"No, Kiss is not 'Tinder for High School.' We're more innocent, romantically focused."
"Can I call you back; the bell just rang" asked Samuel Lurye, the 16-year-old founder of Social Synergy Media, one of the latest startups to be accepted into Chicago accelerator Catapult.
Three minutes later and Lurye was back on the phone. "Sorry, I guess that's one of the few problems with running a startup while in high school. I have to constantly switch rooms when the bell goes off."
And though it's easy to imagine a laundry list of obstacles for a high school entrepreneur, accommodating the bell schedule appears to be the only one that's truly slowing down this Lincoln Park High School Junior.
In less than a month, Lurye will be launching Kiss, the first product to fall under his Social Synergy Media umbrella. Kiss is a dating app that allows high-schoolers to anonymously gauge their chances for a romantic relationship with people in their social circles. Users digitally send a "Kiss" to a friend, an anonymous message that includes a picture of the user and of two other peers. The receiver - not knowing who of the three the message came from - selects the individual that they're interested in, allowing the sender to know if they have a chance or not without risking embarrassment.
"You can spend a lot of time in high school thinking about whether someone likes you or not," explained Lurye. "It can drive you crazy. Kiss is an easy way to find out if it's time to move forward or if it's time to move on."
Last summer, Lurye knew that he wanted to move forward and turn an idea into a business; he just didn't know where to start.
"All of the extracurricular activities in high school - like Model UN or DECA, are great - but they're models. They're not real. I wanted to actually build something."
So Lurye attended Endevvr, an Atlanta-based summer intensive that helps high school students launch startups. Throughout the course of five weeks, the program leverages university, community, and corporate partnerships to turn its students into entrepreneurs. While at the program searching for a concept, Lurye polled his friends about problems that they would like to see addressed.
"I thought I was going to get a bunch of different answers," said Lurye. "But it was all the same thing. 'Does this girl like me? Does this guy like me?' That's all we talk about in high school. And to figure this out, we just send a mutual buddy to get this information from our crush. That's when I came up with Kiss; it's basically a digital mutual friend."
Since Endevvr, Lurye, a full time student, has been chipping away at Kiss with the help of two others who are also working part time. They have recently finished the platform and they plan to launch the app to the Apple Store and to Google Play on February 14th. After that, Lurye will begin looking to raise a "large seed round," while also keeping an eye out for a CTO. Though fundraising is traditionally the most taxing, arduous process for even a seasoned entrepreneur, Lurye isn't worried about his age.
"To be honest, my age is a huge advantage and it's been a catalyst to getting people interested. There's a reason why dating apps haven't been able to penetrate the high school market. People kind of forget how teenagers think. I know because I am one."
Lurye's also prepared for what he thinks will be one of the biggest questions and concerns he'll face from investors and the public.
"No, Kiss is not 'Tinder for High School.' We're more innocent, romantically focused," assured Lurye. "The product is really selling this anti-hookup culture."
Following Kiss, Lurye hopes to build out Social Synergy Media, which he envisions as a suite of apps that help streamline personal interactions. But the timing will come down to the seed round.
Explained Lurye, "I've kind of made a deal with my parents. Depending on the money raised, I might be able to skip a year or two of college."
(Images via Social Synergy Media)
