Re:Tyranny of the Marginal User: why software gets worse, no...
by wiremine on Thursday September 14, 2023 @01:27PM
(#37511997)
> Online dating sites have gotten worse because the Match Group monopolizes them. There's hardly any competition.
I recently helped a group look at launching a dating app over a six month period. Here are a few take aways:
1. Nobody really likes the dating app experience. Most users have a few dating apps installed at any given time.
2. Therefore, it's relatively easy to break into the market. You start with a single geography and a single niche, and use marketing to gain a pre-launch group of a few thousand individuals.
3. The MRR is not great, and churn is around 2 months. Therefore, it's a hard market to scale into effectively without a lot of money.
4. Beyond the financials, the ethics are interesting. You're either selling your users to advertisers, or you're you're nickel-and-diming your users for low-value features.
Ultimately the group we were involved with decided to invest their money and time into other projects.
That all said: Match.com has a monopoly because most startups want a quick exit, and not actually solve the core problems. If someone like Facebook really wanted to enter the market and win, they could crush Match.com, IMHO. (Not saying that would be a good thing, just pointing out it's possible.)
I recently helped a group look at launching a dating app over a six month period. Here are a few take aways:
1. Nobody really likes the dating app experience. Most users have a few dating apps installed at any given time.
2. Therefore, it's relatively easy to break into the market. You start with a single geography and a single niche, and use marketing to gain a pre-launch group of a few thousand individuals.
3. The MRR is not great, and churn is around 2 months. Therefore, it's a hard market to scale into effectively without a lot of money.
4. Beyond the financials, the ethics are interesting. You're either selling your users to advertisers, or you're you're nickel-and-diming your users for low-value features.
Ultimately the group we were involved with decided to invest their money and time into other projects.
That all said: Match.com has a monopoly because most startups want a quick exit, and not actually solve the core problems. If someone like Facebook really wanted to enter the market and win, they could crush Match.com, IMHO. (Not saying that would be a good thing, just pointing out it's possible.)