Moore Style - Why Rater is the Future of Online Dating with Nicole Drew

Episode Date: January 16, 2023

Are you feeling burnt out by the endless swiping on current dating apps? In today's episode, I sat down with entrepreneur Nicole Drew to discuss her new dating app, Rater. She tells us why her app’s rating system can offer a deeper layer of authenticity, how it differentiates from the other apps out there and the exciting in-person events her company will be co-facilitating this year.    This episode, we discuss: [1:57] Introducing the founder of Rater, Nicole Drew  [3:04] How Rater differentiates from the other dating apps and websites [7:05] How Rater is bringing back the honesty in dating  [11:54] What is currently going on with the growth and development of Rater  [14:36] The advice Nicole would give to men when creating a dating profile  [21:09] The pain points people are experiencing on the dating apps today  [26:46] What to expect from a Rater in-person event  [30:18] The ins and out of Rater’s membership offerings   [32:33] Getting to know Nicole’s favorite date    Connect with Nicole:   Instagram   Download the App 

Hi, everyone. I'm your host, Celeste Moore, and you are listening to the Down and Dirty podcast, aka the Double D's of dating. This is a podcast for navigating the ins and outs of modern midlife dating. Here, we will discuss the challenges that men and women face in today's dating world. Like many industries, this one is forever changing, and I believe this platform will help those who need or want it. Today, it is the best time to take control of your desired outcome, whether it is a marriage, significant other, life partner, or just to gain the confidence in dating once again. Every other week, we will dive in and talk about different viewpoints that seem to be challenges in today's dating arena.

So let's get into today's episode. So welcome to podcast 25 with Nicole Drew. She is the CEO and founder of a new dating site called Rater, R-A-T-E-R, at Rater.date. They are starting their user base on the West Coast. Rater offers unique features that the other apps don't. For example, the singles events modules where users can plan and host their own events in their area as opposed to endless swiping on one-on-one dates.

This is so cool. I've been really wanting to talk to you for a while about it. Um, so what was your background prior to creating Raider and what was it that got you into creating this? First off, I want to say thank you so much for having me on. Um, so my, uh, educational background is in counseling psychology and, uh, my professional background is all big corporation, um, executive support. Okay.

So I'm a first time entrepreneur with Raider and I just had decided, you know, the pandemic started in 2020, I had started working remote and I just said, you know what, I'm going to create my own dating app. And I just knew there was a way to do it better than kind of like the current front running dating apps, like Hinge or Bumble. So yeah, first time entrepreneur, like I say, it's been amazing and a wonderful ride so far. And it's only beginning at this point. That's so great. Yeah. I mean, 2020 has been so disastrous in so many ways, but also created so many opportunities and I'm super

happy female owned new dating site, dating app, I should say. Um, so what, what does rate are different? Or how do they differentiate from Hinge or Bumble? Sorry. In a couple different ways. Okay. So the first is the user-to-user star rating system. So basically, it's a pretty benign way to kind of rate not only your initial interaction with the other user but the authenticity of their profile so did they look like their photos were they you know accurate in the sense that you know they gave the right information on like their career background their lifestyle selections and it's just one through five stars you can't write anything you can't bash anybody so there's no text it's just one through five stars or yes and no so

it's really just how was your initial interaction with them are they real are they a catfisher are they you know not showing accurate photos or big photos that are old are they lying about their age it's just a really kind of like basic way to vet a user with the other users kind of experience with them and so that's the first um differentiating factor of reader And then the second is we do user generated events. So we have a module within Raider where the users can actually plan and post and promote events in their area. So it can be something like a hike or a bike ride or dinner. It's a way to meet in person if you don't want to do the swiping. So if you want to meet in kind of more of a casual environment in your area or just meet other singles, say like you're newly single or just divorced or just moved to an area, it's a way to just get yourself out there and meet other singles, men and women in your area. and uh so that's that's the two kind of like main um differentiating factors between

raider and other front-running dating apps also raider throws in-person singles mixers as well so we started we've done two in san francisco and we're expanding to southern california and then we'll go east so the singles mixers that raider puts on is basically just come meet other singles in your area get a free drink and if you connect with someone great if not at least you had a good time that's awesome we started those yeah we did one in november in san francisco and it was so successful there were so many connections made people interacting talking. I saw, you know, numbers being given out. People were just saying, thank you for putting this on. This is amazing. So it was really successful. So we plan on continuing those for

