Joe Goldman started the dating app Maple Match with a simple idea: He wanted to connect more Americans with Canadians.
"I grew up in Houston, and we had a lot of Canadians around there, and I had an opportunity to meet a lot of Canadians," Goldman told DC Inno. "They’re pretty similar to us and Canada is right there, too, but not many people go there."
The idea had been in the back of his mind for a while, and then Donald Trump came around. That's when Goldman saw his chance.
"I have to emphasize—the coolest part is not the 'Trump Effect,'" Goldman said. "The coolest part for me was that I really wanted to do this for a long time, but now that Trump's a thing I felt like I could do this."
Since Tuesday's election, Maple Match's user base has tripled, and Goldman said they're quickly reaching four times where they were Monday. And although Goldman has been collecting names for the app's waitlist since April 2016, they didn't officially launch until Saturday. So you could say it's been a busy first few days for the quickly growing app.
Currently, Maple Match is only available in iOS, but Goldman said the company has been looking for ways to expand to other platforms soon to fit the growing demand.
"When I went to bed, and when I woke up, we had doubled," said Goldman about the growth after Election Day.
But although Goldman is based out of Austin now, his entrepreneurial roots stem back to D.C. when he was a part of a now defunct startup that was under 1776.
That's why Goldman maintains ties and friendships in the D.C. tech community. (If you were at the WeWork Election Night party Tuesday, you might've seen Goldman in his Maple Match shirt sharing information about the app.)
"People in the D.C. tech community have been essential to me being able to do this," he said.
While Maple Match doesn't have clear D.C. numbers yet, Goldman said that prior to the election, Maple Match's waitlist had 1500-2000 people from the DMV. Again, that was before the election.
"People in D.C. are excited to talk with people in other places and from other cultures," he said. "The excitement for Maple Match was there."
Images used via CC0 1.0 — credit ErikaWittlieb
