Stanford graduate and former investor Amanda Bradford created this dating app in 2015 for “ambitious” men and women who were exhausted from trying to achieve everything at once. What do we expect from love in the age of optimization? process ? Decoding:
“You can both share a deal someone and get romantically close to them in the process. In short, the best of both worlds,” smiles Amanda Bradford, her piercing blue eyes fixed on us, sitting on a sofa in the lounges of the Hoxton Hotel in Paris, which has been privatized for the occasion. We meet him in the middle of a promotional campaign for the European launch of The League, an ultra-selective romantic dating app, but not just one he created in the United States in 2015. And it worked.
Cautious about the numbers, Amanda Bradford says half-heartedly that with a turnover of more than ten million dollars, the League was profitable when it was bought in 2022 for about $30 million by the giant Match Group, specifically the owner. Tinder and Meetic. Now he is attacking Europe, starting with France and the United Kingdom. “We’re replicating in Paris and London what we did in San Francisco, our starting point, where we’re finding similar populations. » Insightful, highly qualified and with an upwardly mobile career. The main target of The League, whose founder shares a CV.
New modern elites
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, to an MBA at Stanford, an employee of Salesforce, then Google, several investment funds, he designed his app from the beginning to target the modern elites, from tech, finance or entrepreneurship, the new heroes of success. Enough to open repeated trials of elitism… but which should then be addressed to general public applications as well. “Online meetings are no less homogenous than others,” writes sociologist Marie Bergstrom, INED researcher and author of the book: New laws of love (1). On Tinder, Bumble, or any platform, users are interested in profiles similar to them based on the information they find there: degree, job, photo quality, bio…
“But the number one criticism leveled at dating apps is the lack of clarity in the profiles themselves,” points out Amanda Bradford. He therefore made the possibility of joining the League an absolute criterion. It’s less a matter of registering than applying, agreeing to be placed on a waiting list, after answering a questionnaire worthy of a job interview: degree, position, philosophy of life, hobbies… Accuracy of the information provided. , as the quality of the selected photos is as important as the content. Purposeful? Measure the ambition of candidate members, established as a core value and common denominator for all users.
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Monetize impatience
“We are looking for people with goals, who are ready to make sacrifices to achieve them and support their partner in their own projects. But diplomas are only one component of ambition. In The League, an Uber driver who drives to finance a project can easily be matched with an executive. » The league puts emphasis on its selection and match, which combine algorithms and human analysis. But the fact remains. with only five profiles offered per day, the app narrows the horizons of possibilities. “Our customers’ time is valuable,” continues Amanda Bradford. So we don’t want to keep them in the app for hours. Come find your match and get back to your life. »
A model at odds with the tech giants generally sharing the precious attention market. More time spent means more data collected and then resold. “It was never discussed. We want to keep the trust of our members,” says Amanda Bradford. The League, in turn, derives its income from paid options and, above all, from four subscription plans that unlock additional services to increase the chances of finding a soul mate. “We monetize impatience,” sums up its founder.
Great for a generation, especially women, bombarded with demands to succeed on all fronts. Sociologists agree. the desire for love and life as a couple has probably never been stronger than it is today. At least at a certain stage of life. “As we approach our thirties, the ‘borrowed-time freedom’ of youth comes to an end. the aspirations to live as a couple are getting stronger, as well as the motivations to be “confirmed” by those around us,” he writes. Marie Bergström is in again the new laws of‘Love. Using dating services then becomes more voluntary. »
Love performance
A desire that collides with the imperative to succeed in a career, questionable but persistent. Even if it means sacrificing everything, or almost everything, for your work, for self-improvement, and the outward signs of success that everyone else is asked to display. Then time becomes a rare commodity that must be fairly distributed. “More than men, women have to make choices. Otherwise, they pay dearly for it, emphasizes philosopher Eliot Abecasis, author. From Soulmate to Tinder (2). Between the ages of 20 and 30, they should simultaneously get married, have two or three children, and advance in their careers. Which often ends badly, with divorces and burnout. So women are the cash cows of capitalism. »
Facing these many challenges is a feat. Therefore, it is not surprising that women strive to save their time, but also their energy. Hence the temptation to optimize, even in personal life process and aim for return on investment. And too bad for chance, unknown and surprise. “By rationalizing the encounter, the appeals follow the general trend of our societies,” continues Eliot Abekasis, “but then they introduce a paradigm shift.” We no longer fall in love or meet our soulmate by chance. we delegate to apps that take all the magic out of love. It is the end of passionate love, not love. »
Sensation remains brief but limited, bounded by material limitations. Transport, the impulse of love gives way to logistical considerations. “All this raises the question of feelings and emotions,” worries Eliot Abekasis. How to build a society entirely on reason? An episode of Black Mirror illustrates this extreme rationalization. Eventually, we’ll stop looking. Perhaps we need to go through it to remember the virtues and joys of chance.
(1) The new laws of love, by Marie Bergstrom, editions La Découverte, 228 pages, €21. Available at leslibraires.fr.
(2) From Soulmate to Tinder, Éliette Abécassis, editions Larousse, 224 pages, €17.95. Available at leslibraires.fr.
Source: Le Figaro