sure. It's such a great, just getting people in the same room who, like you said, are just single, whether or not they have same beliefs, systems or values or whatever at this point, it's just meeting people in real life today is such a struggle. And so I think there's such an appreciation behind even putting just a date on the book and like a place and lets everybody kind of get together and just talk, you know, without the pressures of the one-on-one, right? Right. At least you've got to get out and meet people in person. I mean, dating apps are, you know, very, very successful in a lot of ways, but some people are just not into swiping and meeting that way. They want to meet the old fashioned ways. So

I feel like Raiders really attacked this issue and, and come up with some sort of a solution for that, for the people who are just wanting to meet kind of organically versus swiping and meeting that way. I get that question all the time. I get it. Like how many people are actually meeting in real life? How many people actually, I mean, like, I don't know the stats, but I know they're very low. They're much lower than they used to be. So that's such a great avenue. And already have people in Southern California for you, girl. Okay. Okay. So also with the rating system, one of the questions we put in is, did you meet in person? Cause that's so important. Yeah. So many users on dating apps just have no kind of intention of ever meeting in person. So

they're just not serious about actually, you know, getting themselves out there and meeting their person and so we wanted to kind of you know dive into that with the rating system how have you met this person how have you interacted and if you see they've only interacted um you know through the app or electronically maybe you can kind of conclude that they're not serious about actually meeting somebody in person so oh my gosh such genius like seriously you've created such huge issues that are on the standard dating apps and you're like okay we're not going to have this we're going to authentic authenticate, like who you are as a person. If you're a real person, I mean, I can't tell you how many times I look on dating apps and. Oh my gosh. Okay. They say

they're 50, just for example. And they're like, there's no way you're 50, you're 70. I mean, you know, I'm just throwing that out a number and, or they're, they're using old pictures. You know, I think men lie about certain things and women lie about certain things. Men are more apt to height and age women are we unfortunately we use older pictures but my question is filter yeah aren't we going to see you one day aren't we going to meet and I'm going to quickly realize that that was false yeah it's like are you going to waste my time because I'm not looking for a pen pal right a lot of people looking to actually meet somebody and they don't have time for a pen pals. So we try to, like I said, attack that with the rating system. Also, two of the questions are,

were they accurate about their age? Another one is, were they accurate about their height? Because those are the main complaints of dating app users. It's just people are just not authentic about who they really are physically, emotionally, mentally, career-wise, background-wise. And so that's why i came up with this rating system again it wasn't meant to attack someone or make them feel bad about themselves or anything like that right just it's meant to show who this person really is based off other users experience with them so how are you at least on the app yeah yeah and so on your app do you ask the questions like you just said like uh mentally emotionally are there certain questions that really kind of dive deep a little bit versus the surface or is it just

i mean i'm sure they're just general questions or yeah yeah okay um they're pretty surface one probably the the deepest question is um you know based off your initial experience with x user would you choose to spend more time with them or interact with them more and it's yes or no and then there's a drop down menu if it's no and then it could say just you know wasn't the right fit uh person wasn't honest so you can put a reason why you would choose not to spend more time with them but otherwise it's pretty surface yeah well that's okay at least you're asking the right questions yeah it's supposed to be based just on like really initial interaction with the person, like the first five plus days of interacting with them

based off that. And, and then beyond that, it's, you know, you just have to experience for yourself. And I know you're such a new company, but have you gotten good feedback on that? We have, the feedback has been really, really great so far. We've also gotten constructive criticism as well not based off the rating system mostly positive feedback on that but just uh ways that in i guess improve the app where there's a chance for better connection so we actually taken all of that to heart we're putting up some new screens and additions this month to radar so it'll be published this month yeah so we're constantly evolving but so far you know in the first couple months. And it's been really positive feedback. So that's amazing. And I mean, I guess

