Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Is On-Demand Dating A Tinder Killer

MASHABLE - Aug 18 - Clover, Whim, Pure and HowAboutWe's Tonight app offer on-demand functions which cut to the chase so users can aggressively get on each others' calendars. Clover just closed $2M in funding (bringing total investment to $4M). Close behind Clover is upstart Whim, which launched in LA in 2014. Markedly different from Whim and Clover is the unabashedly more hookup-focused Pure, which is so radical and in-the-moment in its "demand" nature, that there are actually no profiles or Facebook integration. Having raised 10 times less investment capital than Clover ($400K versus $4M), Pure is already cash-positive.

by Mandy Stadtmiller
See full article at Mashable

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Match Group To IPO This Year

PR NEWSWIRE - June 25 - IAC's Board of Directors has approved the pursuit of an IPO of Match Group. Joey Levin, formerly CEO of its Search & Apps business, has been named CEO of IAC and joined its Board of Directors. Greg Blatt will remain Chairman, and Sam Yagan CEO of The Match Group. IAC expects The Match Group to issue less than 20% of its common stock in the IPO, with IAC's remaining stake in The Match Group represented by both high- and low-vote common shares. The IPO is expected to be completed during Q4 of this year.

See full article at IAC website

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HowAboutWe Launches New Dating App "Tonight"

METRO.US - Apr 16 - Tonight is a new dating app from HowAboutWe. “We’re bringing an entirely new experience to HowAboutwe,” said CEO and co-founder Brian Schecter. “The idea is that someone can say, ‘I want to go out tonight,’ and they can see users who also want to go out tonight.” Users get a “look book” of 20 people to like or not like, similar to Tinder or Hinge. Then, Tonight sets up the user with a “match” after both users like each other, but Tonight will only set users up with one match. Schecter is also relaunching HowAboutWe to be free for mutual matches. Users who like and like each other back will be able to message each other free of charge – a change from HowAboutWe’s old model, in which users had to pay to communicate.

by Andrea Park
See full article at Metro.us

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How Teachers And CEOs Are Alike: An Essay By Aaron Schildkrout

EDWEEK - Apr 11 - Aaron Schildkrout runs Growth Platform at Uber, in San Fran. Previously, he was the co-founder of HowAboutWe. He was a teacher for four years at Codman Academy Charter Public School, in Boston.

Teaching is a lot more like being a CEO. They say the three jobs of the CEO are to make sure there is cash in the bank, to hire great people, and to define the vision. I’d add to that: to build highly effective processes. If you achieve these four things, you will have “nothing to do.” I became a data-driven teacher long before I was a data-driven CEO. I was often giving students 10 or more quantitative grades during every class. I would put a spreadsheet transparency on an overhead and would add micro-grades to it throughout the class. I would then add the grades to our school’s online grading system. Consequently, the students got addicted to checking — and improving — their grades. It’s the same for the CEO. The goal is for every single person in the company to qualitatively understand their goals and their progress toward these goals.

Luckily, being a teacher — like being a CEO—is profoundly fulfilling, independent of compensation and status.

by Aaron Schildkrout
See full article at EdWeek

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Avoid Delusional Thinking In Start-up Growth Strategy

@ANDREWCHEN - Oct 13 - IAC’s HowAboutWe co-founder, Aaron Schildkrout, explains a basic overview of why magical thinking is so pervasive in early stage online dating distribution strategies, with regards to Virality, Press, BizDev, Content, SEO, and Paid Acquisition / Direct Marketing. He explains that the most important and powerful customer acquisition tactic is building a product that people love. The other tactics are important — and sometimes become the key to growth — but in almost no consumer product cases can they be relied upon.

by Aaron Schildkrout
See full article at @andrewchen

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IAC: The Big Matchmaker

MARKETPLACE - Aug 8 - Tinder makes ~ 2M “matches” a day and is just one of the online dating brands under the banner of InterActiveCorp that includes Match.com, OkCupid, HowAboutWe, BlackPeopleMeet, and OurTime. Experts thought the future of online dating was in small niche sites, but the big sites are winning for a simple reason. “It’s like a shop,” said Mark Brooks. “You’ve really got to stock the shelves. You can’t make do with a few hundred people. You need to have thousands of active people on a dating site.” IAC doesn't combine all the sites into one because, as Sam Yagan explains, dating is “such an intimate and personal search process, that people care a lot about the emotional affiliation they have with the brand that they choose.” Having the sites under one roof provides opportunities for cross-promotion. The strategy has led IAC to control more than 1/4 of the $2.2B online dating market in the U.S., twice the next biggest competitor, eHarmony.

