How do you feel about online dating services or mobile dating apps? I don't think I'm exactly cool with the idea of looking for a relationship or love online or on a mobile device (Except you dey find another tin).
I mean don't get me wrong, but I just feel for a relationship to begin or even be given a chance, one should get to see and observe such a person quite closely, rather than just trying to meet someone for the first time, you met on your mobile. Hey! I'm just saying. I guess that makes me old fashioned. Haha!
Anyways, there's a new online mobile dating app, not so new per say, but it's targeted at Black folks. It's called 'Bae'. You know the popular acronym right? "Before Anyone Else". Yep! It is what it is.
Bae is a mobile dating app created by Jordan Kunzika, Brian Gerrard and Justin Gerrard. All black youngsters, who hope to make online dating better for Blacks.
The app was launched in April of 2015 and has reached well over 150,000 downloads on the App Store. Incredible! Now here's the strategy that Bae's founders employed, in building their user base to up to 17000 downloads within the first few weeks of the launch. They hosted an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) tour which consisted of parties and mixers where people who matched on Bae could meet in person. All attendees had to have Bae downloaded to participate. Awesome strategy if you ask me. First, the platform is targeted at Blacks all over the world. Then the app went on a University tour. That's New. Best strategy to get users, young and willing and searching.
But more than just a strategy for a high user base, is the fact that the app is solving dating issues faced by Blacks in the United States and other countries. In the US, Black online users face apparent bias, as Black men and women are sometimes penalized when users rated their matches on dating apps. So this solves that issue.
Kunzika, CTO of Bae and senior at Dartmouth College, a Google Generation Scholar who has internships with Microsoft and Intel, turned down Microsoft and Google to build the Bae app. Now that's epic! I mean come on it's Google and Microsoft we're talking about here. Who would pass up such an opportunity? Jordan Kunzika, That's Who. I must say this Angolan-American's got 'guts'. Or is it Vision? I say 'Both'. Often being the only Black person in his computer science classes, he says "I quickly realized that it was up to me to either let this negatively affect me, or let it motivate me to be successful, so that people who come after me will have role models who look like them".
I'm inspired, I must say because he's looking at the future and how to make an impact positively in the lives of Blacks all around the world. That's both Daring and Visionary. And he is just in his Twenties. "I was honored to get full-time offers from Google and Microsoft before even turning 21,but I knew that I could serve a higher calling to represent a paradigm shift in what a tech entrepreneur could look like" he says.
Kunzika met his co-founders, Justin and Brian Gerrard in his junior year and joined the team after they pitched Bae to him.
Bae has reached users all over the world and has even been listed as a Top 50 Life-style app in twenty African and Caribbean countries. Bae is different because of its proprietary algorithm which was built by Kunzika. What users like most about Bae is the quality of matches and the fact that it helps you find those you're interested in, matches from your secondary school, stuff like that. The founders' goal is for Bae to become the best Black dating app in the US and across the African diaspora. Now that's a Dream. I'm still not a fan of online dating, but I'm just prouda them. Reping Blacks and the African Continent. ✊ #Inspired.
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