PCMAG – July 20 – A new survey from HighSpeedInternet.com reveals that more than half of Americans (55%) have had a serious relationship from a dating app. 27% of survey respondents admitted using a dating app while in a relationship. Moreover, one-third said they don't even consider swiping on Tinder while in a relationship to be cheating.
Month: July 2019
How I Succeeded: Lumen’s Charly Lester
LIFEHACKER – July 20 – Charly Lester is the co-Founder and CMO of Lumen, the dating app exclusively for over 50s.
One word that best describes how you work: Multi-tasker
What apps/software/tools can't you live without?
Slack, Trello, Whatsapp, Later, Strava and Audible.
What social network do you find the most useful?
Instagram, although not for Lumen; most over 50s predominantly use Facebook.
What were the most important lessons you learned while growing your business?
– Failure is personal. No one else knows you or your business the way you do. A failure only becomes a failure when you decide to treat it that way.
– You can't do everything yourself. Work out what you aren't as skilled at or what you don't enjoy, and outsource those tasks to someone else.
– Relationships are key. Always trying to use contractors who I know and trust.
What has been the most surprising part of your business journey?
Working in dating was certainly a surprise! I was originally working in banking and wrote a Facebook status which suggested spending the final three months of my twenties going on 30 blind dates. To my surprise, the blog went viral, and was picked up by The Guardian. I went on to become the Dating Editor of The Guardian, followed by global Head of Dating at Time Out.
What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?
Time management and work-life balance.
Elite Matchmakers Share Their Vetting Process
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 20 – Elite matchmakers shared their vetting process for high-net-worth clients as part of Business Insider's "Dating Like a Millionaire" series. Two of the matchmakers said they make house calls to get a better feel for a millionaire's lifestyle and personality. An organized home can indicate that the owner is a grown-up, whereas a messy home can be a red flag. "You can tell a lot from a person by looking through a keyhole," said Mairead Molloy of Berkeley International, who is based in London. Berkeley's pricing starts from £15K and goes up to £60K for private headhunting, with a year of unlimited introductions. Highly tailored packages can run up to £100K. Mother-daughter matchmaking duo Janis and Carly Spindel of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking Inc. in New York City also make house calls. They said: "We go in the fridge, their medicine cabinets, and their closets."
by Hillary Hoffower
See full article at Business Insider
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See all posts on Serious Matchmaking, Inc.
What Happens When a Lone Aerospace Engineer Starts a Dating Company?
OPW INTERVIEW – July 20 – A dating platform that integrates web and mobile. DMCubed has an aerospace engineer as its creator/founder/CEO. Example Dating Websites are Saucy Dates web / mobile, and oooo Dating web / mobile. I interviewed David Minns to discover his founding story and find out more about his platform. – Mark Brooks
Why did you decide to launch a dating platform?
For some time I have operated a network of dating sites that shared a core platform for web and mobile web. I do this single handily, I'm the only person in my company. About 4 years ago I developed my first iOS app. These two platforms shared no common code although most of the functions were the same. For example, every dating app/site likely has login, reset password, chat, etc. It seemed very inefficient to be coding this in two different places, three, if you include Android. Regulations such as GDPR also meant considerable repetitive work.
I therefore wanted a solution that the majority of the code was shared across all possible devices and dating niches. If I want to adjust how my location based search work I can now make the adjustments once and it's reflected on every platform and niche. Additionally it centralizes hosting, moderation and security. It saves me a considerable amount of time which is a priority.
What makes you uniquely qualified?
I like learning. My bookshelf doesn't have any novels, in fact I have only ever read one fictional book in my life. It contains books on sales, marketing, PR, business, software development. The 792 paged book titled, "High Performance MySQL" is a great read!
Before being an entrepreneur I worked in engineering software and travelled internationally working technically with leading firms such as Mclaren, Ferrari, Airbus, Rolls Royce and The Ministry of Defence on complex aerodynamic simulations. Later in my career I worked more on sales and marketing before finished up in technical support management. That was 16 years of very broad experience.
How is it different and better than existing platforms?
Without knowing the internal structure of my competition I can only guess but I have worked hard on speed and performance. Having a fast platform is great for the end users and equally good for myself. Fast platforms need less CPU power and therefore have a much lower hosting cost. I track the average speed of every major function and its total CPU time. This means I can focus my optimization efforts on the right parts of the platform. For example, this week I ripped the guts out of most of my in app/site chat system and upgraded it. When a user sends a message I was using CPU time to write cache data that the recipient may never read. My new system does this the moment the recipient opens the message.
