• Wouldn’t dating apps be better if they focused on the individual rather than looks?

  • Isn’t attraction something much deeper, and is as much based on interests and values?

  • Time for the end of the superficial, ‘swipe right’, image-centric world of dating apps?

Entrepreneur Adam Cohen Aslatei, of dating app S’More, certainly thinks so. Having more than 10 years of experience working for the giants (The Meet Group and Bumble/Magic Labs) of the dating market, Adam redesigned the whole game to help real people develop real relationships, for real and lasting results.

Looking for Something More?

Adam, having operated as a C-Level executive in the dating industry, and having designed his first dating website as a graduate student at Harvard in 2008, knew that the traditional systems weren’t working. He concluded they were designed to fail.

Due to the image-centric user interface of most dating apps, rather than connecting people they encouraged objectivization and judgement based on little more than a selfie. Fake or doctored/airbrushed profile pictures and inauthentic avatars of individual App users abound.

In a chance encounter with a disheartened and still single millennial dater, Adam learnt about the negative impacts superficial or image-focused, fast-casual dating apps had on those they were designed to help. Gorgeous women of color recounted her experience of feeling judged, her frustration with the superficiality of air-brushed profile pictures, swiping on toros, talking with catfishers, receiving unsolicited nudes and fabricated messages, and profile bios that seemed fake. Adam realised that eager singles had inadvertently turned dating into a game, presenting their sexiest 5% and not revealing who they were as a person. And the results were unimpressive, hundreds of wasted hours, huge frustration and anxiety and more singles than ever before. Daters have been longing for something more’ or ‘S’More’.

There’s S’More than meets the eye

Launched in 2020, S’More is the first anti-superficial dating and relationship app, with 100% verified members, and behavioural rating scores. Only after a series of interactions, based on an account holder’s fully customisable and interactive profile and stated interests, will another user see a profile picture or be able to video-call.  By this time a deeper engagement has been developed, informed by interests rather than looks. This is not only anti-superficial but is more likely to truly connect people for a lasting relationship. S’More’s secret, profiles are unstructured and feel like Myspace pages with multi-media elements, meaning no two profiles feel alike, this leads to more discovery.

S’More’s offering doesn’t end there. It has just called a wrap on its 60th episode of its celebrity dating show, ‘S’More Live Happy Hour’, featuring actresses like Olivia Culpo, supermodels Martha Hunt, and countless Bravolebrities like Carl Radke and D’Andra Simmons. On the back of this venture, S’More has just signed a Hollywood production deal for dating content for network TV and streaming content. Efforts are underway to secure celebrity investors and partners, to enhance the next stage of growth.

What is more, S’More is expanding the usually limited focus of dating apps. It is aiming to facilitate not only romance but other forms of relationships, friendships, companionship, and common interest too. This is definitely in demand as COVID-lockdowns have restricted other social interaction.

There’s no business like S’More business

In under 12 months, S’More is a top 200 most downloaded Apple Store app, gaining more than 165,000 account holders, including thousands of paying Premium Account holders. In the Seed round, S’More raised $2.1 million leading to a total of $3.2 million invested, far outstripping other dating apps at an equivalent stage of development. S’More is projected to be in the top 10 of all downloaded relationship apps by the end of 2021.

Adam knows the playbooks of other players in the market and he knows there is nothing quite like S’More on the market. This app is radically going to shake up the industry’s offering which can only be a good thing for millions of singles. But with engagement, retention, and monetisation metrics already on par with leading operators, and an industry growing at 18% / year (2020), S’More will likely it will be one of the most successful relationship/discovery apps of 2021.

(Image sourced from: S’more)