that's every new, you know, business, right? It's constantly learning and taking that constructive criticism. And okay, let's, let's do this, because you're really tailoring it for that person to find the right person in their life, whatever that looks like. So I know you said that you're just starting well in san francisco and the west coast and you'll kind of travel um do you feel that it's just you need more data more client based is that what it is or is it because of the in-person events um so the reason we started in california is because um with the dating app it's important to for the users to be in the same geographic area and so we thought okay let's get a decent user base in california first because when you're swiping or say like your user on the app when

you're swiping you don't want to see users say like on the east coast when you're based on the west coast so we tried to kind of combat that by launching in california first or on the west Coast first and then moving. So we're moving at this point because we have, my goal was 1200 active users in California and we've hit that. So exciting. So I, at least you can know if you're on the app now, likely the other users will at least be in the same state as you. They won't be, you know, a thousand miles away and it's like, you're never going to meet them anyways, kind of things so that's awesome that was kind of like the vision behind launching state by state and so far it's worked out yeah uh well you have to come to austin i know i know okay so

2023 we are going to do events in texas for sure um and we will launch in texas as well so it's it's coming like i said it was just kind of like okay let's try out california first Yeah. We tried it out. It's been successful. Now we're moving East. Super cool. I'm so excited. Like I said, I have plenty of people in California for you. So I'm excited to have them listen to this. So what advice can you give for people when they're creating their profiles in the sense that what do you think women look for in finding Mr. Right? what is something that they would really be attracted to um okay so in terms of setting up a profile for like a man yeah what's a what's a an attractive profile for a man yeah to be on

your um okay so i think number one is um filling out the profile completely and so i've noticed on a lot of dating apps not just rater but the other dating apps as well people have very very like basic men and women, uh, profiles where they're not filled out completely. So it's not showing, you know, even like the city and state they live in or, um, what they do for work or what their kind of educational background is. It's, it's very vague. So I think that was against men and women, but in this case, you know, if we're talking about men's profiles, i would suggest filling it out completely and then also that the um the apps that do allow for like voice prompts and um and uh video photos instead of just like still photos i would suggest that

because then at least the woman can hear your voice they can see you in action your mannerisms I would suggest utilizing that feature if it's available okay and then the most the most pictures you can put up that are recent okay so show yourself maybe in your career show yourself doing your hobbies show not just head shots or selfies but full body shots of yourself as well doing the things that you're doing in life and really kind of, and I would not, and this is actually like, um, I guess the terms and conditions on radar, I would not show any shirtless pictures inside. If you're out at the beach and you're surfing and that's your hobby, that's fine. But if it's something like inside and you're like in your bathroom or

at the gym, I would not do that. I just, I feel like that comes across bad for most women when they're looking at the man's profile if they're actually looking for some you know a legitimate man yeah high value man um i just would advise against that i just think it just doesn't come across very well um and then also just like with the initial once you do match um i just i feel like um not the endless like messaging but really kind of going into hey i'd like to you know we connected well enough, I'd like to meet in person or do a video, uh, date and just kind of see if we connect that way. I wouldn't chat for more than a couple of days just because a high value woman is not going to have time for that. And neither is the man really. So if he's what you're

looking for. And so I think just in general, and then also like be really accurate and authentic about your age and just who you are. And because if they meet in person, they're going to see it anyways and then they're gonna like you weren't honest yeah and it's gonna throw off on the wrong foot yeah so just if you're 70 years old then you're 70 years old and you're looking for a lady it's it's okay it happens there's people of all ages out in the dating game so and I think just really authenticity is key oh my gosh yes well I guess you kind of answered like what you what you should do in the first week of matching. So definitely like set that zoom call up or set that date up, or at least in the books, you know, I mean, you can chat a little bit, but like,

let's get to see if we really mesh, like if we're really going to, you know, have the same values or chemistry. Um, and I would just say on that note with all those photos are super great. Um, I think I want to add, don't add any dead animals. I don't care if you like to hunt, or fish i don't know any woman that wants to see a dead animal on on their profile pic but you know that's just i agree i've gotten back you know i mean yeah so just keep that out there and then 90 of the photos i've seen on other pro uh other apps is you know they look like serial killers or they look like you know you're they're like the quality of the photo and of course this is the first photo that pops up right it's the

