this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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I've been thinking for a bit now that the only way to make a dating app that actually worked for its users would be one that you pay a single fee for up-front. Then there's no incentive to keep people on it forever: you already got their money. You'd actually want people to have good experiences on it so they get their friends to sign up.
The fee would probably have to be somewhat large, both because it would have to cover operating costs for the foreseeable future, and because it would discourage catfishers.
It might still work as like, a yearly subscription, which would mean more sustainable revenue. I wouldn't do any less than that. And no a la carte options to nickel and dime people with.
You'd also want to come down hard on account sharing and reselling, for obvious reasons.
Problem is, if you go to any venture capitalist with this idea, they'll probably fund it, but then immediately sell out to Match Group the split-second they make an offer, and then the enshittification would begin.
The only way to prevent that would be to entirely crowdfund it, or have some sort of collective ownership and governance so no single greedy bastard can sell out.
But without a continuous revenue stream, there's no good way to grow your revenue forever. Eventually, you'll peak, as the majority of potential users have purchased the app, and then its downhill unless we get another baby boom.
Could that not be a business model for an entrepreneur? Make the app, advertise it as a limited time only thing. Get the entry fee from everyone and at the end it shuts down. Like those pop up shops. With proper advertisement it could work well since it would go against the counter culture of what regular dating apps are. They would have an incentive to properly match everyone as quick and well as they can since the app isn't here forever.