easee: the effortless dating app

Making first dates that much easier.

The Story

It’s Wednesday night, and you're eager to make a new connection. After scrolling through Bumble for an hour, disappointment sets in - no one seems to be available.

Settling for a Friday night date (who probably has said yes to everyone on this app at some point), the spotlight is now on you to choose where to go.

Overwhelmed and unsatisfied, you opt for a Bridget Jones binge on Netflix, feeling the all-too-common frustrations of modern dating.

The Problem

Despite offering a sea of potential matches, modern dating, especially with the influx of new dating apps, presents many challenges. Key issues include:

1. Time constraints - busy lifestyles and hectic schedules make it challenging for people to agree on a time and day to meet. Not everyone is free just on Thursdays.

2. Paradox of choice - the abundance of potential matches can lead to decision fatigue, making it difficult for individuals to commit to getting to know one person.

3. Mismatched expectations - the vibe of the date can be extremely different, or unknown, for both parties. This makes planning dates feel more like work than play, and can lead to disappointment when expectations aren’t met.

While Before Sunrise portrays an ideal first date, the reality nowadays can be a bit too stressful.

The Solution

Think Calendly for Bumble, with an AI-perfected date-planning assistant tailored to you and your date’s interests.

How easy would first dates be then?

Meet easee

easee is the effortless dating app created to make first dates - well, easy!

How will it work?

1. Craft Your Profile: Share more about yourself, your interests, and what makes you - you!

2. Define the Vibe: Specify your intentions for the date.

3. Set Your Availability: Pick the days and times you're free for a date that week.

4. Customised Matches: Connect with others based on your preferences and availability.

5. Pick Your Date: Choose your favourite person available for your date.

6. Choose Your Event: Get a handful of date suggestions that align with both your interests and expectations.

The catch?

1. Your availability needs to be renewed after every week.

2. You are barred from seeing other profiles on the day of the date, and from booking more dates for that day (making it a bit more ethical than your usual dating app).

Market Opportunity

easee will first target 25-50 year olds of any gender, starting in London. Why?

• Finding time to date would probably be most difficult for working professionals (being made up of mostly 25-50 year olds)

• In fact, 25-34 year olds have the highest engagement with dating services of any generation

• It is important and ethical to be gender-inclusive and to aid in eliminating discrimination

• London has the largest population in the UK

• 44% of Londoners consider themselves single (and ready to mingle)

• Starting in London will enable targeted ads that reach the most people per cost for marketing—consider the Tube, with 3.15 million riders a day

• Besides, I have close ties with London; it’s my home. Some may call it bias, I call it insight.

And, why the dating app industry?

• It generates ~£11.7 billion a year in the UK

• If trends continue, more than 50% of relationships in the UK will start online by 2035

Business Model

Most dating apps operate a freemium business model, with paid upgrades for services like ‘super likes’ and ‘boosts’. In fact, 1 in 10 Tinder users pay.

easee will follow suit as a freemium model, with premium services including:

• providing availability and matching dates for further than a week in advance

• matching from afar for non-home cities (useful for travelling)

I predict the majority of revenue will come from ads and sponsorships from London restaurants and activity spots that would like easee to recommend dates to their service.

Competitive Advantage

• No other dating app primarily focuses on solving the time constraint and paradox of choice found in modern dating

• No other dating app (that I can find) uses AI to help plan dates for their users

• easee will pride itself on being minimalist and fun to use

Feedback so Far

“easee is breath-takingly unique compared to the other dating apps. You put the availability first and then easee shows you who would match with you for a date that day. Not to mention the UI/UX is very impressive and easy to follow”

“To improve, the dating prompt could employ OpenTable to check for availability a the times they are available. You also need to make sure that the profiles are verified - this is a non-negotiable if you intend to get people meeting up”

Summary

It can all be so easee - why make first dates overwhelming and complicated before they even begin?

Let’s do some user research. Feel free to reach out to me or share with others how you feel about this idea: Would you use it? What would you change?

‘Til next time,

- Renée