very first one I'm not saying there's other good ones but it's like this is going to be the one that pops up every time so make it a great one make it very like you know looking in the camera like clear picture dress well like make it make an effort so yeah make an effort make an effort And then also there's a service. I just saw it on Instagram recently where they actually do professional photos for, and they seem to be targeting men for men's dating app profiles. I mean, just putting out whatever hundred, couple hundred dollars to take some nice photos of yourself that that will increase the matches. I think 20 fold just to have some beautiful professional photos not too filtered or anything like that or you know touched up but I think it's

worth it I do personally and I think women will see that okay he's at least putting some effort into this a thousand percent yeah I mean you know we do right we go get our nails and hair and we take care of ourself and have some makeup and have a beautiful outfit on and and uh you know it just shows you care about yourself like obviously we want that too um yeah for sure yeah I was like oh my gosh I can't um overall do you what are some of the pain points do you feel that people are experiencing during dating on on dating apps not on your specific dating app but do you feel that people are coming to Raider and they're like oh my god this is like this is amazing because i've had such hardships on other sites or other experiences yeah they just they

just have bad experiences with people being like catfishers or trying to sell them something or just completely fake um and not only that but maybe someone who's just um not being honest about maybe their marital status or whether they have children or not just people who are really trained to kind of um get on the app so they can create this facade of who they really are and then once you know if you really are kind of serious about meeting somebody once you you know interact with them or get to know them then it's just really disappointing yeah and so i kind of the reason i came up with a rating system was like okay if we can bet out some of these like non-honest or inauthentic users like at the beginning stages i think that would um attack

one of the pain points main pain points um then just you know people showing pictures that don't look like them hopefully it'll attack that pain point as well with the rating system and i was just hoping that people knowing that they're going to be rated users, knowing that we rated that they'll want to come on Raider and be their authentic self and show their best self on their profiles. Yeah. So that's, that's my, my vision behind it. Yeah. Were you ever on any of these? I don't know if you're in a relationship or not. I don't know assumptions. I just, have you ever been on dating apps before uh-huh I have I've been on Hinge and Bumble okay yeah yeah I have and I um I had an overall decent experience on both except for the last time

I was on Hinge actually in the first day I was on there interacted with two catfishers so it was yeah in the first like 24 hours so it was one gentleman who was not based in the u.s he was based outside the u.s and he asked if we could use whatsapp to interact and so that's how i kind of found out he was not u.s based um and my assumption is the photos were not him either uh and then the second was trying to sell me life insurance actually yeah so i think he was u.s space, but he was using hinge to, you know, potentially bring in, um, clients. Yeah. And so I, I think I just, in the recent years, that's, you know, I've seen, I've seen that personally more increasingly, um, on there and, and just, you know, men who were kind of, um, not honest

about their careers interesting yeah you're like oh i'm you know ceo or whatever i have this position and then yeah and are those people like obviously a couple of them aren't looking to meet and that's a great thing about yours your app is that i think it really validates that person's there for the right reason because yeah you know eventually like and then they'll get filtered out, which is, is awesome. So yeah, I think, I think, I think it's genius. I think you've created something that's so needed in the dating world and I'm so excited for it to grow. Like, cause I just like as a dating coach and an image consultant and like all the things that I want, like those are, those are such great things because I have gotten so many complaints about

the eight the light about this light about that okay well he never really wanted to meet or you know and it's just like you've created something that enables them to to really be honest or if they're not they'll get found out really fast yeah or just really encourages honesty yeah it's like this is the honest dating app you need to get on here and be honest or else the rating system will call you back, call you out pretty seriously, seriously and quickly. And so I, I, what I've seen so far, it's, we have a good user base. Okay. Um, it seems like a really nice, uh, professional, um, high value user base, both men and women. And at the events, we have a really nice group of people who show up to the events as well.

