“It’s difficult, giving up your baby like that,” Kremen told the conference audience.
When it comes to finding love, "there's a lid for every pot," as the saying goes.
These days, online dating makes it easier than ever to find your "lid." While dominated by big name, mass audience sites, like and e Harmony, a growing number of niche sites are finding success targeting singles looking for something very specific.
In 1997, investor infighting over whether to make Match available to gays forced a sale to Cendant, a consumer-services company, for $7 million, of which Kremen walked away with a fraction.
Eighteen months later, Cendant flipped Match–by then on its way to becoming one of the largest dating empires in the world–to Barry Diller’s IAC, for $50 million.
Why struggle to find someone special in a crowded bar when you can do it more easily and effectively from the comfort of your own home?
The industry has grown exponentially in many Western countries.The world of dating is almost unrecognisable compared to 10 years ago, when I first took a detour in my career as a business psychologist, opting to help people with their love lives instead of their work lives.Ten years ago, I had just about heard of and there were but a handful of introduction agencies in the UK who catered for the more discerning clientele (some still using folders with printed profiles of eligible singletons to browse through).Analysts expect the acceleration to continue over the next five years.Target marketing, changing demographics, and decreasing stigma about online dating are continually bringing new users to fore.For instance, one in ten Americans have used an online dating site or mobile dating app; 66% of these users have gone on a date with someone they met through a dating site or app, and 23% have met a spouse or long term partner through these sites (1).