Dive ditches the mindless swiping for more thoughtful holistic profiles curated by your inner circle. As a diver you invite those who know you best. “I know you better than you know yourself” is something most of us have head from a close friend. Where other apps encourage quick judgements, Dive requires thoughtful matching - not through a personal biased filter - but through the filter of friends.

Bringing friends into the mix makes matches more authentic, intentional and safe because they are more motivated to represent someone unfiltered

When you join Dive, you’ll send invites to up to 6 friends who will make up your inner circle. When someone taps on your profile they can see not just who those friends are, but tapping on each of them will show what their friend has shared about them.

This could be pictures of the both of them, some “Deep dives” where they share insights or a combo of the two.

If that friend is also single and diving, the user can alternatel match with one of their friends instead.

We’re not afraid of commitment. This is our pact with our users.

1. You will never see an ad.

2. You will never be charged for anything beyond the single subscription.

3. We will never let you see someone you blocked or unmatched (ai photo matching will keep duplicate accounts from creeping back in)

4. You will not see a match that hasn’t had at least 3 pictures shared in the inner circle that match with the main profile pic.

5. You will not get matched with someone you didn’t like

We believe safety should be something we think about preemptively, not after something happens. While we have the standard features planned for education, reporting and verification, we also have a few features to better vet the match.

First is sharing the match with the inner circle to get their take. They can share a comment and give a thumbs up or down on whether you should go out with them.

Second is location sharing with your inner circle. If you want, they will know where you are during the time of the planned date. Not only does this help you feel safer because they know where you are - but your match is also aware of this safety measure in place and the accountability it provides.

Third is a post date feedback. We believe accountability is sorely missing and it should be surfaced to other users. We will have an objective feedback step after a date that allows someone to share if they felt like the date was who they said they were - both in integrity and appearance.

We want matches to lead to meet ups. With more vetting up front, we believe the matches will be higher quality and more purposeful because you are more aware of what you are getting into.

By allowing the circle to weigh in, we believe this will weed out a lot of matches a diver is on the fence about. But the main feature we are putting a lot of focus on is the date planner where you can both share when you’re available, what kind of date you are into as well as some of your favorite spots to hit.

Where most conversations don’t lead to dates, a key metric we want to be laser focused on is how many matches lead to actual dates. We want to move away from idle conversations that either never start or don’t find their way to dates and we want to take high quality matches that have gone through the vetting process and take acton on them.

With Dive will have a standard verification process, by bringing friends into the picture the verification of a profile grows exponentially.

The profile picture of the Diver will need to match the pictures with their friend who will also need to match their profile picture.

One extra measure of verification is signing in with FaceID so that you know the person Diving is the person in not just the profile picture, but all the pictures shared by friends

When you plan a date through the app. it will know when and where you went. After it wil ask for feedback based on whether or not the experience matched the expectations.

This will not be an opportunity for review bombing, but a way for people to know how accurate the profile is and whether or not the person is a good person with integrity. Not whether or not they were a good match with them.

We believe Dive is for those who are over the apps. We believe it will be a fresh change of pace from mindless swiping.

So while we welcome all ages 18+, we expect the crowd that will be in the right phase in life to be around 28-55 years old. We want this to be a place where people are looking to get into a relationship, not wade around in shallow dating.

Our goal isn’t speed. Anyone has used other dating apps can tell you that they’ve deleted out of frustration and jumped back on multiple times. They’re able to do that because it doesn’t take much thought and effort to put yourself out there. With Dive, the pool we want is intentional, thoughtful users who are willing to put out some effort. So the barrier of entry is higher than other apps.

But we believe with thoughtful profiles made by close friends that fosters authenticity, a focus on intentionality with actionable steps and especially our care for safety fist, not last, we believe women will flock to Dive as a safe haven and others will follow. Wit that said, where women are on dating apps are where men want to be.

Being purposeful and thoughtful on creating a Dive profile will foster a community of people who don’t have low standards that allow for easy access. But requires people to step up and be intentional.

Most matches aren’t on the same level as if you both met in person and exchanged numbers.

