I heard about coffee meet bagel a while ago while researching online dating. The concept is simple and quite effortless. Less of a dating site and more of a way of dating in the modern world.
Coffee Meets Bagel launched in New York City in 2012, when three sisters decided there must be a better way to date in the Big Apple. They created CMB based on three guiding principles:
- Unless you want to tell others, your dating life should remain private.
- Your friends are the best conduits for your dates.
- Meeting quality people doesn’t have to be so awkward or complicated.
Users sign up through Facebook and receive one match – a.k.a. a ‘Bagel’ – every day at noon that is somehow connected to them. Members then have a time limit in which to respond with a simple LIKE or PASS. If all goes well, Coffee and Bagel are put in touch via a private company texting line and magical breakfast-y sparks will fly.
Reason why I would put bets on this could be the future of online dating is because it seems to hit most of the sticking points right now.
- Friends of friends. Leveraging what already exists and what people are doing today anyway. Using the network for the right reasons.
- Facebook. How many users does your biggest online dating site have? I bet its a drop in the ocean compared to Facebook.
- It could be free, low risk and low effort. No need to create a new profile, lie about your past, its all there in Facebook. And catfishing will drop as your friends really know who you are. And what kind of a person would you be if you recommended a catfish? Your reputation would be crap.
At the moment its not free but it would be simple to bypass the company. This would remove the pressure to squeeze every penny out of the opportunities.
This is what my single friend should have been… (Imho)
