2022-09-15
44 分钟The pandemic moved a lot of religious activity onto the internet. With faith-based apps, Silicon Valley is turning virtual prayers into earthly rewards. Does this mean sharing user data? Dear God, let’s hope not …
I will throw out the first question to you, Stephen.
What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Well, if we're being literal, it's turning off the alarm.
So for me, I pray.
And for billions of people around the world, if you ask them that question, billions of people would also respond that they pray, too.
That is Steve Gutina, and I am.
The founder and CEO of Pray.com, comma, the world's number one app for daily prayer and faith based audio content.
For most of his life, Getina himself was not someone you would consider a person of faith.
Back when he played college football, for.
Instance, you might hit people when they're not looking.
You might intentionally try to hurt people physically.
Those were some of the qualities that I enjoyed embracing, and I would say, off the field, I loved having a lot of fun.
This was at the University of Southern California.
At the time, USC was basically the pro football team in Los Angeles.
You're out in Hollywood, you're at nightclubs till five in the morning.
I would say that it was definitely not a lifestyle that promotes christian values.
But years later, Gettina did become more religious.
By then, he was a successful entrepreneur, and he saw what looked like a market opportunity.
Religion is approximately $126 billion in revenue per year.
And the pandemic with so much activity moving online, presented another opportunity.