There is another level of vetting that happens as each side takesa closer look. Our hope is the matches with Dive are higher quality because they have gone through more vetting, But sill matches will need to be narrowed down. We provide 3 clear actions to take when you match.

The first is your traditional messaging. We want to make this dynamic and eventually bring in Marco Polo style asynchronous video chatting that helps get the vibe better. But generally this is a vibe and chemistry check. But many don’t even message.

The second action is polling your inner circle to get their take on the person. This is where they can give a thumbs up or down on the match and provide any additional comments.

The biggest action you can take though is planning a date. Each side provides dates they are available, what they are wanting to do on the date (ie coffee, drinks, dinner, movie, activity, etc) and they can even share spots they like to it or ones they would like to hit. Each can look at each other’s preferences as well as see the overlap.

We believe these actions will reduce the amount of awkwardness and create a bridge between matching and meeting.

When you tap on ‘Plan a date’ either right after matching or in your list of matches, you will be taking to a screen that shows 3 different filters. One is your dating preferences, one is your match’s preferences and one is where you will see overlap as you both fill in.

The 3 key things you can share is what days you are free, what kind of dates you like going on (ie movies, dinner, coffee, drinks, activities, etc) and then last what specific things you like to do or would like to try. (ie Stand Up Paddle Boarding on the lake, movie you want to see, going for a walk, a coffee shop you love, Putt Putt Golf, your favorite restaurants, laser tag, etc)

Once you match with someone, it gives you the option to poll your inner circle, message or plan a date. If you take on ‘Poll Your Friends’ it will show your circle and you simply toggle on who you want to send the request to. Once you tap ‘Send’ they will get a notification where they can see the match’s profile and inner circle. They can browse the same things you can and then give their opinion with a thumbs up or down and an optional message to explain why.

Safety is very important to us and one of the 3 pillars of Dive. Your location will only be shared with your inner circle and when you both agree to it. When you add a friend to your circle you can choose to share your location with them and they can choose how if at all they get notified. This will be tied to where you are going given you use the date planner with the match on the other end. This will ensure that the date knows your location is connected directly with your inner circle and only they know where you are at all times during your date. Once your date is finished the location is still shared until the diver goes into the app and says they are home safe. The timing and preferences around this will be adjustable to be conducive to each diver.

This is where we really want to make sure intentionality is at the forefront. We want to have actionable steps when you make a match. We want the vetting to happen before the match and lead right into planning a date. But if you’re still on the fence you have two options. You can feel them out chatting with them. We want to make this more engaging and hope to bring in the functionality of something like Marco Polo with asynchronous video chatting that alleviates the awkwardness currently in apps with doing a live video chat that serves as an awkward first date. The second thing they can do is poll their inner circle to see if they should follow through. The most important thing though is that action is taken. So we want to either follow through on the vetting or cut the match loose. By making the process more intentional and the action steps clear to get to a date, we hope engagement is something people would come to expect with Dive.

Dive stands out because unlike someone like Hinge whose tagline is commendable, but flawed “designed to be deleted,” at Dive we know that dating doesn’t end when you make it official. Even married couples often say the key to success is to “keep dating each other.” That’s where we anticipate the date planner to be something that keeps couples engaged as they choose together what they are feeling and what they aren’t. Aside from the subscription, the partnerships we make to build out the date planner will keep profits coming in from people who are long matched. We hope this feature is so strong that people will want to keep their subscription to keep dating.

The second reason we see people staying engaged in the app is by helping others by being in their circles. With this, we are creating influencers within the app that are marketing it for us. We hope they tell their friends that they can help them if they get on Dive and can give them a good shot at getting quality matches.

So while we continue monetization through the date planner, we also will continue to have previously single divers continue to support those around them. We see Dive as being a part of the lives of singles and those who are in committed relationships.

The narrative we plan to go with is that others are interested in quick matchmaking. Their approaches make it so broad and easy that you’re left playing a numbers game with a bunch of matches that don’t go anywhere.

Our approach is less is more. We want the matches to be higher quality because they have gone through a vetting process where your expectations are more in line with your experience and you go into a date knowing the work has been done, your date is as intentional as you are and you have the safety and accountability backed by two inner circles.