So I've been so far very satisfied with the initial users for sure. So my theory, I hope, I think is working. It sounds like the rating system that'll bring in these better users. That growth is phenomenal. And you know that like it's there and it's every place that you go, like I'm sure you'll go to, you know, I'm sure you have a list of, you know, where you go next and so on and so forth. But yeah, it's needed. It's wanted people. This is the way people meet other than matchmakers. You know, in real life, we all have busier and busier lives. And especially as we get older and have, you know, other things going on, it just, it's an easy way. And this is

just sounds like it's just sounds like it's a great system so and it sounds like you grew pretty fast uh yes we have um we have a pretty decent instagram presence um and then i think our events have really like blown up in the sense that it's you know at least even if we're you know we haven't done an event in your city or state yet it's on the horizon and people are really like i said they're hungry for these in-person events yeah and so so far it's been great i've been very pleased with where we are at this point do you just uh going forward are you just going to have like a local location uh like a trendy bar i don't know do you book out the bar or is it just kind of like just meet us here or how is it kind of set up yeah so what i've

done at least with the events you know that we've um had so far is i find a local influencer okay and then i work with the influencer to have them set up either a private event in a local bar restaurant or um at least like an area of the bar restaurant and then um the influencer kind of like hosts the events and I show up as the brand ambassador. And so, yeah, so I'm, I've been at all, all of them so far. Um, and so it's kind of like, Hey, they, you know, the influencer has a following. I have the singles event, you know, going our singles mixer or the next event will be, it's called love and light. Cause it'll be in February around Valentine's day. I have this love light mixer show up at this you know date and time and you can get a free drink for an app

download kind of thing i love it that's super creative and yeah yeah it's engaging it's like you know you have you add a little bit of something for them to be a little bit more interested yeah yeah i mean a lot of people like you know free drinks and fun events where there's going to be other single people so yeah so far like i said it's it's been really wildly successful oh that's the events that we have done so you said you're going to southern california next is how how far is next like in a month or two or like sooner uh so we'll do an event in southern california i'm thinking at the end of march okay uh so in the next couple months so we have the san francisco love and light event in february and then i'm thinking towards the end of march

we'll do something probably Orange County. I'm thinking I'll be in Orange County. I actually live in Carlsbad. So I'm in North San Diego County. Yeah. So I'm thinking either North County or Orange County area. I have a few amazing, wonderful, successful single women in Los Angeles. So we'll see if they can drive down or stay the night. You never know, right? yes for sure I think for sure we'll do one in LA at some point as well I just have to find the right host

in the area so I'm thinking for sure we will do one in LA yeah that'll be so amazing well I love like I just love the system so and I'm so excited for oh so oh my other question was so how can someone

find out about the events do they need to be a member and how does your membership work okay um so if they just follow raider.date on instagram we announce all the events on instagram also um i have a email list um i call it my vip email list where we announce all the events via email as well so they can follow raider on instagram and just provide their email address and i can put them on the email list okay um yeah that's how we've been doing it thus far okay and then the membership so it's it's so if you want to just uh join reader as a user there is the basic membership um which is somewhat limited um and then the premium membership which

we are actually offering a free month membership so if you upgrade you get a free month just to try it out. You can cancel any time. It's in between 1099 and 2099 a month, depending on how many months at a time you get. And it really, it gives you full access to the rating system in the sense that you can see how the person's been rated on each question instead of just an overall rating. And then also gives you access to the match queue, meaning you can see who likes you first. So, you know, if you don't want to go through the swiping, you can say, okay, this person like me first and then just go through that instead of going through like hundreds of people and then it also gives you unlimited swipe if you do like to do the swiping and that's your

thing you get unlimited swipes today whereas you're pretty limited i think you're limited to like uh 10 a day on a on a basic yeah so it's it's somewhat limiting yeah um if you're a basic user but you could still definitely use the app and meet somebody okay the basic but i obviously recommend premium so is it just basic and premium or there is that okay yeah okay just basic and premium that's great I mean maybe in down the line we will come up with a different um uh membership plan but right now that's what it is yeah well I love it it's it's perfect so I can't wait for it to grow um so just on a personal level what was what has been your favorite date and what was it let's see I think it was somebody who took me this was a long time ago actually

it's okay this was before this um it was a it was around Christmas time and it was a horse and buggy like carriage ride yeah through like the downtown area it was like it was cold it was super romantic we had like little drinks with us and blankets and it was like it was it was wonderful and it was at least something that you know the person really like tried on and they planned in advance and it was it was perfect I love that because I love that I feel that when you do an activity together when it's like not coffee or dinner you're actually doing something I feel like you could connect with that person in a different, on a different level. Even if you're just, you like,

