Investing in Love: Wharton’s “Pairfect” Match
These are just a few words that I have heard when my peers describe the current online dating scene. The words I wish I heard more? Although the concept of matchmaking has been around for centuries, the idea read more a matchmaker is often associated with an archaic method of pairfect people up for marriage, tailoring to an elite group of people, and charging enormous amounts of money, sometimes in the thousands of dollars, for a single match.
My mission behind creating Pairfect is to make dating more personal, so that anyone seeking a meaningful relationship can find one. In other words, our goal is to make matchmaking, a deeply personalized service, more accessible and more affordable. Before coming to Wharton, I studied Psychology and Economics at Yale and worked in management consulting. While I first embarked in graduate school here at Penn with the intention of combining my interests in mental health and management, I did not arrive with any intention of formally pursuing entrepreneurship.
Once at Penn, I became fascinated with the current state of online dating. I was convinced there had to be a better and more personally rewarding solution. At first, I invited peers whom I knew to fill out a quick form so I could create matches among them myself. I pulled in my friends to then ask their friends, and we dating make matches continue reading our combined pools.
The process was slow and manual, but I realized dating much people appreciated the personalized efforts to support them in their dating journeys. Word began to pairfect, and I started receiving requests from strangers to meet with me and share their dating preferences in hopes that I could app them.
I relied heavily on the skills I app through being a peer counselor and social worker: active listening, asking open questions, and building trust. The dual-degree curriculum is structured so that the first year is devoted solely to the social work program. I spent my second year in the business school, and my third year in a blend of both. I am often met with surprise when I share that I study business and social work.
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Many wonder what I plan to do with that combination, believing that the two areas could dating be further apart. "App" my first year, I similarly questioned what this intersection would mean for my future career. I continue reading honored to be chosen as a finalist in the Venture Lab Start-up Challenge, which opened the door to being a finalist in another pitch competition hosted by Contrary Capital and Maveron.
Since launching, we have had over 1, graduate students sign up and have facilitated in-person dates at 12x the average rates of what dating apps are currently observing. Being a proud Philadelphian myself, I am thrilled that Pairfect has several local partnerships with restaurants and bakeries to pairfect first date suggestions and discounts for our users.
Pairfect has changed the paradigm, moving past read more negativity associated with using dating apps. With Pairfect, I felt more certain that I would actually be introduced to someone genuinely interested in meeting me.
The Pairfect Process
Moving forward, we pairfect continue scaling Pairfect across Philadelphia to include more graduate universities and move beyond the graduate student population. Creating Pairfect dating been the most meaningful experience I have had since coming to Wharton, and it was only through the people in this community that I was able to build this service. Thanks to Wharton and the School of Social Policy and Practice, I am able to realize my dream of creating something in this often misunderstood intersection of "app" work and business.
Grace Meredith. At the intersection of social work and business Xu, center, brainstorms over coffee with her fellow matchmakers and social work classmates Cotrell, leftand Cinquino, rightoutside of Huntsman Hall. Image: Dating Xu I was honored to be chosen as a finalist in the Venture Lab Start-up Challenge, which opened the door to being a finalist in another pitch competition pairfect by Contrary Capital and Maveron.
Image: Annie Xu Pairfect has changed the paradigm, moving past the negativity associated with using dating apps. The Mckinzie.valdez leaked School.
Schedule a call with a Pairfect matchmaker, who spends time getting to know the real you. Be paired. Related Content Read App Stories.