Ex-consulting to build a dating app?
Hi fellows,
The market was bad and I was laid off. I previously worked for one of the MBB companies in Munich, Germany. After reflecting on the past year in consulting, I decided to venture out and build a dating app.
I worked OT all the time and didn't have the time to socialize and make friends. I tried Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder but none of that stuck as I feel like the profile is so superficial and fake.
I tried to build a product where authenticity and AI prevail. Here is a simple demo:
It's super early stage and we are looking for beta-testers in NYC. If you are interested or simply think the idea or the demo is bullshit. Just let me know and happy to talk to yall.
Landing page: https://vibing.fun/
Beta testing link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vibing-check-vibe-s…
Cheers!
Alex
I can't paste the link here but in case anyone who's interested, feel free to ask for a landing page or demo link or just simply talk :)
I've attached the demo and testing link if you are interested and open to any feedback and thoughts!
Sent you a pm! Super cool what you're building!
Awesome!! I will send you the demo and landing page and happy to talk!
Nice! whats your unique value proposition? I know you said authenticity and implementing AI, but this is what every dating app sells themselves as, and all have machine learning models on the back end today. Super cool tho!
It's a bit different. The idea is to use videos to show people's authenticity. People used to have staged photos but now they are prompted to use videos to show their vibes (it's much harder to edit and we do this on purpose to help people connect authentically). As for AI, it helps with infra and convo.
If you are in the NYC area, maybe give it a shot? Based on my experience, first-hand experience always speaks louder than my talking. I can PM the landing page and demo to you if you don't mind.
"AI"
Dating apps are poison to VCs b/c if you build a good one, your customers leave. But, basically, what do you do differently that would ensure that it doesn't become a group of monkeys throwing sausages at anything that looks female?
I think if the product experience is good enough, people will be willing to pay. One of the Tinder/Bumble/Hinge problems is they take users as money printers. For good experience, the LTC/CAC can be much higher.
User quality is of top concern and we can for sure try all kinds of verification methods like jobs, education, etc. But again, it depends on the first wave of users and we haven't figured out yet. I guess all we can do is roll with punches.
If you are interested and in NYC, you can join the beta testing, and happy to have you on board!
All dating apps taste like chicken - the beginning UI looks nice but it’s basically TikTok interface with pretty ladies - ok cool but why would the user stick?
Going to drop some interesting features that ñcould differentiate you from Tinder/hinge/bumble/whatever the fuck is out there:
- Lots of people are busy, you meet someone then you have to keep up conversation then plan the date. Use AI to detect when one of you hasn’t responded for a while and send a bump to see if you want to keep talking to them or have the option to unmatch. Use AI to integrate with your calendars and log interests so the app can suggest a date night for the two of you at a place that’s near both of you
- Use AI to keep the conversation going. Have a feature that incorporates the others persons interests and feeds you basic questions to get them to talk about themselves (I.e. having a good wingman teaching the lonely fucks how to talk to a girl)
- Use AI for sentiment analysis across all your conversations. Analyze which ones seem to be the most engaging or beneficial or whatever and suggest from your matches who you should pursue even further to meet in person
Thanks for the amazing sharing! We actually have the second feature in the product but due to the platform limitation, I'm not able to provide the full demo videos here.
Regarding the other suggestions, we will definitely consider them!
Regarding the statement "all dating apps taste like chicken", I hope this time it tastes like chicken soup?
If you are interested and in NYC, love to have you on board!
If you want to do relationship type work in NYC, I think a better route would be personalized consulting services and search services for UHNW and HNW individuals.
Get it! Thanks for your advice!
It boils down to looks unfortunately.
Not many care about authenticity per se, well, some do, but you still need to go past the looks threshold.
Any facilitated online dating marketplace will ended up with people leaning towards superficials and looks. It's what people buy and sell in this market.
People are increasingly entitiled, want way above average when they're average or even sub-average (in looks). It's a very skewed market. It's like bidding $2 for a stock trading at $50, obviously the bid will never get filled.
As cool as your stuff is, you can't forego looks department, despite there is a huge underserved market segments. Personality, hobbies, etc. are good to take into account when facilitating marketplace but you will still have to but more weight on looks, which effectively makes you like every other apps on the market.
I mostly agree. Everything starts from looks and people are all looking for a 10 on the app. I think in the old days, people tended to pay more attention to people's personalities, hobbies, etc. because they simply had a community or they met quite often and Familiarity is the crux here. If I can somehow create an environment enabling people to look beyond looks, that might move the needle. That's the idea of using vides and prompt people to take one of their daily lives from time to time. Maybe I will fail badly but I want to give it a shot.
Thanks for your advice tho!! If you are in NYC, welcome and have fun with us! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vibing-check-vibe-start-date/id6670462536
Ah looks great. I am also transitioning to startups (from IB). May I ask if you are building alone or with a technical co-founder?
What skills did you find transferrable from consulting and what got in the way? I am still trying to crack this code.
I'm not building alone. I have other 3 guys working together FT. When it comes to transferrable skills, honestly speaking, not that much. We don't do fancy slides to impress anyone (maybe VCs occasionally). I'm now more on the business side (think of growth, operation, and a bit of product).
One thing stood in the way in particular is I used to think a lot (you know what I mean if you work for IB) but the reality is so much different. I don't overthink anymore and I need to get shits done quickly and iterate fast.
Great advise Alex, I've been struggling with changing my mindset, and prioritising what actually gets things movind forward! It is changing, though slower than I thought. Keep up the good work!
The interface is cool but I'll be honest man, existing dating apps are pretty much all the same in terms of base level mechanics/features e.g. Tinder vs Bumble vs CFB, etc. don't make that huge difference in the eyes of most of the male audience which is realistically who you're going to be trying to monetize. The interface could look like Craigslist and they wouldn't care so long as it consistently shows single hot chicks in their area.
Now, what WOULD be a huge differentiator is if you had AI features that let you segment better based on men's preferences. Think about things that analyzed people's weight to dodge fattys who try to edit their pics or let you prevent tranys that list themselves as women from ever showing up in the feed, I'm sure a good number of guys would pay extra $ per month for features like that. Nothing is more annoying as a user than running out of hot women and having to swipe through a dozen gorlock the destroyers to find the next one.
Awesome advice! Thank you so much and will definitely look into that!
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