Month: January 2018

Founder Of Coffee Meets Bagel Talks About Hurdles She Faced

Posted on January 2, 2018

MONEYISH – Jan 2 – Dawoon Kang, founder of dating app Coffee Meets Bagel, explains why women need 'more representation' in Silicon Valley. The 34-year-old entrepreneur created the dating app for women with her two sisters back in 2012, using just $40K of their money. As a woman in the California tech vortex, Kang faced tough competition. Just about 2% of the $60B in venture capital funding that was appropriated in 2016 went to women, according to an NPR report citing data from Pitchfork. However, Kang managed to raise $7.8M in venture capital from from three firms to fund their expansion, and introducing a freemium model that charges users for certain upgraded features.

by Reed Alexander
See full article at Moneyish

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

OkCupid Gives New Meaning To The Phrase DTF In Its New Campaign

Posted on January 2, 2018

DtfTHE DRUM – Jan 2 – OkCupid wants singles to know that its users are DTF, but not in the way you might think. OkCupid is unveiling its first-ever marketing push this week with a slew of out-of-home posters and digital posts that give new meaning to the acronym. Instead of "down to fuck," OkCupid is replacing the F with terms like "fifty-five-hour binge," "filter out the far right" and "forget our baggage." The campaign is part of OkCupid's effort to position the app as one that can help users find a relationship, not just a hookup.

by Minda Smiley
See full article at The Drum

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Online Dating Safety Tips

Posted on January 1, 2018

Online-dating-scamsUSA TODAY – Jan 1 – Most dating apps don't verify users. Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com, a dating news and commentary site, said: "Full verification is not possible outside of actual real world matchmakers who often use background checks." Brooks added: "Beware of jumping to a third-party form of communication. Scammers lure people off dating sites/apps, and then scam. It's then beyond the jurisdiction of the app. Worse, it's beyond the tools that dating apps use to monitor abusive behaviors, for instance, device ID tools and communications monitoring A.I." There's no reason to give out a phone number before meeting. Use the app to pick a time and place to meet. Meet in a public place, let a friend know ahead where you'll be, and plan to check in after. But the last word goes to Mr. Brooks: "Sometimes common sense is the least common of the senses when people are in a state of attraction. People let their guard down a little too early."

by Steven Petrow
See full article at USA Today

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

OKCupid’s Users Rebel Over New ‘Real Name’ Policy

Posted on January 1, 2018

OkcTECH CRUNCH – Dec 30 – OKCupid's users are angry. Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now requires people to use real names instead of an OKCupid username, as before. Since the update, announced last week, OKCupid's app has been slammed with bad reviews on the App Store. To make matters worse, OKCupid locked some people out of the app until they complied with the new policy, rather than offering a grace period. There is at least one caveat to OKC's new policy – you don't have to use your legal name, the company notes at the bottom of its announcement. It says, you can use the name you'd like your date "to call you" instead. OKCupid provided the following statement: To remove usernames is a part of our mission to add more substance and depth to dating. We get many of messages from folks who say they are offended by some of the usernames people make.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on OkCupid

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team