and does it indicate a slowdown in growth? A: Chris Hols, Executive Chairman: The transition is unrelated to growth slowing. My focus will remain on the free user experience and strategic initiatives. The company is still in a growth phase, as evidenced by our strong quarterly results. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
