Johnson Khoo 
The Next 100 Billion Dollar Start-Up Will Be A Dating App
Dating has been an age-old problem that many entrepreneurs tried to solve.
However, no one has thoroughly solved the problem of helping every human being in the world find and live happily ever after with their one true love yet.
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Dating Is A Complicated Problem To Solve
The reason no one has truly solved it yet is because dating is an extremely complicated problem to solve. It is NOT AS SIMPLE as matching people with each other or creating a platform for people to find each other.
To solve the dating problem thoroughly, an app not only has to help single people find each other, but also help THE RIGHT PEOPLE find each other, and help them along with their long journey ahead as soulmates so they can live happily ever after and grow old together.
Dating Is Social 2.0
Dating is the next level of social networking.
As with all problems that involve human interaction and a social aspect, we would need to build a complete set of tools that helps facilitate or make each step/interaction easier.
The 100 Billion Dollar Dating App Has To Solve Everything About Dating
Just like how Facebook kept innovating from just a college directory to:
- Adding Like Buttons & Super Pokes
- Having A NewsFeed
- Photo Tagging Functions
- Birthday Reminders
- A Proper Messenger
… and much more to help friends stay in touch better, a dating platform would have to keep innovating and build features that would:
- Understand Each User Well Enough To Know Who’s Right For Them
- Help Compatible People Find Each Other Better In A Fun Way
- Help Facilitate Conversations As A Mutual Friend Would
- Help Couples Know Each Other Better
- Help Couples Build & Maintain Their Relationship Throughout Their Lifetime
It is a feature war.
Losing Sight Of Your Mission Means Death
If you lose sight of the problem you’re trying to solve, either by succumbing to pressure from the wrong investors or try to monetise too quickly, you’ll end up like Friendster or Myspace.
“梦想可以改变，可是使命不可以改变
You can change the route you take, but you have to stay true to your mission“
马云/Jack Ma
The Problem With Current Dating Apps
Unfortunately, most dating platforms today are not led by a visionary founder that’s truly passionate about helping everyone find their right life partners and continue helping them build and maintain their romance so they’d live happily ever after.
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Even if they wanted to, most lack a deep enough understanding of what makes a couple right for each other to build the necessary tools and data graph to introduce the right people to each other.
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The Fundamental Relationship Principles I Am Building Wowwwz On
Too Superficial
Most dating platforms today are owned by one big dating conglomerate or are regional copycats of the same thing with slight variations.
They are either too superficial — mostly based on looks & location — or way too serious that you won’t find anybody on the platform until you are above 35.
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With such platforms, you will probably have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, and it is going to be very hard to find someone who shares the same values as you and is truly compatible with you as a life partner.
When you eventually realise it, it might be too late.
Too Comfortable Where They Are
Despite their lack of depth, that is the best people have right now, and since dating is a fundamental global problem that everyone faces, people still use it.
It is still a 2 Billion USD a year market right now.
Take a look at Match Group — used to be part of IAC, and owns Tinder, match.com etc.
Because of that, current dating platforms are pretty comfortable where they are and don’t really feel the need to innovate or go further in trying to solve the problem thoroughly.
Online Dating Today Is A Stupid Business That Investors Hate
Besides that, new dating platforms that are trying to innovate and make things better often struggle to get funding from investors to build out their innovation.
Apart from the wave of dating apps a few years ago sparked by the traction Tinder got — a result of an internal hackathon within match.com — and the popularity of apps like Down To Bang at that time, investors have generally been reluctant to back dating apps.
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*Tinder started from an internal hackathon in match.com & has never raised external funding, it is fully funded internally by Match Group which also owns match.com and other dating platforms. It used to be part of IAC group, which spun all their dating assets off into a separate company now known as Match Group.
Online dating as it exists today is a stupid business because:
-
The Better You Are At Matching People, The Faster Users Leave
Imagine if you are single right now, you use Tinder or match.com, found someone, and all of a sudden, you can’t be on the app anymore, because that would be cheating.
That’s like having a restaurant that serves amazing food that you can only visit once.
An App That Both Singles & Couples Can Use Daily
Because of that, the best and the last dating app that eventually manages to solve the dating problem thoroughly needs to be a lifestyle app that both singles and couples can use daily for all their relationship needs (according to the stage they are in, single, dating someone or married) for the duration of their lifetime.
A Facebook For Our Romantic Lives
Just like how Facebook helps us with all things that has to do with staying in touch with friends and our social circles, the last and the best dating app has to do the same thing for our romantic lives.
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2. High Churn Rate, High Costs Of Acquisition & Low Customer Lifetime Values
Due to the nature of how current dating platforms operate, it results in a very high churn rate, where people leave often and don’t stay long.
Since each batch of new users will eventually leave the platform, that results in high costs of acquisition for every new batch of single users which also has relatively low customer lifetime values.
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Why Start-Ups Today Need To Raise More & More Money Just To Get Started?
A Focus On Squeezing Every Penny Out Of You During That Short Window
That is why most dating platforms today only focus on squeezing as much money out of their single users (through credits & subscriptions) in that short window when they are still single or are not frustrated at your platform yet.
Instead, they should really be focusing on figuring out how to build more tools to help you find not just any partner, but someone who is truly compatible with you and continue helping the both of you on your romantic journey together.
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Why Investors Don’t Fund Dating — By Andrew Chen
Why Dating Is More Than A 500 Billion USD Market
The reason why the next 100 Billion USD start-up would be a dating app is because whoever manages to thoroughly solve dating and be an integral part of all our romantic lives would have conquered a market that is worth much more than 500 Billion USD.
*500 Billion USD is the size of the digital advertising market in the US a few years ago, add in the entire Valentines Day market, dining, vacations, family planning, gifts & the blue ocean of micro-services in the form of dating tools, it is worth much more.
