I met my wife on a dating app back in 2019. The apps weren't any better then. They were broken then and they're more broken now. I wouldn't know firsthand these days, but my single friends complain about them and how they're mostly pay to play schemes.
Now here's the part I don't love admitting: I got lucky.
Before I met my wife I was on ALL the apps. I was on OkCupid, then Tinder, then Coffee Meets Bagel, then Bumble, then Hinge. I even tried Plenty of Fish and some other small ones that no longer exist (JoinGrouper anyone?). So yes, I really was on all of them.
I spent years swiping, matching, ghosting and being ghosted, and went on more than a handful of dates that went nowhere. When I finally matched with my wife, I remeber that she barely had anything in her profile, so really I swiped based on looks. I'm sure once we matched I threw out some dumb pickup line and by some miracle she responded, and then she actually agreed to go on a date, which still feels one-in-a-million to me. (She'll say she swiped on me because I had a dog in my profile pic.)
I won the broken game, but let's be real about what happened. I flipped a coin which landed on the rest of my life.
Anyway. The idea that has stuck with me for years is the one OkCupid had. Match people on personality. I was only on it for a bit before swiping blew up, but the concept stuck with me. Somewhere along the way one conglomerate bought up most of the dating apps, and now they all work basically the same way, which is faces first, and then swiping, forever.
Looks matter for attraction, sure. But looks fade, and a relationship is really about compatibility, or at least about knowing where the two of you aren't compatible and deciding you're fine with it.
That's why I built Sprig.
Sprig asks you questions across six pillars of compatibility, covering everything from how you fight to how you spend a lazy Sunday to whether you want kids. For every answer you'll also say how much the question matters to you, and which answers you'd accept from someone else. Because who wants to date themselves? Almost nobody. There are things your person doesn't need to share with you, and things they should. Only you know which is which. Sprig doesn't tell you someone is exactly like you. It tells you how compatible you are and you control where that compatibility matters.
Then there's the part that makes Sprig feel different the second you open it. Profile photos start blurred. Every question you both answer sharpens them a little, and at 34 questions in common they pictures are fully clear. There's no deck of faces to burn or swipe through. In fact, there's no swiping at all. Seeing your face (or your potential match's face) is the reward for getting to know someone. That's the mechanic.
My goal is for our members to have fewer wasted Friday nights. Nobody wants to spend money on dinner and drinks just to find out in the first ten minutes that this isn't someone you could even be friends with. You could have spent that Friday with your friends, your dog, or just rotting on the couch. If Sprig does its job, then when you do give someone your Friday night, it'll feel more like a third date than a first date.
We're launching in Seattle first to prove the concept and will grow to other cities intentionally. When a dating app opens everywhere at once it ends up empty everywhere, so we're doing one city at a time, starting with mine. Seattle doesn't go live until enough of the city has joined for it to be worth your night.
One more thing while I have you. Sprig is free, with no ads, no selling your data, and no paying to be seen first. Your match score can't be bought, not by you and not by anyone else. I'd rather run this thing on honesty (and coffee money) than on boosts and whatever other paid gimmicks that lead to making the experience worse. Unlike other dating platforms, Sprig's goal is to get you off of Sprig (and there's more coming on how we'll make the "off-boarding" exciting!).
We called it Sprig because good things start small and grow.