Two Female Entrepreneurs Take On Dating Apps With A Non-Monogamous Bet
Is there one dating app to rule them all? Not according two female entrepreneurs who are betting big on a non-monogamous approach to the world of dating apps by releasing multiple targeted apps for people of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and religions.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that there are a lot dating apps out there, like a lot, a lot. After all, dating, relationships, love, and well … sex are critically important parts of the human experience. That makes it a space with near universal demand since almost everyone is looking for a relationship of one kind or another.
The trendiest name in dating right now is probably Tinder. The app has gained quite a bit of attention with it’s all-too simple approach to dating. However, I don’t think you can fit everyone into Tinder’s swipe mentality. After all, there’s a lot more to dating than just a profile picture. And even if you’re a more specialized app for a specific community, like Grindr for instance, there is still more to dating than looks alone.
There are lots of apps out there that are trying to offer novel solutions with different approaches to the problem. Some are placing time limits on making a connection, others are limiting who can start conversations.
For the founders of Crush Mobile, Sonya Kreizman and Natasha Nova, the dating app landscape presents an opportunity not for an all-in-one solution, but rather focused unique apps for different communities. This pair of female entrepreneurs is looking to build not just one killer dating app, but rather a successful company that offers multiple apps catering to the unique and varied communities in the world.
Currently, their company, Crush Mobile, has released three dating platforms: MiCrush for Latinos, JCrush for Jews, and UrbanCrush for African Americans. The pair have already had some success and recently announced that MiCrush has amassed 400k downloads and helped make 1.5M matches.
“Our main goal with Crush Mobile has always been to bring more specificity to dating,” says Crush Mobile CEO and Co-Founder Sonya Kreizman. “By developing culturally conscious apps, our users are able to navigate through potential matches faster and more effectively for meaningful relationships.”
This is a refreshing alternative to the approach of a lot of the other apps on the market in that it accounts for the unique elements of culture and community, instead of just superficial interests. But of course the company is looking at more than just cultural affinity in its apps.
For instance, in the newly release MiCrush for the Latino community users have multiple filters that they can apply to find potential matches. Beyond that, the app has tailored the UX to make it culturally relevant. One example is the “Holas” feature, which allows users to start a conversation even before a match is made. This strikes me as a uniquely creative touch, since the developers are not just marketing the app to a specific community, but integrating cultural references throughout the UI that reinforces this experience.
“As female entrepreneurs, we know how it feels when you are a single female looking for love on a dating app. We wanted to create a safer environment for our single female users that would make them feel comfortable and courted before choosing which Crush to meet in person,” Kreizman added. “Our chat features make it so that women don’t feel pressured into giving their phone numbers right away to connect on another messaging app such as What’s App or Viber. In our chat, our users can take it slow and get to know each other by sending voice notes, photos and videos, songs, GIFs, etc.”
Crush Mobile has taken on a crowded and difficult market. But surely, there is a lot of room for different experiences and communities to exist in the world of dating. The approach of the founders and the unique perspective they bring will help them provide solutions for the dating world. I look forward to seeing what new community they address next.