In a world inundated with gamified hot-or-not dating apps, SURF Dating takes a different approach to finding personal connection online with a unique interface the CEO refers to as “Zillow for dating.”
SURF CEO Rob Long, 32, describes the app as having three main criteria:
Connectivity at the core, real, verified connections and the signature grid interface.
“I kind of joke it’s like the Zillow for dating,” Long said, “you can sort and filter by whatever you want. You can get super specific and say ‘I only want to date someone at the University of Richmond or VCU who likes wine, yoga, and sushi, and then you’ll get the result, and you’ll know all the people there fit that criteria.”
SURF also has a unique vetting process for each person on the app: SURF verifies each and every potential user to ensure they are real people looking to make connections on the app- romantic or platonic.
“We want to ensure that the community is filled with real people,” Long said.“Besides the inefficiency of swiping, which takes a long time to find a match on some of these other platforms, there are also tons of fake profiles, so you could spend days, hours, weeks, chatting with someone that will never meet you for a cup of coffee because they’re not real.”
And while SURF’s onboarding team is exploring ways to streamline the vetting process, Long says that automation will only happen if — and when — it’s perfect.
“We will not automate that process until we feel 100% confident with it because it’s so critical to protect the community,” Long said. ”Even if it takes late nights and longer hours to vet each profile that comes in, that’s just something we have to do.”
One of the goals of SURF is to make dating more efficient. Feed customization is a key component of meeting that goal.
“Your first interaction will be that much more productive because you already know you have commonality,” Long said.
Although the SURF’s interface is unique, the signature technology was actually inspired by another dating app: Grindr.
One of Long’s friends was an early investor in Grindr, the primarily gay male dating app.His friend was particularly interested in Grindr’s grid format, rather than the gamified swiping apps like Tinder and Bumble, which are designed to keep you on the app for a long time.
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“He learned a lot about the space, and especially about the back-end tech and how it was built,” Long said. “The grid was just a way more efficient way, and he decided to build the tech.”
From there, Long joined the team, and shortly after, became the CEO. Others were in to create the SURF team from all over the world: London, Serbia, and various locations across the U.S.
Another thing to note about the app’s CEO: Long also owns Bar West and River City Roll, bars frequented by UR students. And Long still needed some help, so he reached out to UR professor Joel Mier in the Robin’s School of Business to find young talent to assist with the startup.
That’s how alumna Elyse Kimball, ‘24, started working for the app as a UX/UI designer and product marketer.
“He confronted me about an opportunity to work for this awesome guy named Rob Long,” Kimball said. “And they're looking for somebody who can come help and kind of help with their marketing initiative and grow brand awareness and bring that on to the University of Richmond campus.”
Kimball said she immediately knew this was an opportunity to gain experience in a unique field.
Kimball was a Division 1 athlete on the UR soccer team and worked for SURF while finishing her master's degree at UR.
“In startups, you have a huge growing opportunity,” Kimball said. “And so you're kind of bleeding into all these other careers. I think, personally, it's the perfect place to start your career because you learn so much about things that you don't even know.”
Up until now, SURF has been entirely self-funded. That’s changing soon. SURF is eyeing $2 million in investor capital to grow the app.
“We look to bring in a really cool investor group from around the country that has not only dollars to invest but platforms and reach to help with the growth of the company as well,” Long said. “The $2 million is really to take the product and grow it to as big as we can.”
Part of the strategy for growing the app has been to target college students, Long said. This is intentional, not only because of the prevalence of dating apps at universities but also because graduated students can bring the app to target cities after graduation.
“Graduates are going to big cities with big jobs after,” Long said. “Knowing where our young professional markets are densest are markets where UR grads are already going.”
SURF’s marketing strategy has been primarily focused on colleges such as the University of Virginia, Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Virginia Commonwealth University, alongside UR, hosting events.
Although SURF is in the beginning stages, they’ve already had their first engaged couple, who met at one of the first launches of the app. And Long has big dreams for the future of SURF.
“We don’t just want to be an app. We want people to use the tech and then get out in real life,” Long said. “We want the SURF brand to be synonymous with fun and efficiency.”
Contact lifestyle editor Sophie Dulog at sophie.dulog@richmond.edu
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