Banking Powered Dating App

General Chat
21

The problem is not one of data, the problem is your friends. Specifically, the choices they have made have drastically reduced their available candidate pool. There are numerous dating sites that use data to attempt to find the perfect match – like eHarmony, and OKCupid – but they provide no more success than any other dating site, in fact I’d suggest that they’re even less successful.

Dating is a numbers game, successful dating involves determining your known requirements and then meeting as many people as possible that meet those requirements until you find the person who meets your known requirements and your unknown requirements and you meet theirs. A good match isn’t someone who shares your interests, it’s someone with a compatible personality.

Dating gets harder as you get older: your candidate pool is shrinking as prospects are coupling up with others, you become more invested in your life and career, you become less and less flexible and more and more married to your way of doing things… and so to date successfully in your 30s (and beyond) you must be willing to put the effort in. An app that uses data (whether it’s financial or a playlist of your favourite music) is at a disadvantage because users see it as an opportunity to be less invested in the process but in reality it requires the opposite, they need to be more invested in the process.

Personally I think using financial data is an interesting prospect because it does allow you to profile someone quite successfully however I don’t believe that addresses the underlying problem with this model of online dating… and that’s before we even consider the complexities involved in encouraging someone to hand over their financial data to a dating site.

Tinder (and equivalent) have proven over the last few years that the money in online dating is enabling matches, more matches is more money. Your best bet is to build out your system, patent it and then sell it to a company like eHarmony – or if you can’t protect it from being copied, build a mature enough product that it makes sense for it to be acquired rather than copied.

If you want to help your friends, tell them to stop being so precious. If they are finding current dating systems difficult, then they’re going to find any dating system difficult. They need to realise that they’re at a disadvantage dating at this time in their life, and so they need to really invest their time into it, in the same way they invest their time into their careers. If they’re meeting people who “[…] aren’t what [they were] expecting […]” then they’re not putting the effort in that is required.

When thinking about online dating it’s important to consider it compared to traditional dating: you meet someone in a bar, you know very little about them, and you’re immediately willing to invest hours of your time into talking to them and enjoying their company and learning all about them and their life, just based on that little piece of them you see that interests you… and yet online, it’s the opposite, unless someone is “perfect” and satisfies our exhaustive criteria it’s a left-swipe… and even if we do match, we exchange a few messages and half-heartedly try to arrange a date… online dating tricks people, they think “I see more people so I can put less effort in per person” when it should be the opposite, online dating requires even more effort than in person. If your friends put as much effort into online dating as they did the interactions they have through traditional dating methods they would be a lot more successful.

Anyway, I don’t mean to discourage: you should build it anyway, launch it, see what happens, maybe you can change the way people date… but dating is an extremely competitive market so don’t bet your house on it.

22

I guess the dating might not be as simple as A and A match

It might be too people with different financial habits but data shows they are likely a match

I.e. Someone that spends all their money on buying paintings and photographs and someone who buys a lot of paint supplies and canvases.

23

If I were dating and found out someone I was seeing used an app like this, I would break it off immediately. Yuck!

24

Hi there, thanks for taking your time to respond, I really appreciate the feedback!

I do agree that a large part of the issue is with my friends. It’s precisely this issue that I think can be massaged and although data numerous sites to use data to find the perfect match, I believe the flaw is in the quality of their data. What I mean is, people want to advertise the best possible version of themselves. Probably because they need to compete with millions of people, simultaneously. This is unlike the real world, where you probably have up to a room full of competition at any give moment. Auto profiles that match in the background should take care of this.

Dating does indeed get harder when you’re older and I think it might have the opposite effect. If you can be put in front of more quality matches (those that you relate to more), then you might be willing to put in the extra effort as you feel you’re getting closer to that one. I think the others cause dating fatigue and people end up feeling dissapointed.

