BOSTON GLOBE – Feb 14 – Harvard grad Adam Cohen-Aslatei, who'd been in the dating business for almost 12 years (he was the managing director of Bumble's gay dating app, Chappy, and had also worked for The Meet Group), went on to develop S'More, short for "Something More," an app that technically gives users less until they earn it. Users can't see people's faces as they swipe; everyone looks blurry to start. Cohen-Aslatei's launched the app in Boston at the end of December, giving a first look to students at Harvard. Now S'More is in three cities (also Washington D.C. and New York) with a pool of thousands in each location.
Category: S’More
Q&A With S’More CEO and Founder Adam Cohen-Aslatei
ALLEYWATCH – Jan 27 – S'More dating app is trying to make online dating less superficial. The app is prioritizing conversation over appearances. The profile photos of two matched individuals are progressively unblurred based on the engagement in conversation.
Q: Tell us about what Something More offers.
A: S'More (a.k.a. Something More) provides daters with a totally interactive way of getting to learn more about a person before evaluating them on the basis of appearance. While most dating apps focus on an image first, S'More focuses on the whole person.
Q: What market does S'More target and how big is it?
A: S'More is designed to transition Millenials from casual dating apps into relationships. There are 24M millennials in the US that have used dating apps and are still single. That's our primary target.
Q: What is the business model?
A: S'More is a free app that also offers a subscription service to unlocks additional premium features.
Q: What inspired the start of S'More?
A: After spending over 10 years in the dating and ad tech space, I felt like there had not been a major innovation since Tinder invented the swipe.
Q: What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
A: We plan to launch out of beta by the end of the year. We will launch S'More by city starting in Boston and Washington DC.
Q: What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
A: No one ever told me just how important it is to step back from time to time to refocus on the "big picture." It's important to prioritize and invest your time where it will have the biggest impact.
Dating Apps Need to Offer Something More Than Swiping
S’More Dating App Hides Users’ Faces Until After the Chat
ELLE – Jan 3 – Brand new online dating app S'More (which stands for "something more") prioritizes conversation over selfies. Users receive recommended profiles each day chosen specifically for them by an algorithm that factors in values, passions, preferences, and behaviors. All photos are blurred out. The more users engage and chat with someone, the more their pictures un-blur. S'More founder Adam Cohen-Aslatei says the idea was born out of a frustration people feel with the current "hot or not" swipe trend on apps. The idea is to encourage users to get to know a match first, before seeing what they look like.
S’More Dating App Doesn’t Rely on Swipes
NEW YORK BUSINESS JOURNAL – Dec 17 – New dating app S'More, which stands for "Something More," prioritizes getting to know a person before users see profile photos. Photos start out blurry. The more users engage and chat with each other, the more their profile photos unblur. S'More offers a collage-like feel and can be customized to reflect the personality and priorities of the user. S'More requires photo verification that reduces "catfishing:" and helps prevent underage users. All profiles also feature a publicly visible rating score, based in part on user behavior. Investors liked this unique spin on the dating app model, including Benson Oak Ventures, which led a recent $1.1M seed round. Social Discovery Ventures CEO and Founder Dmitry Volkov also joined the effort, along with investor Joshua Black and SideCar Angels. Aslatei most recently served as managing director of Chappy, Bumble's gay dating app. Before that, he consulted for The Meet Group.
by Anthony Noto
See full article at New York Business Journal
OPW Podcast – The Top Dating Industry News for Nov 19th
OPW – Nov 19 – Spark's New CEO, rankings, S'More, and a new app from Momo.
For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor or Stitcher.
S’More Launches in Beta, Backed by a $1M Seed Round
MOBILEMARKETING MAGAZINE – Nov 14 – Dating app S'More (a.k.a. Something More), has launched its private beta this week in the Boston area, with a waitlist of ~8K singles and a $1M seed round, led by Benson Oak Ventures, and also including a number of private investors. S'More wants user to get to know each other without seeing them first. The more a user engages and chats with a person, the more their profile photos unblur and the more their private content unlocks. S'More founder, Adam Cohen Aslatei, worked at various dating apps and ad tech firms, including gay dating app Chappy, The Meet Group and Spark Networks.
by David Murphy
See full article at MobileMarketing Magazine
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
S’More: a New Dating App That Looks to Suspend Physical Attraction for Something More
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 11 – According to former Chappy Managing Director Adam Cohen Aslatei, "something more" is one of the most common pieces of feedback that dating apps get from their users. That's where S'More comes in. S'More was founded by Aslatei to provide a dating app to users that goes beyond superficial looks. Rather than scrolling through a feed and swiping left and right, users are served five profiles each day. User profiles on S'More consist of icons, rather than pictures and text, which reveal characteristics about the profile's owner. The company plans to generate revenue through a freemium model. S'More is now launching in beta in Boston and the D.C. area with plans to launch in New York soon.