Date More, Swipe Less — Reimagining Meeting Online with Amari
Have you ever scrolled through your dating app and felt like you were wasting your time? About a year ago, Georgetown MBA candidate Dan Aliber ran into the same problem. Frustrated with the lack of dating opportunities that came from the current top dating apps, he realized that the incentives for these apps often do not align with those of its users. As a result, the idea of Amari was born.
Dan wanted to create a dating app that had a revenue model that encouraged users to go on actual dates rather than stay within the app itself. While it is possible to find love on existing apps, he wanted to develop an app with a more effective way to incentivize dates. Talking with his friend Rishi about this problem, Dan started to brainstorm ways that a dating app could profit from increased dates rather than increased swipes, thus aligning the motivations of the app and the customers.
He entered the “Startup Factory” at Georgetown University’s MBA program with his ideas and worked with fellow MBA candidates Marian Asuncion and Jack Misko over the short span of a week to come up with a refined product. After recruiting a restaurant and event space to their MVP testing round, the three students sent some of their MBA classmates on dates. The positive reaction from this round prompted Dan, Marian, and Jack to pursue Amari further.
To encourage real dates within the app, Amari partners with restaurants that have low-traffic spurts throughout the week. Amari then sends its users on dates to these locations during these low-traffic days. With this partnership system, Amari relies on restaurants and event providers for revenue rather than customers, and the partners benefit from filling out their would-be empty tables.
Additionally, partner locations can offer users unique promotions and discounts, further encouraging more dates. On the other end, users will chat around on the app for two to three days before selecting their matches. Then, after pairing with a match, the app generates a date idea based on user profiles and current partnerships. Amari is also working on an AI chatbot that helps users create their best dating profile and improves the matchmaking algorithm.
This semester Georgetown Ventures (GV) is working with Amari to further refine and develop their product, focusing on three primary objectives. First, GV is conducting significant market research to pinpoint the target market/demographic for Amari and to gain clarity on the motivations of dating app users. GV is conducting a second round of MVP testing to collect product review data to inform Amari’s next steps in product development. This initiative will pair members of the Georgetown community to kickstart the date process while also informing Amari’s pairing algorithm. GV is also working to expand Amari’s network of partner restaurants and event providers, through increased marketing and research regarding interest in post-date data collection.
The Georgetown community reacted positively to the Amari concept in GV’s early stages of market research. The GV x Amari team is excited about the semester ahead and cannot wait to share its work at GV Demo Day.
This article was written by GV LaunchPad Consultants Quinn Sullivan & Zoe Niazi