Romance Plays A Huge Part In Everyone’s Lives
When you were single, how much time did you spend looking for your soulmate and going on dates trying to know potential suitors better?
When you are seeing someone or married, how much time and money do you spend every month hanging out with your other half?
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Our Soulmate Or Our Search For One Takes Up A Lot Of Our Time
All the time spent texting your boyfriend/girlfriend, looking for new and interesting places to go and reminiscing on the sweet moments you both had together will all be done on the platform.
Everyone Would Use It Every Day
If you’re single, you’ll use it every day to get to know more like-minded people who might turn out to be someone special.
If you’re married or in a relationship, you will be using it every day to look for more interesting things to do together, manage your chores/anniversaries/family planning/couple goals and document the memorable moments in your time together.
There’s no doubt that you will be using the platform every day.
The Main Lead Generator For All Things Romance
All the restaurant/cafe dates, staycations, gifts and experiences will also be planned through the platform that eventually manages to thoroughly solve dating.
It will become the main lead generator for ALL THINGS ROMANCE and become an integral part of our every day lives.
History Repeats Itself — Search Engines, Social Networking, Dating
If there is one thing that I’ve learnt, it is that history tends to repeat itself.
Google & Facebook today are both worth well over 100 Billion USD, and whoever manages to thoroughly solve the dating problem and become the last and the best dating app everyone uses daily looks set to become the next 100 Billion USD (at least) company.
- Fundamental Global Problem
- Many Big Players, No Clear Winner
- A Global Monopoly
The online dating scene today looks eerily familiar to the time when the “search engine wars” and the “social networking wars” were still ongoing.
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The Dating App Wars
Dating is a fundamental global problem just like search & social networking, there are many big players who are doing more or less the same thing — just like Friendster/Myspace/Hi5 & Yahoo/AltaVista/MetaCrawler, and now we are just waiting for the start-up that can thoroughly solve the problem and that start-up will eventually become the Facebook & Google of dating.
History has proven time and time again that if someone comes up with a solution that is way better than anything that existed before it, everyone will use it.
Just like how Facebook proved to be a better way to stay in touch with friends than writing letters & Google proved that it is a better way to access information than visiting a library or looking through a phone directory.
Who Will Be The Last & The Best Dating App?
The start-up that would eventually become the last & the best dating app that everyone would use daily to meet all their relationship needs to:
- Stay True To It’s Mission Of Helping Everyone Find & Build Lasting Relationships
- Build A Comprehensive Set Of Tools That Solves All Relationship Problems
- From Finding The Right Partner For Singles
- To Building & Maintaining A Relationship For Couples
Hopefully, with your understanding and support, it can be a start-up from Malaysia.
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I Need Your Help To Help Everyone Find True Love
However, after sacrificing 10 years of my life trying to start a truly innovative start-up that could change the world from Malaysia, it seems like it is impossible for a start-up like Facebook or Google to ever have a chance of getting built in Malaysia.
We are severely under-funded, VCs here don’t seem to understand start-ups that don’t generate revenue (during the early stages like Google & Facebook) or are not copycats, are too risk adverse & users are also less tolerant of buggy first iterations — Facebook was also just a buggy college directory with hyperlinks when it first started.
That is why I need all the help and understanding I could get from you guys to ever have a chance at succeeding in building Wowwwz into what I envision it to be — a platform that would help everyone in this world find their right life partners & continue to live happily ever after.
“让天下没难做的生意” — 马云/Jack Ma
Jack Ma’s mission for Alibaba is for there to be “no hard business in the world”, my mission for Wowwwz is for “everyone to find true love & live happily ever after”.
“让天下的人都找到属于自己的幸福” — 邱崇圣/Johnson Khoo
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I hope you will help me out a little here so that I can build the tools to help everyone in this world find their soulmate whom they can grow old together and live long happy lives with.
If you have access to a brand, company, working building, community or even VCs, let me know; I can help you build a community of people who like your product or brand and introduce them to each other, or bring a community closer by introducing people at the same building or company to each other!
You can reach me at johnson@wowwwz.com or LinkedIn.
Don’t forget to SHARE this story and all related stories to as many of your friends too, we need to more people to spread the word so we can start a positive paradigm shift in our ecosystem.
Also, you can help by downloading the app, give us a good rating, subscribe to my Youtube Channel about relationships-coming soon, leave your email, join this Facebook Group and check back every few months for cool updates.
*Search for Wowwwz on the App Store or Play Store to download
JohnsonKhooTV — Subscribe to my upcoming Youtube Channel where I will be talking about real life stories about love & relationships
FB Group To Stay Updated On Wowwwz’s Journey — Join this Facebook Group so you can stay updated on our journey, new features and new stories and new updates on our quest to build a start-up that could help everyone in this world find true love and live happily ever after
You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
More stories and articles can be found on my blog johnsonkhoo.com or via this link to a list of all published stories here.
Help me out, because many people’s lifetime happiness is in your hands.
Once you’ve downloaded the app and signed up, you can also start to meet other amazing single people in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore who share the same values and interests as you by scanning the QR codes below.
*Search for Wowwwz on the App Store or Play Store to download
SCAN with Wowwwz to meet amazing single people in Kuala Lumpur!
SCAN with Wowwwz to meet amazing single people in Singapore!
Do SHARE this with as many of your single friends as possible so they can find their soulmate soon, we can get more traction, and raise the funding necessary to build you more cool features that will help amazing single people meet each other and amazing couples grow their relationship!
Let’s do this together!
The world needs YOUR HELP so all of us can find true love!
You have the power to become a superhero!
Johnson Khoo 