Newsletter #0 - What is Meet The Otter?
Dating is broken. MTO is reinventing it from the content you read to the experience you have. Here's the backstory...
In a recent newsletter we asked:
Sounds like we could do better here. Great, let’s do that!
Dating is broken
We hear this all the time. Let’s explain how it is broken.
Inefficient. People spend an average of 20hrs/week swiping on dating apps without any guarantee of a date.
Scary. The divorce rate is 6x higher if you meet online than in real life.
Stunted. There are 1500+ dating apps yet not much has evolved in the experience since the debut of online dating in 1995.
Unaffordable. If you want to skip the apps for other options, matchmaking starts at $1000/date.
If you’re actually trying to meet someone, this is mildly miserable.
Introducing
Meet The Otter | The New Way to Meet through Friends.
Singles join with non-single friends, who can match people, follow dating journeys, and refer more singles to the dating pool. Singles date and meet matches while being supported by their private community of friends (the matchmakers) rooting for them. And that’s just the basics - there will be rewards for setting up matches and for going on dates. There will be dating coaches. There will be events. Just you wait…
While we build the app, Meet The Otter sends a weekly newsletter and hosts in person events to do real time matchmaking. Newsletters and events are how we grow our community. When the app launches, we hope you will join us for this next iteration of dating so singles can meet through friends at any time.
The Name
We decided on Meet The Otter because
The obvious reason: Mates hold hands to avoid drifting apart when sleeping in the water.
This company is about finding partnership.
Not so obvious reasons:
Otters rest in groups in the water to avoid getting wrapped up in seaweed.
Singles need community on this journey.Otters are known as a keystone species, critical to how an ecosystem functions.
Singles are an important part of society.Otters are thick-skinned, rather furred. They have the thickest fur of any animal.
Being single is not normalized in society. If you don’t want to be single, you gotta be thick-skinned about it.
THE BACKSTORY
This company is built off of a true story.
I’m Simran Dua, the founder of Meet The Otter. Over the last 15+ years, I tried 13 different dating sites/apps, spent $10K on a matchmaker and lacked that thick-skin at first.
As a 39-year-old unmarried South Asian woman, I “achieved” everything expected of me - great schools, great companies, great community. Yet I felt like a failure often because of my relationship status. Between social pressure and the fact that I’d tried everything, this part of my life was embarrassing. Then one day I tried something new.
I hacked together my own dating solution. And…it worked. I was supported by community, getting set up on dates, and actually having fun. Oh, and I met someone.
Meet The Otter is the platform to scale my own solution to the masses.
YOUR ROLE
Here’s how you can help.
Spread this link to our website like a free ice cream email from Ben and Jerry’s to singles and non singles. Folks can sign up for the launch waitlist and the weekly newsletter there.
If you want to contribute to Meet The Otter in other ways (e.g. recruit, social media, invest, PR, events), shoot me an email at simran@meettheotter.com. Let’s talk!
THANKS FOR READING
We’ve got love on the line here, folks. If what you read resonates, please share this with friends.
Your friendly neighborhood entrepreneur,
Simran