The other major factor is my ability to add/improve the platform quickly. As I wrote every part myself I know every line of code (about 2.3 million button presses!). I don't need to hold a meeting, write a specification and follow up on progress. My reworking of the just in time chat system was a total of 5 working hours.
What's the next couple of dating apps that you're planning on launching?
Over 50's dating will likely come next, the brand has been created and is called Lisa 50. If you're a female, aged 50 today and from the UK or USA the most common name is Lisa. A transgender focused app/site will follow, the brand name is still to be determined. New apps/sites are quick to create on my platform, the majority of work is graphic design for the website and app store listings. The code is simply a control file with a menu of features you want to turn on or off. I plan to create about 10 apps/sites before a major focus on PR, marketing and SEO. I also need to determine if I run all my niche apps/sites myself or license the platform to partners, if I do go down the license route then I would avoid any duplication of market sectors so partners do not have to compete and can work together.
Grindr Wanted to Make the World Better for Queer People. Then a Chinese Company Bought It
BUZZFEED NEWS – July 18 – Over the last 18 months, Grindr has faced a federal investigation, layoffs, mismanagement, and internal turmoil. Now the app is looking for a new owner. "There was a sequence of unfortunate events that exposed cultural differences, lack of strategic clarity, and internal angst between those who were gay and straight," said one former employee. "And that's what Grindr still is today." However, Grindr said in a statement that its "significant growth" from 3.3M to ~4.5M daily active users was a sign of its "hard work and cooperative efforts of the entire team." Many of Grindr's missteps over the last 18 months can be traced back to the decisions made around its sale to Kunlun Group. Just two years earlier, Grindr had been a steady and profitable 8-year-old company hoping to shed its image as a cisgender gay men's hookup app to become an all-encompassing LGBTQ-focused media destination. But Scott Chen, the new president, chose to focus on the company's hookup past rather than a three-pronged pitch around the main app, Into, and Grindr for Equality that showed Grindr could be a one-stop shop for "everything gay."
Match Stock Jumps as Tinder Could Bypass Google
INVESTORS – July 19 – Match Group shares jumped 4.8% to 76.68 on the stock market today. The Match stock rally comes as the company reportedly explores new ways to monetize the Tinder app, possibly by bypassing the Google Play store on mobile devices. Match/Tinder is among the largest payers of app store commissions in the world. Federal regulators are reportedly looking into the Google and Apple online store policies.
Hiki Is a Dating App for the Autistic Community
YAHOO NEWS – July 18 – Hiki's founder and CEO, Jamil Karriem, was inspired to launch the app because of the experience of a family member with autism. Hiki app allows users to swipe left or right, depending upon what it is they're looking for – friendship or romance.
Bauer Media Launches New Love Island Themed Dating Site With WLD
WLD – July 18 – Multi-platform publisher, Bauer Media, launches a new dating site on the White Label Dating platform. Since Bauer Media partnered with White Label Dating back in 2010, they have launched hundreds of dating sites across their magazine, radio and digital brands.
Tinder Bypasses Google Play Joining Revolt Against App Store Fee
BLOOMBERG – July 19 – Tinder joined a growing backlash against app store taxes by bypassing Google Play in a move that could shake up the billion-dollar industry dominated by Google and Apple. Tinder now skips Google Play and forces users to enter their credit card details straight into Tinder's app. Once a user has entered their payment information, the app not only remembers it, but also removes the choice to swap back to Google Play for future purchases.
Jeevasaathi.com’s Parent Info Edge Is Upping Its Game With New-age Tech
YOURSTORY – July 18 – Info Edge is now looking to capitalise on its vast data bank by using AI, ML, and big data, and present an improved user experience. Started in the early days of the Internet in India in 1997, Info Edge, which runs Naukri.com, JeevanSathi.com, 99acres.com, and Shiksha.com, is one of the pioneers in the dot-com business. Info Edge maintains that it is a big believer in small acquisitions that help to branch out and spur innovation. The company is upping the tech for jeevansaathi.com and 99acres.com. There is a fraud detection system in place to weed out suspicious and fraudulent posts using AI and ML.