Month: March 2017

6 Tips From Tinder Execs On Finding Enough Success To Be Acquired

Posted on March 28, 2017

Tinder on screenENTREPRENEUR – Mar 27 – Brian Norgard, head of product and revenue at Tinder, has been on both sides of acquisitions at the company. He came aboard Tinder after it acquired his messaging app Tappy in Jan 2015. Now he helps evaluate other startups to determine whether they're fit to join the company's ranks. Tinder recently acquired visual storytelling app Wheel. Wheel CEO and co-founder Paul Boukadakis has joined the company as VP of special initiatives. Norgard and Boukadakis talked about how ambitious startups can set themselves up for a range of growth options – and, when acquisition is one of those options, what to expect.

  1. Never start a company with acquisition as your end goal.
  2. Learn from other people's mistakes.
  3. Build a high-quality product and team.
  4. Make sure your mission is aligned.
  5. Talk to people outside of your immediate circle.
  6. Don't give up.

by Lydia Belanger
See full article at Entrepreneur

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Grab, Southeast Asian “Uber”, Partners With Tinder

Posted on March 28, 2017

Tinder grab partnershipCNBC – Mar 27 – Ride hailing app Grab is teaming up with Tinder. The promotional campaign "Meet Your Match" marks Tinder's first partnership in the region. It is launching across five Southeast Asian countries including Singapore and Vietnam. Users can view profiles, and swipe right to show interest in sharing a Grab ride with them. The ride-hailing company says matches will be selected at random depending on demand, with no guarantees of an actual Tinder ride. The partnership with Grab gives Tinder an opportunity to raise its profile as it looks to increase its presence in the region.

by Akiko Fujita
See full article at Yahoo Finance

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Lunch Actually And Diverse Co. Launch Premium Dating Service “Tailor” In Japan

Posted on March 27, 2017

Tailor dating app screenshotPRESS RELEASE – Mar 24 – A new premium Japanese dating service, Tailor, was launched last week. Tailor is a collaborative venture between Japanese Internet dating corporation Diverse Co., Ltd. and Lunch Actually. Modeled after Lunch Actually business model, this newly launched Japanese dating service is geared towards single Japanese business professionals in their late 20s to early 40s. Fueled by Lunch Actually's proprietary matching system 'Soulseek', the dating consultants at Tailor find and handpick compatible matches for each client.

See the full press release

See all posts on LunchActually

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Tinder Steps Up International Expansion By Hiring Top Execs

Posted on March 27, 2017

Tinder logo higher resolutionCNBC – Mar24 – Tinder has hired the following people:

  • Alexey Shelestenko, former media partnerships manager at Twitter, has joined as country manager of Russia
  • Laura Roche Camera, former head of customer marketing and digital at Hastings Direct and ex-American Express marketing director, has joined as country manager of the U.K.
  • Ekaterina Hadjipetkova, former growth project manager at ride sharing platform BlaBlaCar, has joined as country manager of France
  • Ryo Umezawa, former country manager at HomeAway Japan, has joined as country manager of Japan for Tinder
  • Morad Adjaoud, former Head of growth, acquisition and content at rival dating service Happn, has joined as head of European growth

Tinder is looking to boost the numbers of paying users, through its premium Tinder Plus. The service costs $9.99 for users under 30 years old, and $19.99 after that. Tinder had 1.7M paid members at the end of 2016, up from 0.8M the year before. Paid members are expected to rise 15% this year. For now, Tinder is not planning to open any international offices, but this could change "depending on growth over the next 12 to 18 months.

by Arjun Kharpal
See full article at CNBC

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33% Of Indian Couples Met Online

