Krush - The dating app

[krush]

Krush is your personal matchmaker. It understands who you are and matches you with compatible friends and friends of friends in a fun, safe and discreet way.

If the feelings are mutual, Krush breaks the ice and introduces the two of you.

Follow all the action on Facebook too: www.facebook.com/krushapp

[onion2k]

Does "big data" style network graph analysis of people's social circles actually work to find people to date? Is there any evidence that the analysis bit of online dating does anything to promote successful relationships? Would simply showing people a randomised list of single people in their vicinity work just as well? I'd love it to be true that it's possible to work out an approximate level of compatibility using available data, but I've never seen any real evidence that it works. Undoubtedly online dating works; plenty of people find someone to date online. But pretty much 100% of the time it's down to the photo and the messages sent rather than anything in the user's profile (based on anecdotal evidence of myself and many friends).

Interestingly, KRUSH could actually test their algorithm for this really easily - just measure whether people message matches more often when they've rated the two people as compatible. Unfortunately you'd have to not show people their compatibility scores though otherwise you might be influencing the likelihood of someone sending a message, which presumably would devalue the perception of the product for users.

[krush]

Thanks for taking the time to articulate this :) I just responded to lun4r about why the proximity-based model doesn't work in the East.

We're not sure if there is evidence that "big data" style network graph analysis of people's social circles works. But what we do know is that a lot of relationships materialize between friends of friends offline.

Having said that, we used that as the germ of an idea for Krush. We have some way to go before the algorithms are satisfactorily refined, but hopefully Krush will be "the evidence" that you're talking about.

Stay tuned!! :)

[onion2k]

Interestingly, and probably because I'm a liberal, white Westerner, I hadn't even considered the impact prejudices (social class, race, religion, etc) make on who you might want to date. I just assumed that everyone who meets a few criteria and lives close by would be an option. To that end, an app makes a lot of sense.

But at the same time, maybe using an app will reinforce those prejudices, and that might not really be such a good thing.

[krush]

Point taken.

The Indian market is saturated with matrimonial services and there are no serious players in the casual dating market. Having said that, for now, we're focussing on giving people what they want :)

[mathattack]

As a married person, this does conceptually make sense. It's much better to date a friend of a friend than a stranger in a bar. I suspect that there are secrets in the network that could suggest likely candidates. (Just like people with weak links to you but strong links outside your existing network can help with job intros, they can also help with dating connections.)

When I was single, I just remember thinking, "There are so many folks online that I would never consider dating." Something like this could have narrowed the search down. Ultimately I married a classmate that was a friend of a friend.

Good luck with this!

[krush]

Hey, thanks :-) We're working our butts off and moving lightening fast to make this happen.

Stay tuned...

[warrenmar]

Reminds me a bit of coffee meets bagel except instead of a single match, you get a batch. I wonder how facebook fatigue affects conversion. There probably isn't another way to find 2nd degree friends besides facebook login, or is there?

[krush]

We're not sure Facebook "fatigue" per se will affect conversion.

The Facebook login is simply a tool to sign in regardless of your activity level on Facebook.

The response has been pretty terrific so far. Over 95% of sign ups have returned to rate their batch every single day × 4 days consecutively so far.

Give it a shot and mail us your feedback to [e-mail]

Cheers :-)

[lun4r]

how is this different than Tinder/CMB? Also, if many of my friends have a friend in common that I'm not connected with there is a high probability that I know this person and decided not to be connected with him/her. Not cool if my profile pops up on his/her phone (may be my ex who I've unfriended on fb..)

[krush]

I can't comment on CMB because it doesn't work here in India.

As for Tinder, the big difference is that it's primarily proximity based. While this works fine in the West, the realities in the East is completely different.

I'm a bit ashamed to say this, but the caste system is wired into every Indian at some level or the other. This means that certain schools, professions and ultimately people are perceived as being "above" others.

So, for example, it would be a big NO to connect a bartender with a journalist just because they happen to be in the same proximity. Or a pizza delivery guy to a law student for that matter. I went to college in the US and knew a bartender who dated a journalist, as well as a pizza guy who dated a law student. In the twenty odd years I've lived in India though, I have never come across such a thing.

The reality simply is society in the West functions differently from the East. A mutual friend being the core of your experience (as opposed to proximity) goes a long way in connecting people who belong to a similar social class/status and maintaining the quality of data.

There are a bunch of other things that significantly differentiate Krush from Tinder. Give Krush a try for a few days and you'll figure them out :) But thanks for your comment!

[krush]

We are also working with some amazing facial recognition technology that will roll out in 2014. Stay tuned :-)

[fruks]

2 Girls like me, makes we want to continue using this app.

[krush]

Haha, I'm on 7 here :P But my co-founder isn't telling me who they are.

[fruks]

Went 2 or 3 batches but now it doesn't seems to be giving me any more. Just getting the "Give us abit message"

[krush]

Hey, we're thrilled you want more :) That message could be one of a few things:

- You have too few friends/friends of friends of the opposite sex

- Available suggestions don't meet your criteria because they're listed as married on Facebook

- Your Facebook friends are primarily in a different city

- Or a few other possibilities

Tried tapping the orange "Retry" button at the bottom? You'll have more suggestions available the moment another Facebook friend of yours signs up for Krush. Feel free to let someone know :)

Thanks for your interest, fruks! It means a lot to us. Cheers

[fruks]

I have about 250 friends mostly in a 100km radius and about 40%-50% female. Tapping the retry button doesn't do anything

[notastartup]

    Give us a bit

    We are busy putting together a new batch of perfect people

This is what I am getting on my first attempt just now.

[krush]

Shucks. Sorry to hear that. It's probably one of few things:

- You have too few friends/friends of friends of the opposite sex

- Available suggestions don't meet your criteria because they're listed as married on Facebook

- Your Facebook friends are primarily in a different city

- Or a few other possibilities

Tried tapping the orange "Retry" button at the bottom?

Thanks for the alert :-)

Cheers

[notastartup]

that explains it I created a facebook account just prior as there was no other way to use the app without a facebook account.

[krush]

Yep. But thanks for taking the time to check it out :) We appreciate your interest.