Category: Uncategorized

Hire Right, Build a High-Growth Dating App

Posted on November 4, 2025

CourtlandBrooksOPW – I've been working in dating since the late 90's and running Online Personals Watch since 2004, and IDEA since 2006. At this stage I have a database of over a 1000 people who have worked in the dating industry and left. Invariably they miss us. I often find myself delving into this database for clients to offer up experienced personnel for their teams, or to recruit new people onto the Courland Brooks team. We're here to help you grow your company, and hire great people.

For the price of a marketing manager you can get access to a seasoned team of online dating professionals. See Testimonials here. See pricing and service overview. Email mark@courtlandbrooks.com or simply book an opening call here.

Courtland Brooks, Our Work

Posted on October 30, 2025
Logo of Courtland Brooks

OPW – For the first time, we’ve pulled back the curtain on what we do, on the Courtland Brooks website. If you’d like to get a sense of the core of our work, you can now see the new page on Courtland Brooks, which showcases examples of our work that my team and I are most proud of.

Singles Return to Real-World Dating Amid App Fatigue

Posted on October 27, 2025
Aili Seghetti, founder of The Intimacy Curator, leads a sensorial dating event in the city

MID-DAY – A growing number of singles are turning to offline events to meet partners after years of app burnout. Startups like Up 2 Date IRL and The Intimacy Curator have organized over 25 events for 2,000+ participants, offering mixers such as pickleball meetups, supper clubs, and queer socials. The shift follows frustration with dating apps, which many users find impersonal and exhausting. Offline dating, however, faces its own issues such as poor turnout, no-shows, and gender-ratio imbalances. To address this, organizers screen participants, limit group sizes, and use “vibe-check” forms. Experts predict hybrid dating, combining online apps with curated in-person events, will dominate going forward.

See full article at Mid-Day

Mobile Strategies Conference – New York – Nov 5

Posted on October 27, 2025
Logo for MGS New York

OPW – Geoff Cook and Catherine Cook, the co-founders of The Meet Group are speaking at the Mobile Strategies Conference on Nov 5-6th. Looks like an interesting 2-day conference, covering AI & Mobile Growth. See agenda (scroll down).

The Rise of Chatfishing: When AI Takes Over Modern Dating

Posted on October 17, 2025
chatfishing

VICE – A woman discovered the man she’d been texting for weeks on Hinge wasn’t the person she thought. His AI had been doing the talking. More daters are now using chatbots to craft messages or even run entire conversations, creating connections that feel perfect online but fall flat in person. The appeal comes from dating fatigue and the pressure to always say the right thing, pushing people to let algorithms handle the hard parts. But as AI smooths every interaction, it risks stripping away the flaws and emotions that make human connection real.

See full article at Vice

Cray App Launches to Help People Spot Red Flags 

Posted on October 17, 2025
Cray app

EINPRESSWIRE – Cray is a new dating safety app launched nationwide by Tampa-based Cray App, LLC. It helps users recognize manipulation, deception, and emotional risks in relationships. Created by founder Justin Smith after a painful breakup, the app analyzes ~70 red flags across 18 categories and generates two private scores: CrayScore™ for overall relationship risk and SchemerScore™ for signs of ulterior motives such as money, sex, or control. Cray combines psychology, humor, and education to make dating safer and more self-aware.

See full article at Fox40

Shay Levister Launches the World’s First AI-Powered Love Coach for Ambitious Women Looking for Love

Posted on October 8, 2025
Logo of Her Pocket Coach

PR NEWSWIRE – Certified Love Strategist, global speaker, and Founder Shay Levister, has launched HerPocket Coach, an AI-powered coaching app for high-achieving women who want to improve how they approach relationships. The app focuses on personal growth and dating skills through guided exercises, journaling, meditation playlists, and virtual coaching, with the aim of helping women build healthier, more intentional relationships.

See full article at PR Newswire

Announcing LTR 45 with Karima Ben Abdelmalek (happn) and Mark Brooks (Courtland Brooks)

Posted on October 8, 2025

OPW – Edition 45 of the LTR (Love, Tech, Relationships) online experience will be on Wednesday, October 22nd, at 12 pm (noon) EST (New York time).

In this edition, Mark Brooks will interview Karima Ben Abdelmalek, CEO and president of happn, to discuss HelloGroup’s acquisition of happn. The conversation will cover how the companies will work together, the product roadmap and market priorities, and what this means for users. After the interview, Mark will present Industry Trends and Opportunities for Growth, including market outlook, the role of AI in product and safety, and upcoming regulations.

If you hold a full-time leadership role at an online dating company, you are welcome to join LTR events for free.

Why attend LTR?

🏠 Flexible: Attend from anywhere – no travel required.
⏰ Convenient: Live session. 90 minutes.
💰 Free: No registration fees.

See the LTR Edition 45 speakers and invite page here.

Email mark@courtlandbrooks.com to RSVP.

Image of two speakers for LTR Edition 45: Karima Ben Abdelmalek, CEO and President of happn, and Mark Brooks, CEO of Courtland Brooks, against a blurred audience backdrop.

London’s New Dating App Sonder Uses Canvas-Style Profiles

Posted on October 7, 2025
Sonder dating app

SWLONDONER – Sonder is a free London dating app that launched in June 2025. Profiles are built as personal canvases, essentially mood boards that show interests, and the app matches people based on similarities between those canvases. There are no user rankings or paid subscriptions, and the system aims to be non-discriminatory. The matching improves when a profile includes more detail. The team is running regular events around the city, and a friendship mode is planned for late October.

See full article at SWLondoner

Inside HUE: the New App Helping People of Color Find Love and Connection

Posted on October 7, 2025
HUE dating app

POCIT – Launched in September 2025 by Princeton graduate Dayo Abeeb, HUE is a dating and social app built specifically for people of color. The platform allows users to filter by ~70 ethnicities, with two key features: Hue Dating for romantic matches and Hue Community for friendships and group chats. Abeeb created HUE after noticing friends struggling to find partners who shared their cultural backgrounds, an issue made worse by mainstream dating apps, where people of color, especially Black women, face bias and lower engagement rates. HUE aims to offer a more inclusive space. So far, the app has 3K users.

See full article at POCIT