With other apps, their concern is finding new ways to get you paying for matches. While they say they are wanting you to find a meaningful relationship, the experience does not match. When it comes down to it, they want to keep you mindlessly swiping and dropping more and finding new ways to create paywalls you have to break through to have any chance of success.

This is key to navigating Dive.

One of the issues seen often in current dating apps is group photos or even just a friend in the photo. You cross your fingers hoping the one that caught your eye is acually the one you would be matching with.

With Dive, you clearly know from a single avatar who is diving. But like real life, if you find yourself talking to a group of friends and you find yourself drawn to someone else in the friend group who is also single, you can go for them instead.

This align with the intionality of dating in real life. You get to show interest in who you want, no matter how you were led to them.

What this unlocks is a web of matches navigating through friend groups to find people that you are actually into in the context of the connected inner circles.

There are two ways for a friend to join who is not actively dating. On the home screen there is a button that says “Here for a friend” where they can search for their friend who they want to share about.

The other side of that is the diver who sends an invite to a friend with a hotlink that is connected to their profile. This invite can be resent and rescinded as well.

At any time the friend can convert their profile to be an active diver. The only thing they need to do that they have already done, which is give some very basic information and a profile pic. The only thing they would need to do is start inviting their inner circle and Dive will automatically cue up the people they have shared about as potential friends in the inner circle. This person likely recently became single or decided based on their experience that they’d like to use Dive for dating.

As with everything else, we will certainly test and consider additions. But we don’t want to slowly become what is out there and want to make decisions based on pushing people to get to know the match in person and through the friends. Not a dating resume.

There are two key things to note here.

One is that navigating through inner circle to inner circle is a key way to get around. It’s all about connections and going through a web of friend circles.

Second is that it's actually right in line with authenticity because many who are using dating apps make it difficult to distinguish between who they are. They might be in a group picture or with one other friend. You might be drawn to someone in particular and often times it's not the one you would be matching with. Like the person who ends up dating the roommate of their crush, we want to make sure that each match is intentional and if someone is single, you know it and you have the chance to match with them. Not your second choice.

They will not need a Dive account. They will verify they are who the invite was sent to via phone number or email and will be able to access what they have shared. But they will not technically have an account. They can convert their access at any time to a full profile. But they will only loosely be connected to what they have shared without having to go through the full process of creating an account.

We want the process to be as frictionless as possible to make it easy for a friend to contribute and we want it to be as frictionless as possible for them to be able to go from a friend in a circle to a diver with a circle.

While not a planned launch feature, we definitely want to make the process of date planning as automated and easy as possible so you don’t have to jump out of Dive to know when you’re available. We have Google Calendar and Apple Calendar integration on our roadmap beyond MVP. We know this would be a big win for Dive.

We are aware that relationships go through ebbs and flows and sometimes a friendship has had its time in the sun. At any time the Diver can choose to remove that friend from the circle and invite someone else in their place. Dive will be sensitive to the situation and not actively notify the friend that they don’t have access to the circle. This is no different than common practices seen in social media with unfriending, blocking and even to a degree the close friends filter on instagram. With any social app, there is always the possibility of uncomfortable fallouts and we will be diligent in handling it in a respectful and thoughtful way.

While it makes sense to have as little friction getting started, we are approaching Dive differently than others whose goal is to get you on in the quickest way. We see Dive as something that requires intention and thought.

With that said, we will keep the profile private until at least 3 are in the circle. What we are creating at Dive is a place that gives high quality matches with enough information to match with confidence. If someone does not have 3 people that will share about them, we see them as not meeting Dive standards, which are far higher than Tinder, Bumble and Hinge where you can be on there with little effort and no support from those around you.

This is a hard stance that we believe will be a big selling point for women who don’t want to wade through a bunch of matches that they could easily find in swiping. We expect this to draw the right people in and push out those who aren’t serious about an authentic connection.

To do something completely different than we’ve seen the last 15 years of app dating, we have to strip out what we know and see how online dating can push to authentic in person engagement. We want people on Dive to get to know the person in organic natural ways. We see that in two key ways.

The first is through hearing what their friends say. This won’t feel like a job resume when a friend shares, but a more genuine take on the person with some light roasting.

