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by balls187 4035 days ago
The criticisms made against dating startups could be levied for many other market segments as well. I imagine that if investors are shying away from dating startups, it's for no other reason than Dating Startups are no longer in vogue (because dating is complex), and the heard tends to stick together. Dating is a common problem, and investors have gotten "dating app" fatigue.

Here are some counter points.

> I’ve heard [Churn] numbers as high as 20-30% monthly

Making an argument based on hear-say.

> Dating is niche and has a shelf-life

So is the market segment for weddings, and newborns. Underserved niche markets are ripe for "disruption" which follows with it--investment.

> Dating products have historically depended on paid acquisition channels to build their customer base,

Source?

> City-by-city expansion sucks

It's an extra challenge, but ubers, and airbnb's and many other marketplace as a service have figured it out.

> Demographic mismatch with older, married investors

While there are investors whose methodology precludes them from investing in markets that have not bearing on them, it's probably safe to assume at one point in their life, they had to date.