by Dan Bobkoff
See full article at Marketplace

Dating Startups Don’t Stand A Chance Against IAC

WIRED - July 17 - For dating startups, resistance against IAC is futile. Many of the companies that do come along with a new idea, like HowAboutWe, inevitably fail or surrender to IAC. Zoosk, which filed its S-1 with the SEC earlier this year, is one exception.

by Issie Lapowsky
See full article at Wired

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IAC Buys HowAboutWe, But Not HowAboutWe Couples

NY TIMES - July 14 - Match Group has acquired parts of HowAboutWe. The price is unknown, and the deal includes HowAboutWe’s dating and media properties. It does not involve the Couples side of the business. As a result, only a portion of HowAboutWe employees will move to IAC. Other employees will remain with the Couples business, while some have been laid off.

by Mike Isaac
See full article at NY Times

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Finding Love Through Social Media Is More Appealing

NY TIMES - June 28 - Last May, the Pew Research Center surveyed ~2,2K people and found that 15% had used social media to ask someone out on a date. Apps including Secret and Whisper, that allow people to post anonymously, are also being used to make love connections. Armen Avedissian, COO of eHarmony, said the popularity of social media appears to have led to a heightened awareness of dating apps and services. Aaron Schildkrout, co-founder of HowAboutWe, said it was possible for social media and dating apps to coexist and profit.

by Jenna Wortham
See full article at NY Times

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IAC To Acquire HowAboutWe

BUSINESS INSIDER - June 27 - The deal has not yet been finalized. It's expected to close on Monday, at which point, a number of HowAboutWe employees may lose their jobs. HowAboutWe and IAC have been in serious deal talks for the past week. It's unclear how much IAC will be paying for HowAboutWe, or if the brand will continue to standalone among the other dating brands in IAC's portfolio.

by Alyson Shontell & Hunter Walter
See full article at Business Insider

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

HowAboutWe Interview With CEO Aaron Schildkrout

OPW INTERVIEW - June 16 - There's a couple of companies in the online dating industry that have done a good job with innovation, and HowAboutWe is a standout in thinking different. Here is our interview with Aaron Schildkrout, Founder and CEO of HowAboutWe.

HowAboutWe is all about getting offline. Tell us more about that. 
We wanted to make online dating all about meeting up in the real world. Even with HowAboutWe for Couples we want to make date night happen. Studies show that if you repeatedly surprise each other, then you're 300% more likely to be happy in your relationship.

Delightful closed down after three months. What's your thoughts on what happened?
This is a huge space. There are a lot of companies that got it right in terms of direction, but not necessarily in terms of execution. The big winners are yet to be determined.

You're maintaining the relationship with the people that you've been successful with, rather than losing them to the wind.
The couples space is going to be 20x bigger than the dating space ever will be.

How is the acquisition of Nerve working out? 
It's going really well. We have a significantly sized and very skilled editorial team that is now building content for Nerve.com, Swimmingly.com, which is focused on relationships; Famously.com, which is focused on celebrity relationships; and The Date Report, which was our original blog.

I hear that Zoosk revenues are approaching 50/50 for mobile.  How's that compare with HowAboutWe? 
Views are higher, but revenue is trailing only slightly. We're seeing those two lines converge. Mobile is our most important channel by far. We're seeing the most engagement there. I think that this trend will only continue.

How do you deal with location in your apps? 
We want to provide extremely relevant information based on where you are. We connect singles with people who want to date in the same places. Our next "You&Me" release will include a major location feature that lets couples track their adventures together.

