How did you get your first 100 beta testers?

[tfreundp]

Hey hackers,

Last week I asked to get some beta users for our an AI-powered dating assistant.

I would love to know how you got your first 100 real beta user?

Plug: If you are interested in an AI-powered dating assistant designed to help improve profiles, suggest messages that get replies, and provide guidance in real-time—all based on insights from 30k+ real dating interactions. The goal? To help people level up their dating experience.

Try it here: https://bit.ly/beta_hn_vip_invite

I’m around to answer questions, get your feedback, and discuss ideas for improvement. Looking forward to building something great together!

Original thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42141219

[dvt]

N=1, but the problem with dating apps isn't improving profiles or sending better messages. The most important thing (by far) is looking good and taking good pictures, so the old bro advice of hitting the gym is pretty solid. As a single guy in my 30s, the dating experience sucks (more generally) because dating apps purposefully introduce information asymmetry, make you pay for visibility (as a man), and optimize for matches as opposed to fun irl interactions. I wrote a blog post which went viral a few years ago about exactly this here[1]. Studies also show that women tend to be much pickier than men (interestingly, only with strangers), so unless you're in the top 10-20% looks-wise, you will be basically invisible.

And for the record, my message on dating apps is always "Hey, I hate dating apps, but I like you. Let me get your number, I'll take you out on a fun date this weekend, and we'll see if we vibe."—I get the number like 85% of the time and setting up a date via text is way more intimate than doing it through a dating app.

As far as getting your 100 real beta users, my sister is working on a startup in the meditation/health space and TikTok ads worked great for her. Might cost you a bit, but from what I hear the testers are pretty high quality and regularly engage with the app.

[1] https://dvt.name/2020/02/24/rfc-lets-disrupt-dating-apps/

[tfreundp]

dvt I love everything about your comment. In my experience, it's the same.

Pictures are 90% of the job and online dating basically is how good or marketable can you sell yourself as the guy she wants to date.

I also try to get them off the dating app asap to make it more intimate.

We are thinking of buying ads/channels in huge dating discord servers and see how that plays out. Any thoughts?

Will follow your advice on tik tok ads and tell you if it actually works. Really appreciate the insightful thoughts.

[tfreundp]

Just read the article. It is fantastic. Would love to have you as a beta tester really