Ideally, this system would be as close to traditional dating as possible. Remember, when we present a suitor as a possible match, we don’t share specifics. You might have a high travel match, but that doesn’t say where you’ve been, what your best experience was, what your holiday fantasy is, etc. That’s up to you on the date. In real life, you might meet someone out on the street, bar, cinema, etc. However, these locations aren’t entirely random. They are still places of your preference, so you’re still emitting signals about who you are based on where you go. What we have here is a system that simulates the same, except after the fact (transaction already spent). Finally, the plan is to book dates via the app to encourage real meetings.

There is certainly a lot to think about, lots of issues, getting the balance right, etc. It won’t be for everyone, but if it can be helpful to enough people then it would be worth it.

Thanks again for your comments!

1 Like
25

Hey there!

Thanks for the feedback.

I know it might not be for everyone, but I’m curious to know a little more detail if you don’t mind sharing.

Would you feel the same if you found out someone used Tinder, POF, e-harmony, etc? Which part do you not particularly like? The online dating element, the transaction analysis? or something else perhaps?

Thanks!

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26

Of course not. Tinder/OKC/etc. are completely normal. However, anyone who assesses people (in whatever way) by their finances (or even begins to think about such things) is not someone I want to be intimate with.

1 Like
27

Thanks for getting back to me.

I think that many people might feel the same and of course there is no one universal system for all, well, apart from physics I guess.

This system doesn’t give people the ability to pass judgment on someone’s finances. It simply connects people who appear to share similarities (traits, interestes, etc). Even so, in this context, I don’t it’s think there is a judgment free alternative. For example;

  • Tinder, encourages people to make judgement on looks. Some would argue that is superficial.
  • Match dot com, people pass judgement on looks and how they represent themselves in their profiles.
  • Real-life, people pass judgement on looks, popularity, health, trustworthiness, social standing, body-language, finances and an arrary of other things.

As such, I’m not entirely clear on what is problematic about the analysis of financial data. Do you think you could elaborate on this part? I.e. is it discovering shared interests/habits? Is it because it might become a platform those interested in money? Or something else?

Thanks!

1 Like
28

i.e. judge something about someone based on finances. It is what it is.

You rightly say we judge others all the time in regular life which is of course true. Someone using this app will have made a conscious decision that not only are their financial data very relevant but also that they are in some way more relevant than other the other things you mention.

Like I said, I’d know enough about someone who even considered this to know that I’d want nothing to do with them romantically or platonically. Friends who are dating tell me it’s hard enough to avoid the vain status-obsessed tools as it is.

29

I really like this idea - I’d give it a try!

I think the person above missed the concept… it’s not about being a gold digger or about how much money you have, it’s about using data to match things you might have in common. Smart! It’s real and based on facts, rather than the fictitious profiles people (internationally or unintentionally) write.

As someone else said above, it’s a numbers game with dating, if you can narrow it down and there is a tool that can help you find someone with something in common, that’s a good place to start. No one is saying any dating app is able to find you the perfect partner, that’s unrealistic of course, but this concept is something new and interesting and I feel much more comfortable dating based on common interests and facts rather than looks. At the moment all the profiles are the same… everyone has either a dodgy half naked selfie with filters on or the classics… person doing something active / smart looking (usually taken at a wedding) / with pet or child… yawn!! Time to try a different approach!

5 Likes
30

Hi there!

Really appreciate the feedback. You’ve got it spot on. I’d love if you were in the situation to be part of the beta test when it’s ready.

In the meantime I’m going to put up a landing page to allow people to register interest. It will also give me an idea of interest :slight_smile:

I’ll have to check the Monzo forum rules to see before I post anything, but do let me know if you’re interested :slight_smile:

Thanks again for taking your time to reply!

31

Hi all,

I’ve just put together an initial landing page for those that might be interested in getting invited to the initial launch of the app.

You can have a look at the discover lover landing page here. It just so happens to coincide with the launch of Facebook’s new dating service, that appears to have similar feature in regards to auto profiles.

As always, I’m open to feedback, so would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks!

PS) DiscoverLover is the working title, I’m not sure it will stick.

32

I like the getting FCA compliance it’s a nice touch.

KYC should probably be changed as I don’t think alot of people would understand.