[beat]

Finding dates is a near-universal problem. If you're relying on people you know, you're limited to your social circle - professional contacts (which can be fraught with peril), blind dates set up by friends, blind dates set up by your mother...

The fact that dating apps were one of the first popular uses of the internet for ordinary people (the big players mostly date back to the dotcom era) says a lot about the value proposition. The problem is, it's very hard to increase the value beyond what the current players already offer.

edit: The "blind dates from your mother" strikes home with me. My own kids are 21 now. It's very tempting to set them up! I was really excited when my daughter got her first professional-in-her-field job recently, just on the off chance she'd meet someone who really shares her interests. Sigh.