If you’re single in Seattle and frustrated with your dating life, there’s a new service that wants to offer a helping hand.
Two Amazon employees this month launched DateADev, a new consultation company that aims to advise tech workers who have struggled to find a romantic relationship.
Becca Goldman and Mahvish Gazipura first came up with the idea for DateADev after hearing countless stories from colleagues and peers about their struggles with dating, and specifically in the online world.
“We both work at Amazon and are surrounded by software developers and project managers all the time,” Goldman told GeekWire. “We just noticed their need. We talk to them all the time about their frustrations with dating — they are a great target audience.”
The idea is help men and women in the tech industry optimize their online profiles on apps like Tinder and OKCupid to “highlight their best self” via photos and profile descriptions. Clients can pay $99 for a 1-hour consultation meeting during which DateADev will review their online “brands” and suggest improvements.
Beyond the 1-hour consultations, DateADev also offers monthly memberships that range from $259 to $759 and provide 24/7 access to dating coaches — think of it like that friend you can go to for dating advice.
“Gold Membership is perfect for those who need some hand-holding when it comes to dating whether online or [in real life],” reads the company’s website.
The co-founders, who met at Amazon three years ago, don’t consider themselves “dating experts” by any means. But they were both early adopters of these online services and have plenty of experience helping friends beef up their online profiles.
“We think that everyone has a unique story and a lot of times that doesn’t show up on their profiles,” Gazipura explained. “We know these people in person, but when we look at their dating profiles, that’s not what we see. We are just two regular girls that have experience helping a lot of friends and think we can give brutally honest advice that will help people.”
Goldman said she’s gone on more than 500 dates in the past three years. Her experience with both good and bad dates helps her now quickly assess an online profile of a potential partner.
“I wouldn’t say that I know whether they are worth dating or marrying from their profile, but I know whether or not I’d want to meet them,” she said. “There are just things people say or the way they come across in online profiles that are either going to push me one way or the other very quickly.”
Goldman added that when she helps her male friends spruce up their Tinder profiles, they are often surprised by the photos and captions she changes.
“Usually it’s the ones they like the most, but aren’t necessarily the things women are generally looking for,” she noted.
These simple tips and changes are what DateADev hopes to offer their busy clients, helping them land better dates that can hopefully turn into a genuine relationship.
“We want to make sure they are efficient with their time and go on quality dates with quality conversations,” Gazipura noted.
There are similar services in the Bay Area, as well as traditional dating consultants. But Goldman and Gazipura think the Seattle tech scene is ripe for something like DateADev.
“Seattle has the most online daters of any other city, even San Francisco, which is shocking,” Gazipura said.
Given that the founders work at Amazon, they are familiar with the gender imbalance in the tech industry workplace and how that affects the dating scene for straight men seeking women.
“It makes it harder to stand out amongst all of the quality candidates,” Gazipura said. “There are a lot of successful, smart people with great jobs, a good personality, and a good education, but how do you set yourself apart from such a great pool? That’s why we are focusing on tech workers.”
DateADev also plans on hosting member-only casual events where single folks can mingle with one another.
For now, DateADev is a side project, but the founders say they’d consider running it full-time if it picks up steam.
“We have a lot of passion behind this,” Goldman said. “Running with it isn’t such a bad idea.”
