Quinky

Today is International Women's Day and we can't let it go unnoticed. Because Quinky wouldn't be a thing without strong, inspiring women, who believe in what they do and stand their grounds. Our CEO is a woman. Mariia Plotkina, ex-teacher who used to shapeshift the way school teachers are communicating with each other — is now on a mission to change the way people date and mate for the better. Our head of design Viktoria Savitskaya is a woman. A perfect example of impeccable work ethic, a person who can make literally anything into a captivating, cool and fun design. Our beloved expert, Laura Vowels is a woman. A perfect example of a caring professional who goes the extra mile to change relationships between people to the better. These and other women are the heart and soul of Quinky. And we would like to celebrate the women we work with, the women we pitch to, the women we work for. The strong and resilient, the soft and caring, the stubborn and the fierce. We want every woman to have the freedom to become whatever she aspires to — and we do what we can by leading with personal example. Dear women, we love you, we adore you, we're inspired by you and we work for you! Happy International Women's day!

Today we're going a bit behind the scenes to see what it's like to be an intern at Quinky. We asked Lea Napierski, who was a Sustainability Intern with Quinky for 2 months on what was her experience — and here are her answers! Q: Why did you decide to join Quinky?  L: I decided to join because I resonated with the company’s mission and wanted to be a part of an awesome team that aims to accomplish great things for our future. I wanted to gain impressions of working within the sextech industry while also being able to grow a lot as a professional by working for a startup. Q: What was your role with the project?  L: My role at Quinky required me to conduct a lot of research and to support the core team members with data and analyses. I was.also responsible for providing market insights and researching trends within the industry that help to identify market gaps for Quinky. Q: What were your expectations and did they become reality?  L: Going through the application process my expectations were solely that the team will be fun to work with and that everyone accepts you for who you are. I’d say that expectation turned into reality as everyone is very open-minded and provides a safe environment. I’ve learned a lot in the process of working in such a fast paced environment where things can change super quickly. Q: What was the most valuable thing you brought out of your internship?  L: Personally, I feel that I have grown a lot more as a professional in terms of skills and understanding my needs within the working environment. With my role I worked independently most of the time which has now added to my experience and I learned to be quick on my feet as well. I also think that it was a great experience to understand how entrepreneurship and work within the sextech industry works in practice. Q: What would you recommend to someone who wants to join a startup team as an intern?  L: I recommend you to keep an open mind and to keep asking questions. Whether you struggle with a problem or need help finding something to complete your tasks, people are so approachable and always there to help you with what you need. As with most startups the teams are rather small, so if you are looking for an opportunity for you to be highly involved and work on different tasks almost every day, this is a great place for you to develop yourself and grow your skillset. Q: What would you wish Quinky for the future?)  L: I wish Quinky all the best in the future! I’m excited to see the company and community grow bigger and stronger while continuing to empower everyone. I can’t wait to follow the journey of Quinky and everyone in the team! 

You thought it was over with Valentine's day? Nope! because February 15th is Singles awareness day. It all started as a humorous holiday, but we suggest to take it seriously and here's why: Over 2.1 billion people worldwide are single According to Statista, HALF of Denmark's population in 2023 were single According to Forbes, 57% of Americans are single — and not looking for long-term committed relationships Single doesn't mean "desperate and alone". Single means a status. It can be permanent, it can be temporary. It can be voluntary or due to circumstances. Either way, it is a shame that being single is stigmatized while it should be celebrated no less than being in a couple. Have you ever seen someone celebrating their single-ness? Maybe it's time to start?

Automatizing your dating is now a reality! Just as CRM (customer relationship manager) systems have revolutionized the way companies contact clients, personal relationship managers in dating are about to take center stage. Why? Imagine your life. You've been to places, you've studied and worked, you traveled — and you've accumulated contacts. These are people with birthdays, anniversaries, graduations. To keep in touch, you need to remember them — and you need to remember what the contact was about. And this is when personal relationship managers come in handy. Now imagine a standard dating app profile. Dozens of chats, different topics, and one urge — to find a relationship without getting into something sticky, like ghosting or an empty situationship. That's where a relationship manager will come into play. The goal of most dating apps is to get people to a match — but the interesting part doesn't end there, it begins there! People need help overcoming dating fatigue, choosing topics for conversations, having ice breakers and need help. scheduling dates in their busy calendars. A relationship manager does just that! And that's why we believe that relationship managers will be the next turning point in dating. Don't believe us? Just look at the new venture of ex-CEO of Tinder, Meeno. What do you think about relationship managers? Would you use one?

You've got mail! Well, actually, we've got mail — an email newsletter. And we're proud to say that this is one of the most efficient ways to communicate with our audience, which we truly adore (and our 45% average open rate proves our point) Why is it so efficient? 1. It's intimate. Unlike social media, on email a person has to actually open an email to see what's inside. and those who do usually read it till the end. 2. It's concise. People are busy, texts have to be short. So, we're only sending out what truly matters: it happens to keep people up-to-date, and it helps the team to crystallize what has truly mattered in the past 7 days. 3. It's beautiful. Strong design is an integral part of Quinky — and our newletter is no exception. 4. It's educational. We search out the most interesting facts about the dating world — and serve them among our hottest news. Intrigued and want to receive our newsletter? Sign up via the link: https://quinky.me

Our founder Mariia Plotkina sure has some stories to tell! Here are just a few pages from her biography — so we wanted to thank R-Founders for the opportunity to tell this blockbuster!