okay, this is not the, you know, the guy for me, but I know that I had a really wonderful time. Yeah. Something unique, like, you know, horse and carriage ride, or they're offering, um, gondola rides here in North County and San Diego. Yeah. Just on this little lake. And it's like, so cute something like that I'm just like they have like the little cruises around in San Diego like around the airport in San Diego right there and just like a two-hour little boat ride cruise would be fun or paddle boarding together in the summer it's just something like that yeah I think is is unique if you've already I think I would only recommend doing something like that if you've already kind of like connected with the person at least on FaceTime to see that you are really

genuinely interested in them and then plan something cool i mean it'll stand out especially for a woman if a guy a man on you met on an app plans a really cool date like that that'll stand out definitely yeah oh we're not just going to coffee yeah yeah i mean meeting for drinks is fine too but it doesn't stand out as much as something like a gondola ride or going on a little cruise around the bay or something like that you hear that man you hear that okay from Nicole Drew who owns a dating app let's do something unique on your next date yeah you know what would be fun um this is kind of like bringing out almost like your inner child but going to like um kind of one of those places like Dave and Buster's I don't know if that's

this is in Texas but it's like um you can play like arcade games together or you could do like bowling or something like that just to bring out like that fun side that would also be fun i love it unique yeah and around the holidays there's like ice skating and like i mean instead of like bar hopping there's like cider or hot chocolate hopping you can go to like these different places i don't just something creative and something fun that is unusual yeah or around the holidays just going to see like the lights just walking around seeing the lights and getting all bundled up and then yeah hot chocolate that's really romantic it is so we need a romantic dates right yeah I agree well that's awesome oh another quick question um just for me are you um as you

move into other cities do you look for like the top dating places are you do you have like a research team that's like I don't know I'm just curious because this is something I do with different cities like give date ideas or do you do any kind of like letter to your or is it just email like here these are events this is what we're doing as a company yeah yeah yeah that's i mean with the with the mixers yeah right now it's just like you promote it on instagram and and um and put you know put it through our email list if there's an event but in terms of like launching in different states or cities. I plan on doing a newsletter. This would also be to our email list as well and on Instagram, but I plan on doing a newsletter at some point, like either

monthly or quarterly, like, Hey, here's just the updates. This is where we've launched. We're in this city. Now we have, you know, this going on. And so that's in the works as well. Perfect. So go to Instagram Raider.date, right? Is that right? You got it. Okay. And then everybody put in your email list. Let's see where the next place Raider is going to and become a member and like, let's make this happen. This is like, this is amazing. I'm so excited for you on all your thank you so much new travels because you're going to be everywhere I know I mean I'm excited about being the brand ambassador at all these events because I get to go to them yeah exactly right yeah I love watching the interactions at the events I really honestly it makes me so happy

like if something were to warm my heart at least professionally that does yeah sure just to see it happening I was like oh this is great this is great people are talking they're interacting they're hanging out their phone numbers yes it's so great so organic it's so needed it's like how can you get together in real life and just have you know talk and get to know each other oh maybe I'm not for you but my friend who's single like you know so it's like just I think he would be perfect I think she would be perfect so it's like it's great that was a little a lot of like or a little bit of that going on too just like people like I mean even like in San Francisco a lot of people were in tech maybe they were working for companies that would you know

similar companies like Uber and Lyft or I don't know yeah just like professionally at least connecting that way I also saw a little bit of that going on too like just professional networking a little it was mostly romantic networking but there's some of that going on too yeah well it's it's working and you're growing and i'm so excited and i'm following you every day so i get to see all your posts thank you so much but thank you so much for coming on and talking about raider and you know we'll have to jump on again and maybe six months and see where you're at and what you're doing and and let the listeners know i think that would be awesome i would love that thank you again for having me on. You're welcome. And getting excited for a greater and yeah, we'll, we'll be

in touch for sure in the next couple of months. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. Come and hang out with me on Instagram at Celeste Moore image. Let me know your thoughts on today's episode, because I always love hearing from you all. You can find all the links and resources in the show notes of the episode on my website, CelesteMoore.com. Okay, that's all for now. I'll see you in the next episode. See you next time, friends.