Dating is the punchline of many VC inside jokes and is quickly dismissed as a "tarpit." In many cases, that's true - the mainstream dating market is over-saturated and unique ideas are rare. That's why our value proposition targets a real problem faced by real adults around the world, who are totally overlooked by the industry's tired incumbents. Just like in dating, we understand we won't be for everybody - hell, we won't be a good fit for the vast majority of investors if for no other reason they write us off as the butt of a joke. The smart money gets the last laugh. Want to see the pitch that he thought would suck? Slide into Brad Jones' DMs.
Meet Kinksters
Social Networking Platforms
We're on a mission to destigmatize the pursuit of both romantic and sexual compatibility in relationships.
About us
Tackling the loneliness epidemic by empowering people to form stronger relationships based on both romantic and sexual compatibility.
- Website
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https://meet.kinksters.dating
External link for Meet Kinksters
- Industry
- Social Networking Platforms
- Company size
- 1 employee
- Type
- Privately Held
- Founded
- 2021
- Specialties
- dating, online dating, sexuality, kink, bdsm, relationships, and social discovery
Employees at Meet Kinksters
Updates
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We're excited and honored to announce our lead angel investor Andrea Jacobson is recognized as a leading industry figure in the 2023 Global Dating Insights finance & investors report. Andrea has been an early and stalwart supporter of our mission to de-stigmatize and enable stronger relationships through sexual and romantic compatibility. It's tough to scale a business in 2023 - yet our team is determined to overcome economic and conventional-wisdom headwinds to help people and make money while we do so. Our seed round is open. Ask Andrea why she believes in our success. Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/dv_GRvmm
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We have an idea - a very good idea - for targeting a customer segment that is completely overlooked by "Big Dating." VCs and angels are broadly afraid of sex and sexuality, making this space under-capitalized and ripe for disruption. Let's go.
Want to do a startup but don’t have an idea. Find a customer segment that is a secondary thought for a large incumbent. Tailor products specifically to them. Provide more products to them. Expand their spend. #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup
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We have a winner! Meet Kinksters was the audience favorite at the "pitch slam" at tonight's Phoenix-area startup meetup hosted by Mat Sherman of Seedscout and Daniela Santangelo of Freeway. Founder/CTO Brad Jones shared our vision of better relationships through sexual and romantic compatibility - and the audience of founders and investors are on board! We have users, revenue and traction. Let's build something awesome together.
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We're serious about building a sustainable business in the notoriously-difficult adult dating space. This is what traction looks like when you don't bleed yourself dry on paid user acquisition. Just think of what we could do with a little marketing budget and the right angels as partners.
This is what dating-app traction looks like. I am bootstrapped. Didn't pay for a single one of these acquisitions. If you're like many investors, you'll laugh off dating as a tarpit. It is, honestly - in the mainstream space. Meet Kinksters is taking on an underserved market desperate for competition. My DMs are open.
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The sex-positive dating and social-discovery market is begging for some competitive shake-up. This consumer segment is begging for a product that speaks to their relationship and life goals while respecting their sexual identity. Feeld is fine, but they are a lazy market incumbent and deserve competition.
Did you see that fawning NYT article today about Feeld? Yeah, me too. They're profitable and have a relatable CEO who is a magnet for media attention - good on them. But you know what I also noticed? Feeld isn't targeting relationships and remains committed to its swipe-app roots. "Alternative" sexuality will be in the mainstream in the coming decades, and we must do all we can to help people match not just on their sexual interests but also shared life goals. You can't do that on Feeld. The article concludes with a note about the app's chat features being buggy - this has plagued Feeld FOR YEARS. The users I interview who try Meet Kinksters have written off Feeld - even if they liked it in general - because they've neglected their core product so badly for so long. This is inexcusable. There is room in the sex-positive market for competition - the kind Meet Kinksters is well-positioned to offer. Feeld exploded to sustainable profitability with as little as $500k in angel investment. Imagine what we could do!
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Meet Kinksters has a super-low CAC for a bootstrapped dating platform. Dating is investment-grade business.
Let's talk CAC (customer acquisition cost). Dating app Hulah just announced it passed the 120k user mark. It's very difficult to obtain data about private businesses so I applaud them on their transparency. Let's crunch some numbers and see how they shape up against Meet Kinksters. According to Crunchbase, Hulah has raised $4.8 million since launching in 2019 - about four years ago. If we look just at capital investment, Hulah has a investment/user CAC of $40. I launched Meet Kinksters last December and have 2971 fully-registered members today. (That is, they actually filled out a profile and passed spam filters.) I have directly invested about $20k into the business. That's a CAC of just under $7. Hulah says they've spent $0 on paid advertising or influencer marketing. Neither have I! Obviously these businesses are targeting different segments of the market, but we're both dating apps. I hear all the time about how I need "more traction" to be investable. It costs me less than 16% as this VC-backed peer to acquire a user. The data speaks for itself. Let's go.
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We're featured in not one but two leading tech publications today! Gizmodo and Mashable are covering our call for better kink-inclusiveness in technology, particularly Meta's new prudish "dating coach." Meet Kinksters has the right product for a market yearning to be treated seriously. https://lnkd.in/g3jiaQE4 https://lnkd.in/gzi7-dqD
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Conversational AI has great potential to help solve the loneliness crisis - but not when it negates your identity. We asked Carson, Meta's new "practical dating coach," and he quickly kink-shamed our needs. Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram users beware. And if you're looking for a safe place to express your whole self to others looking for love, we've got you covered - no shame.
Meet Kinksters Warns Meta's AI Will Kink-Shame You - Global Dating Insights
https://www.globaldatinginsights.com
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Sex-positive dating platform Meet Kinksters is excited to announce the launch of its industry-first trust and safety feature, enabling users to proactively verify their identities in an effort to fight catfishing and encourage safer in-person connections. “Meet Kinksters’ mission is empowering successful relationships through shared romantic and sexual compatibility right from the outset,” said founder and CTO Brad Jones. “Strong relationships are rooted in a foundation of trust, and our new identity-verification feature allows members to signal early on that they care about honesty and integrity.” Users complete identity verification by scanning a government-issued ID along with taking a “live” selfie. That data is then used to validate the user’s dating profile photos and age. This acts as a safeguard in fighting “catfishing,” where people assume fake identities online. In the United States, the user’s identity is also cross-referenced against a nationwide database of sex offenders, with matches resulting in account termination. Only the member’s age and verification status - along with the results of public-records checks - is displayed to other users. Read the full press release: https://lnkd.in/giKRcBva
IDV press release
docs.google.com