It seems like you're bringing together some pieces of the pie which would serve a higher service level – less time invested but more help getting to the date quicker – a' la matchmaker. Is this an area that you believe in?
Very much. There is a large market opportunity around a matchmaking service that is facilitated by the Internet. People who buy luxury goods want a carefully crafted, curated, personalized concierge service-level experience for finding love.

Do you have a wearable game plan? 
Finding the user experience in the wearable space that will work in the dating space is tricky. It's much easier in the couples space. We already have a prototype for You&Me on Google Glass.

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HowAboutWe Launches You&Me Messaging App For Couples

TECH CRUNCH - May 1 - You&Me and is the first standalone project out of the company. Users have a whole set of options for the type of messages they can send their partners. There are standard photo, text, and video messages, as well as the ability to send voice memos and their favorite song. The You&Me app is free and available now in the App Store.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Online Dating Sites As Political Activists

WASHINGTON POST - Apr 18 - When Gary Kremen, founder of Match.com, did his first TV interview, he said his site would “bring more love to the planet than anything since Jesus Christ.” Neil Clark Warren started eHarmony with a vision to “literally change the world.” Three weeks ago, OkCupid helped galvanize support for the ouster of Brendan Eich, the CEO of Mozilla. Dating site may go to bat for certain interest groups, but only when doing so is easy, cost-free and consistent with building its brand. eHarmony has been alone in its willingness to risk resources and sacrifice customers over politics. From 2006 to 2008, the site spent millions to fight gay daters who demanded that eHarmony cater to them. “As online dating plays an important role in how we fall in love, we have a growing responsibility to advocate for our customers,” says Brian Schechter, co-founder of HowAboutWe. “This of course involves advocating for equal rights and respect for all sexual orientations.”

by Dan Slater
See full article at Washington Post

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Q&A With Aaron Schildkrout, Co-Founder Of HowAboutWe

NY OBSERVER - Apr 8 - Aaron Schildkrout cofounded HowAboutWe four years ago with his longtime friend, Brian Schechter.

Q: What originally motivated you to found HAW?
A: Online dating sites were broken. They were focused on keeping people online. HAW is all about getting offline.

Q: How did you decide to make HowAboutWe for Couples?
A: We realized that couples also need to explore new places for their dates.

Q: Have you expanded in any other ways?
A: We created HowAboutWe media, which is the third division of our company. We had created a company blog called The Date Report. We acquired Nerve.com, and launched two additional blogs.

Q: Are there any leadership tactics unique to running a dating service?
A: You have to have a great product, be different and really innovate. You also have to be very good at customer acquisition.

by Jordyn Taylor
See full article at NY Observer

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"You & Me": New Couple's App From HowAboutWe Founders

NY TIMES - Apr 5 - Apps like Avocado, Couple and Between help couples stay close. You & Me is a new app is scheduled for public release in early May. It was created by the founders of HowAboutWe. The app lets two people send photographs and voice messages and play a selfie-exchanging game called “Halfsie.” Although the app will be free, the company may eventually add features that let their users ask each other out on prepackaged evenings or events sold through the app.

by Jenna Wortham
See full article at NY Times

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Foodie Dating Sites - HowAboutWe, HiDine And SamePlate

GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Apr 4 - More dating sites cater to people with a big interest level in food and restaurants. Serious Eats, a food blog & community, has recently partnered with HowAboutWe. HiDine is another dating site for food lovers. Only men can ask women out on a date, and in doing so they commit to picking up the tab. The site has ~3K members with a ratio of two girls to every guy. SamePlate was founded in 2012 by TV producer-writer Jeff Nimoy, after he wanted to find a partner to eat Paleo with him. Users can use the free site to find a gluten-free pizza lover or any other mix of diet and food combinations.

by Stefanie Tuder
See full article at ABC News

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HowAboutWe's Founders Redefine Online Dating

ENTREPRENEUR - Feb 20 - Since launching in New York in 2010, HAW has gained 2.3M users across both its dating and couples services. The company has raised $22.3M and now employs 85 people. The site was started by two friends - Aaron Schildkrout and Brian Schechter. Match.com and eHarmony put too much emphasis on the online component. They thought they could do better by shifting the emphasis back to the real world, where dates actually take place. Last month, it launched a lifestyle media network and advertising division. As part of this initiative, HowAboutWe acquired Nerve, an online magazine devoted to love and culture that launched in 1997. It also debuted Swimmingly, a standalone website for couples, and Famously, which is focused on entertainment and celebrity. HowAboutWe's long-running Date Report, formerly a blog for singles, got a makeover just like Nerve.

