#43February 5, 20201:02:05

#41 - Dating app that has an admissions process like Harvard

The League's admissions and vetting process Building and scaling a consumer app from business school Transitioning from manual curation to automated scaling The future of synchronous video dating Strategies for profitable growth in the dating industry

About This Episode

Amanda Bradford, founder of The League, explains how she built a curated dating app for ambitious professionals by using an admissions-based vetting process. She shares her journey from wireframing the app in business school to scaling it to 70 cities and eventually achieving profitability through membership models and innovative features like live video speed dating.

Episode Description

** In our Facebook group yet? We hang out there so come join and let's talk ideas: www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion ** Amanda Bradford (@amandabradford) was 28 years old, in business school and using dating apps. She got tired of stalking every match on Linkedin, Facebook etc.. to see if they were legit. Why doesn’t the dating app do this for me?So against all her advisors advice, she started a dating app called the League that checks your Facebook & Linkedin to verify that you are who you say you are.Strange idea, but It’s kinda working! They have over 100k paying members, profitable & been around for 5 years. We talk about: how she got her first 400 users at launch, how they figured out if people would pay $$ for subscription and what the future of dating looks like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Key Takeaways

Use high-friction curation as a feature to attract quality users who are willing to trade money for efficiency in high-stakes markets like dating.

Manual curation in the early stages helps establish a specific community culture that automated algorithms often fail to capture during the first 1,000 users.

Physical event playbooks, such as hosting mixers at high-end rooftop bars, are highly effective for building a premium brand and providing the 'physical product' of social connection immediately.

Business Ideas Mentioned

Synchronous Video Appointment Screening Platform

Marketplace

High-End Cannabis Social Brand

E-commerce

Independent Global Trust and Safety Database

SaaS

View all ideas

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Amanda Bradford

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Quick Stats

Duration1:02:05

Guests1

Ideas Discussed3

Topics5