The theme can be answered a number of different ways.
In one sense, I strive to at least support (if not outright focus on) minorities rather than simply catering to the mononormative.
In another sense, one goal that doesn’t directly relate to dating is to offer a platform that is independent (of Match Group) and EU-centric in terms of both client focus and technical infrastructure.
I want to bring back a lot of what has been lost to enshittification in other apps, things I’ve personally been missing and also seen being a common complaint when dating apps in general are discussed online. If you’ve been on, say, OkC more than a year, you’ll probably remember valuable, useful features that just aren’t there anymore.
If you’ve been on any dating app, you know how icky and frustrating and just straight up annoying the apps themselves are (before you even factor in the behaviour of the users, and their reasons).
Ideally, a dating app should have massive amounts of transient users. If you have users who’ve been there for years, you’re not giving them what they want (but you might be giving them something else in order to keep them hooked…).
So as for the monetary goal, there are many gates that must be passed before finances become a critical issue. I’ve published things as open source, and if six users find you, you have six happy users. A dating app not only requires a massive amount of users, it also requires significant local user density for it to be useful. I am fundamentally aiming for low cost of upkeep with the goal of enabling the app to survive having relatively few users, even if they aren’t paying much.
I can say this much: I’ve done the math and am pretty confident in being able to deliver at a fraction of the cost of any existing offering. My plan is to offer no free tier (huge barrier, I am aware) but then offer a very-reasonably-priced paid tier that unlocks everything. I want the app to be transparent, helpful, and eschewing dark patterns and money-grabbing schemes. I don’t expect you to believe it, but I’m not doing this for the purpose of profit; I just don’t think a dating app that’s entirely free is going to work very well vis-a-vis attracting high-quality participants.
Do I think I’ve “cracked” or “solved” online dating? Absolutely not. There are things I know I will never do, other things I know I’ll be (almost) the only one to do, and a number of topics and issues that I don’t know even can be resolved in any meaningful way.
This is somewhat relatable: I’m building a dating app without blackjack and hookers. Well, at least without the blackjack.
Nor gonna lie, it’s not a weekend project! And that’s before even considering the eventual launch and marketing.
Will your dating site have a theme?
Is there a monetary goal behind it and if so,
how would you deal with the service becoming a huge success,
while consequently memberships drop?
Thank you for asking.
The theme can be answered a number of different ways.
Ideally, a dating app should have massive amounts of transient users. If you have users who’ve been there for years, you’re not giving them what they want (but you might be giving them something else in order to keep them hooked…).
So as for the monetary goal, there are many gates that must be passed before finances become a critical issue. I’ve published things as open source, and if six users find you, you have six happy users. A dating app not only requires a massive amount of users, it also requires significant local user density for it to be useful. I am fundamentally aiming for low cost of upkeep with the goal of enabling the app to survive having relatively few users, even if they aren’t paying much.
I can say this much: I’ve done the math and am pretty confident in being able to deliver at a fraction of the cost of any existing offering. My plan is to offer no free tier (huge barrier, I am aware) but then offer a very-reasonably-priced paid tier that unlocks everything. I want the app to be transparent, helpful, and eschewing dark patterns and money-grabbing schemes. I don’t expect you to believe it, but I’m not doing this for the purpose of profit; I just don’t think a dating app that’s entirely free is going to work very well vis-a-vis attracting high-quality participants.
Do I think I’ve “cracked” or “solved” online dating? Absolutely not. There are things I know I will never do, other things I know I’ll be (almost) the only one to do, and a number of topics and issues that I don’t know even can be resolved in any meaningful way.