A few years ago, Zach Schleien began to notice a pattern in his online dating life. Conversations over chat features quickly fizzled, and when he went through the effort of meeting people for dates, there often wasn’t chemistry. It was only when he started arranging quick video calls early on that he started to find matches efficiently.
Fast forward to 2020, Schleien launched Filteroff, an app that schedules users for a 90-second video chat after matching with each other. Users can give each other a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” afterward. If they both like each other, users can chat, schedule calls or meet in person.
The startup has grown in the two years since its launch, and Schleien says Filteroff’s plan for the year ahead includes hiring new team members, raising funds and hosting virtual events.
Since its launch, Filteroff has spread to major cities like New York City, London and Los Angeles. The app has hosted more than 7,000 virtual events in under two years and is starting to spread into other markets. Next month, the company is hosting the first of what should be many virtual date nights with residents in Rhode Island.
“These speed dating events are fun because you get a reminder an hour ahead of the dates and you can learn more about the people that will be there beforehand,” Schleien said. “During the first part of the event there are things like games and icebreakers and then it’s date time.”
The dates usually run from three to five minutes long and if each person likes the other, contact information will be provided.
When the pandemic hit, just as Filteroff was launching, Schleien said the app saw a 25-fold increase in use. The app is mainly used in the United States and the United Kingdom and has a high customer return rate among those who have tried it once, he added.
This year, Schleien said he’s hoping the company can secure a Series A round to scale up marketing and personnel.
“We just hired our first employee this week,” Schleien said. “And we’re looking to ramp up our presence all around this year.”
In the last couple of years, Schleien said, the app has led to a handful of marriages and become a surprisingly popular tool for community groups to grow and serve their members.
Schleien said while virtual hosting remains Filteroff’s “bread and butter,” he’d like to see the company branch out into real-life events.
“There’s still a huge percentage of folks that want to do this in person, so we’re working on some new tech to facilitate that as well and we hope to talk more about it later in the quarter,” he said. “For now though, growth through ads and just making the app better is what we’re focused on.”