The second is in person. We know. Crazy. When you meet someone at a coffee shop, a local dive bar, a fitness class, you don’t ask for a resume to see if you’re a fit. You find that out by - we know this is foreign these days - talking to the person.

We want to provide divers with confident matches based on their inner circle and then send you off to get to know each other in a natural way. With that said, we will keep the information needed to a minimal. Our philosophy is that necessary information will be included. Things having to do more with personality, we’re saving that for the friends and in person conversations. We believe this brings back what used to be fun about dating and removes the superficiality of reading someone’s data points. Also, gives you something to actually talk about.

It’s like when you see an old friend and they ask how you’ve been and start sharing, but they have nothing new to share because it was all on their instagram stories. We’ve removed the aspect of getting to know someone by laying it all out there in an impersonal way on profiles.

This is something we will consider beyond the MVP. This won’t be necessary for launch, but will be explored. We don’t want to overcomplicate it. But it if it doesn’t add noise, but value it’s something we will want to design and test. We expect a fair amount of roasting and this could potentially allow for the Diver to see the back and forth relationship with someone in their inner circle. So there is definitely a strong case to be made for including it.

Our philosophy is on this is that we only want to make their contribution to their profile minimal. Anything that is not necessary we leave to the friends and for the actual dates. Currently this is strictly their sex, what sex they are interested in, age, height and how many if at all kids they have. As for pictures they will only need to a single avatar. We will use detection tech to make sure they aren’t wearing glasses, it’s a full face shot and there is no one else in the picture. We are throwing out the formula that everyone is sick of and doing something different.

One massive upside to this is the ease to get the profile started, leaving room for reaching out to their inner circle. The other side of that is that if someone in the inner circle becomes single or decides to join as someone that is already single, their work will be done and will just need to start reaching out to their inner circle (part of which might be who they shared about).

Yes! We imagine scenarios where they are hanging out with someone from their inner circle and their friend takes a good picture of them and they say “Can you add that to my Dive?” We want to encourage always keeping things fresh and their friend is always welcome to jump in and add things they think of, new photos, stories or other insights they think people would find interesting or funny.

Never has there been a dating app where you’re profile changes without you. We think this will bring a lot of creativity and a fun ongoing connection with your inner circle where they become more a part of their friend’s dating life.

As many as you want! When you are an official Diver, there are zero restrictions. That means you won’t be paying anything extra to keep diving. You won’t be buying boosts. You won’t have to pay to unexpire a match because you got busy. Once you’re in you’re in and you get to enjoy the labyrinth and web of circles without waiting for that paywall to hit.

No! This is something normally shown when you pay for a subscription. Often times a more premium tier of a subscription. We want to encourage people being direct as if they were approached in public. We don’t want to play games at Dive and that means if you like someone, they’re gonna know it. There will never be ambiguity at any level with Dive. There will never be times where Dive takes advantage of someone by hiding a potential match behind boosts, packs, add ons or any other strung along paywall. We want everyone to have the full experience. Not just those who are emptying their pockets.

Your friends have the option to edit what they share about you at any time. We’ve thought about a veto system or some sort of approval, but we feel like that might overcomplicate it. They just need to take it up with their friend. We know they will be playing a role often played where a friend takes over and shows what they believe to be the best representation of them and something that would be attractive. But we think it will be hitting the sweet spot of the blind spot. We will of course be testing this back and forth and listening to our users as we see how it is used. We know with someone’s inner circle they will be choosing people they trust blindly to some degree. We anticipate that to be part of that dopamine hit where you don’t know what they are going to say or show and then you get a little mini gift form your friend in the form of them sharing what they love about you.

Yes. As a premium member you’ll be able to browse the different divers moving through from inner circle to inner circle. We will maintain privacy to those who are subscribers. If the friend who is in the inner circle is also diving, they will have full access as well and you will see a D badge on their profile to indicate that you can potentially match with them as well. If they are not an active diver, they will be able to see the matches of the divers with whom they are in inner circles with (there are no limits to how many circles a friend can be in) but they won’t be able to see the matches outside the inner circle. They will also have access to see the others in the inner circle as we see this as a fun way for them to build up their friend together and also spot pictures others have shared already.