by Brian Patrick Eha
See full article at Entrepreneur

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Dating Sites Start Wooing Couples

BUSINESSWEEK - Feb 13 - The paradox of online-dating industry: Success and customer retention are incompatible. So HowAboutWe started HowAboutWe for Couples, that suggests activities for couples. IAC has also been looking for a solution to “lifecycle management” for some time. “A lot of people think we should start a wedding business,’” says Sam Yagan, CEO of IAC’s Match Group. “The problem is that users leave Match after they find someone, and it’s years before they get married. We lose our right to communicate with them.” Match.com launched couples website, Delightful, in October, with a companion app released last month. Delightful is built around access to date planners. It has hired people with experience as tour guides, restaurateurs, and hotel concierges and helps secure last-minute reservations for its members, who pay $12 a month.

by Joshua Brustein
See full article at BusinessWeek

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Why Buy Nerve.com? Interview With Brian Schechter, CEO Of HowAboutWe

OPW INTERVIEW - Jan 31 -

Why did you buy Nerve?
For nearly two decades, Nerve has produced bold, smart content on American sexuality and culture, giving readers a safe, inclusive place to comfortably discuss sex in a way they hadn’t been able to before. We feel the consumer desire for media covering sex and culture in a human, raw and surprising way is stronger now than ever, which explains why acquiring Nerve made complete sense for us, especially since it serves as the perfect complement to our other HowAboutWe Media properties -- TheDateReport.com, Swimmingly.com and Famously.com -- which are dedicated to producing resonant, high-quality content about all things love.

Roughly how much did you buy it for? 
We're not disclosing financial information tied to the acquisition.

Nerve is quite sexy and risque, will you keep it that way?
We’ve long admired and respected Nerve for providing smart, fearless content devoted to sex and culture, and we're more than happy continue to drive their original mission, while carrying the torch for the next generation navigating a romantic landscape filled with social media flirtations, dating apps and sexting.

Under our ownership, Nerve will continue to provide a refreshing alternative to the mainstream with brave, inclusive, sex-positive stories.

Will it be integrated closer to How About We or will it remain as standalone?
Nerve and all of our media properties will operate independently from our two subscription-based services, HowAboutWe Dating and HowAboutWe for Couples.

Given your extension into couples products, it seems Nerve could straddle your single and couples products and offer up intriguing and sexy content.  Is that where you're going with it?
Actually, we’re going in the opposite direction -- HowAboutWe Media, including Nerve, will not produce branded content, but rather each site will operate completely independently from our subscription-based services, producing quality, unbiased journalism.

Whether it’s a review of the latest online dating app, a deeply-reported analysis of marriage equality laws, or a first-person account of what it’s like to “manscape,” the HowAboutWe Media network will provide an entirely unfettered, honest look at the world of modern love and culture.

How's your couples products doing now?  Is it having a good effect on your core product return rates?
We just celebrated our 1-year anniversary since we first launched HowAboutWe for Couples, debuting in Los Angeles, our fifth major US city, this month.

The consumer reaction has been incredibly positive, with more than 90% of users continuing to renew the service each month. As a result, it now already accounts for about 30% of our total revenue, which we project will greatly increase as we continue to expand to new cities.

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HowAboutWe Buys Nerve.com

CNN MONEY - Jan 29 - HowAboutWe is launching an entire network of content sites based around dating and love. The network is called HowAboutWe Media and contains four sites that will be free and independent from the company's pay memberships: The Date Report, Swimmingly, Famously, and Nerve. Nerve.com was one of the first popular Web-only magazines, launched in 1997 as a somewhat edgy place for opinion, fiction and essays about sex. While Nerve is an acquisition, Swimmingly and Famously are brand-new sites; TheDateReport was an already extant site run by HAW that has been refreshed.

by Daniel Roberts
See full article at CNN Money

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