THIS. BROKE. THE INTERNET. A programmer from Russia built a custom tool on Tinder — and found a wife. And people have some strong opinions about it. What happened? A 23 year-old AI enthusiast Aleksandr Zhadan got tired of looking for love on Tinder, so he decided to turn to ChatGPTfor help. He buit a custom tool for looking for the perfect girlfriend, but befor ehe did that he claimed: - That looking for love is difficult and time-consuming - He'd be able to do it all himself but wants an instrument that will save him time - He wants to be able to still spend time with friends, have hobbies and work. Here's how he was looking: - based on Torchvision he built a system for looking for girls that suited the criteria for looks - in case on a match Chat GPT was building a dialogue leading to a meeting in real life - profiles with certain criteria (less than two photos and others) were skipped In case of a match, Chat GPT was curating the whole dialogue — and was showing empathy. To keep up with all these dialogues, Aleksands asked the chat to sum up the dialogues before we went to meet someone in person. In the end, his custom algorithm swiped right on 353 people, matched with 278 and Aleksandr met with 12 people. His eventual girlfriend, Karina, talked to Aleksandr (actually, she was mainly talking to the chat GPT model) for almost a year until the algorithm has suggested they'd get married. she said "yes" to this proposal. And they migh live happily ever after! After the story went viral, the Internet sure had thoughts on this. While many people said this behavior is no better than cat fishing and is super disrespectful — other say it's innovative and does help to save time. What are your thoughts on this?

Dating apps have revolutionized how people mate and date, but the scene of dating apps is evolving, and so do the features. Dating apps have come to the realization that romantic relationships are not the only thing people are looking for. Meaningful social connections, such as friendships and even professional relationships are also viable for a better life quality — and so the dating apps dived into this opportunity. Tinder was the pioneer, launching Group chats as early as in 2016. Bumble followed with "the hive" function that allows users to meet in groups. Many apps are developing social functions, adding events and public gatherings to options — and it attracts more users. But why is it essential, from the behavioral point of view? 1. More safety. Many people (mostly women for obvious reasons) are concerned with their safety when going on a date. A social gathering with a known location and list of participants offers a safer option for a night out. 2. Less pressure. Dating fatigue is a real thing. When first introduced to the possibility of getting a date in a matter of just a few clicks, people were amazed. Years later, the 100th date with a stranger doesn't look so appealing anymore. Spending a night out without the pressure of needing to form a romantic connection right away alleviates the pressure and allows users to relax. 3. Networking. On dating apps you can literally find anyone: you next life partner, a great friend, a gym buddy — or even an employee or a boss. Getting to a social event with more than one partner for a conversation allows for more interaction and networking. And the social magic begins. 4. Merging friend groups. If your partner doesn't get along with your friends — it's a problem. Group dating feature (or a group chat) allows to spot and address this problem early on. No more guessing and wandering — check it right away! Quinky believes that having sufficient social connections is crucial for a happy life. Romantic connections are iportant — but they're not everything!

Holiday loneliness has a serious impact on how people behave during holidays — and dating apps have a huge potential during this period to grow affinity, attract new users — and make sure there are more matches and relationships formed. Let's see what happens: For many people who are single, the holidays can impose a huge pressure. The freshest study conducted by the Pure app states that in 2023 over 86% of respondents felt lonely during Christmas and 68% turned to dating apps to find a partner for this challenging season. Those numbers are impressive — and they only prove this trend. Holiday loneliness does drive people to use apps that are promising new relationships. So, what can the marketing teams do to take advantage during this season? The Valentine's day is coming up — so there is still time to implement these into the marketing strategy. 1. Make holiday-themed content. And no, we do not mean the traditional Hallmark-style postcards -- but playing on the topic of the holiday will draw attention and make the users click that "Share" button on social media, attracting new users. 2. Use geolocation wisely. Many people are traveling during the holidays (or getting away for the long weekends), so offering precise matching based on geolocations is precious during that time of year. 3. Making an emphasis on the "New Year resolutions" trend. February is the time when the New Year resolutions start to fade — but people still remember them. So, there is room for content, reminding people that they did put "find the one" on their resolutions list this year. 4. Using UGC-content. There is nothing more relatable than seeing someone just like you go through the same struggles. So, UGC content is king during the holiday loneliness period. What would you add to the list? Sign off in the comments!

79% of Gen Z are swiping left on dating apps. Wow! But, why?  In 2012 Tinder has come out on the market – and the game of finding love hasn’t been the same ever since. 44% of people in the US rely solely on dating apps for finding partners, which is great, but more people are leaving the services. What are the main problems with dating apps? 😑 The main people who are ditching dating apps are college students because they are fortunate enough to have access to a large pool of peers to find someone for a relationship. 😑 Gen Z are obviously tired of the endless swiping. For many of them, the offset of their romance was when the pandemic hit – so they are exhausted of the online communications. 😑 Gen Z state that they are tired of ghosting. A survey by Bumble found that Gen Zers are more against "ghosting" compared to millennials – they find it immature and it repels them from swiping more 😑 Dating apps are notorious for not accepting feedback from consumers – and Gen Z are digital natives who are well-aware of the fact that the paying customer is at the head of the table. So how to make dating apps more Gen-Z friendly? 😍 Reinforce in real life interactions. Going out versus swiping. Real conversations instead of chats. 😍 Tailoring to specific target groups. There is plenty of fish in the sea, but the people are tired of swimming. Matching people with similar interests has a higher chance of success for people to find mates and dates. 😍 Being open to feedback and develop instruments that the people really want. Going public doesn’t only mean an IPO. It also means there is an open dialogue with the customer. You got anything to add? Feel free to do that in the comments!