Posted on March 27, 2017

Dating-appsTHE HINDU BUSINESS LINE – Mar 24 – In 2007, the online matchmaking industry was centered around matrimonial sites like Shaadi.com. Ten years down the line, the landscape looks completely different. Online dating is now a growth industry. ~67% of Indian singles know couples dating online, and 33% of the couples surveyed had met online, according to digital research consultancy Mindshift Metrics. The online dating space has been growing at an explosive pace in urban India, driven by Tinder. Alongside international competitor OkCupid, local apps like TrulyMadly and Woo are snapping at Tinder's heels. Newer apps like SirfCoffee and Find Life Over Here (FLOH) are trying to create a middle ground between casual dating and traditional matrimonial sites. Both FLOH and SirfCoffee take the exclusive route — users can't just join, they have to go through a screening that includes detailed application forms and face-to-face interviews, either in person or through video-conferencing.

by Bhanuj Kappal
See full article at The Hindu Business Line

See all posts on Shaadi       See all posts on Floh
See all posts on Tinder       See all posts on Truly Madly
See all posts on Woo          See all posts on OkCupid  

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Nichi Hodgson Joins Dating App The Inner Circle

Posted on March 27, 2017

Theinnercircle nichi hodgsonGORKANA.COM – Mar 24 – Nichi Hodgson, former sex columnist for Men's Health, has joined dating app The Inner Circle as comms and PR manager. A former Silicon Valley matchmaker, Hodgson brings eight years' media experience to the role and will help promote the company's brand message, while expanding its international reach. She has published a book on the history of dating – "The Curious History of Dating".

by Richard O'Donnell
See full article at Gorkana.com

See all posts on The Inner Circle

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Singles Use Tinder For Confidence Boost

Posted on March 27, 2017

Tinder screenshots3MARKETWATCH – Mar 23 – LendEdu, a consumer finance comparison site, asked ~3,800 millennials if they used Tinder and a staggering 72% of them said they did. When the researchers asked them why, 22% were looking for a hookup and 29% for friendship and curiosity. And only 4% said they were "looking for a relationship." Meanwhile, 44% said they were swiping for "confidence-boosting procrastination."

by Quentin Fottrell
See full article at Marketwatch

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Married People Joined Dating Sites To Earn Frequent Flier Points

Posted on March 27, 2017

British airways airplaneCONSUMERIST – Mar 23 – Married travelers overwhelmed British Airways promotions on dating sites Match.com and eHarmony. The Match.com promotion offered 150 British Airways frequent flier points for every dollar spent by a new member on the dating site. While Match is only intended to be used by singles, that didn’t stop married travelers from trying to rack up points with fake Match profiles. One U.S. customer paid $215 to the site, earning 32,250 points. In another promotion, BA loyalty members could earn 130 Avios points for every dollar spent with eHarmony. British Airways had to cancel the promotions just a few days after they launched in early March, refunding customers and retracting newly-earned points. Match.com blamed the split on an affiliated promoter who launched the promo without authorization. Match said it had no idea about the offer until the signups started rolling in.

by Mary Beth Quirk
See full article at Consumerist

See all posts on Match.com 
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Coffee Meets Bagel Introduces $35/month Premium Membership To Fight Ghosting

Posted on March 22, 2017

Coffeemeetsbagel-premium-package-screenshotsTECH CRUNCH – Mar 22 – Coffee Meets Bagel, the dating site that focuses on high-quality, limited matches, has today announced the launch of its premium service. One of the biggest features is Activity Reports, which show stats on a user's profile about % of times they engage in chats with connections, % of the time they send the first message, whether or not they've been active in the last 72 hours, and a marker for how long it usually takes that person to respond to messages. Premium members will also see read receipts for messages they've sent.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

Irena Brooks: Dating app The League has also recently introduced "the read receipts" feature to its premium members.

See all posts on Coffee Meets Bagel

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Dating App Qualify Expands Into 39 Universities

Posted on March 22, 2017

Qualify logoDAILYCAMERA.COM – Mar 22 – Qualify, a dating app born from the University of Colorado's Catalyze student business accelerator in Boulder, recently launched in 39 new universities across Arizona, Texas and Michigan. The students-only app forces users to complete a short quiz in order to reveal the profile picture of their potential match. Founder Sean Chenoweth developed the idea to make daters choose mates based on interest rather than appearance.

by Shay Castle
See full article at DailyCamera.com

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team