Valentine's Day Startups- To Be or Not To Be?

Valentine’s Day. The day you feel love ruffling your feathers. The sun shines brightly on the faces of loving couples frolicking through the forest. College students chugging Redbull and grinding in the library stacks.

Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are schemin', using growth hacks and Valentine’s day promotions to get the word out there.

Hey, you gotta respect the hustle.

On this short, Valentine’s Day edition of the ZenPreneur, we’ll dive into all things Dating & Relationships (sort of).

First, we gotta tell you- loving relationships are worth maintaining, especially from a health perspective.

Don’t believe us?

Well, here’s some doctor-backed science for ya:

1. Quicker healing- Doctor Steinberg from the University of Utah says strong, loving social support leads to faster recoveries, and lower stress. Sign me up (to Hinge)

2. Lower blood pressure

3. Better immune systems- powered by the Oxytocin

4. Lower Stress- (based on a UChicago study, so it’s pretty legit)

So, call your loved ones, and if you’re single, try and find that partner. Can’t hurt!

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Anyways, let’s dive into some cool businesses with the Valentine’s theme.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, thought we’d do a quick dive into Tinder’s story. How did it become such a phenomenon?

Well, here’s how Tinder got going:

1. Gamification- It started at USC, and the cofounders were looking to gamify the dating experience with “card-swiping” gamification. Hey, it worked!

2. Coding- John Badeen was coding up the ios swiping experience, and it immediately clicked in his mind

3. Fratty Flywheel- To get their first users, the Tinder cofounders approached the frats at USC and looked to host a wild birthday party. Ok, this seems pretty interesting. Then, for entry into the party, everyone was required to have the Tinder iOS app (RIP Android users)

4. Campus Takeover- After the party, 500 well-connected USC students had the app downloaded, and it took over the campus.

5. Copy-Paste What works- Tinder used the party approach and expanded to multiple campuses- and the rest is history

Pretty cool story. Onwards.

Let’s dive into a trend in modern dating apps (Tinder is so pre-2018).

A really powerful trend in modern dating is the use of video. One startup in particular, Candid, matches people up using a video call. Supposedly, the AI algorithm predicts the perfect match before the video call is started.

For many, this could result in finding love easier- for others, this could mean a more algorithmically efficient way of getting ghosted. Pick your poison.

Speaking of relationships- how's that relationship with food going? Studies show we spend so much time stressing about food- how to cook it, clean it, what to eat, and more. The app, WIRL, which stands for “Wellness In Real Life”, is taking a new approach to food and mental health. Basically, users get a better view of their mental health with food and can optimize it. Pretty cool.

An e-commerce brand, Tabs Chocolate, has been crushing it with the sex-chocolate theme. In fact, it was started by a UMich student a few years back and is doing multiple seven-figures in revenue.

There are so many cool business opportunities in the dating space, and you all can definitely spin something up in:

Here’s some for ya:

1. Niche Dating app- think of something relating to specific astrology signs, hobbies, or geography-specific (kind of like East Meets East).

2. Relationship maintenance business- once you’re in a relationship, it’s sometimes hard to maintain it- and that’s where the opportunity comes in! It could be a service or some kind of software solution for relationship maintenance. (Hint: add powered by AI in your pitch deck)

3. E-commerce brand, with a Love Theme- maybe you want to sell dark chocolate or cool aromatic products- anything to spark that connection.

Well, there ya go, lads. The Valentine’s Day edition.

Remember, rom-coms are fun to watch occasionally. But don’t get too crazy.