Where did the idea of starting a matchmaking app and getting involved in the technology sector come from?
When it comes to technology, as I mentioned earlier, offline agents can only serve a limited number of customers per quarter. Our technical solution is designed to scale our services and reach a wider audience of experienced professionals. While not everyone has to be wealthy, my goal is to change the behaviors typically seen on traditional dating apps.
Instead of calling ourselves a dating app, we position ourselves as a matchmaking app. We’ve digitized the services our customers value and combined compatibility and concierge features to streamline the process of organizing face-to-face meetings.
We are currently based in Dubai. We started five months ago and achieved five-digit sales for the first time last month.
You mentioned that it’s not just about high net worth individuals. Does this mean your circle of women consists of a variety of people, or are some only interested in dating wealthy people? Is everyone on the platform open to different types of games?
The approach I took at Maxion, which I own exclusively, was to digitize our services so that anyone can apply to be a Maxion member. Unlike other apps that allow anyone to join or are based on a freemium model, our platform is not free. Membership requires a subscription, but the price is significantly cheaper than traditional offline services. Our subscriptions start at 399 dirhams per month, or about $100.
What do you get for this price?
So with a one-month membership you get full access to our platform. Anyone can apply to become a Maxion member, but we have a selection process. You will need to verify your passport and we will review your LinkedIn profile to understand your professional background.
One of our marketing slogans is: “Ditch the working girls and attract a woman with a career,” which the guys really appreciate. For women, we use the slogan “Drop the F‑Boy for a man with a plan.”
Once you’re a Maxion member and have created your profile, our technology will send you daily matches based on personal values and life goals, not just random swipes. If both parties agree to a connection, our system takes over the planning, booking and confirmation of the first appointment.
When you send matches through the app, is it done manually or is it done by AI?
What people love about the app is that it reduces the time spent on messages. Traditional dating apps often make people feel disposable – just names on a screen. When someone says the wrong thing, it’s easy to move on to the next person, especially with so many options.
At Maxion, if we both agree that there is a mutual connection, you and I would share our availability and the app would take over planning our first date. And while the app automates much of the process, I personally get involved in making sure everything runs smoothly.
How many matches do you typically send per day or month?
We currently ship one game per day. Our goal is to transform the dating app experience from endlessly swiping through countless profiles.
How long did it take to create the app?
The idea for Maxion came about in late 2022. In 2023, I spent some time recruiting people to build the prototype, although we faced challenges and built it wrong three times before finally getting it right. By the end of August 2023, we had developed the product and although it took less than a year, we achieved impressive success. We debuted on the App Store on December 4, 2023 and officially launched our beta on February 4, 2024.
In just five and a half months, we have seen significant growth with over 3,500 applications from the UAE and 1,400 active users per month and recently achieved five-figure revenue.
Maxion is a personal project of mine, and while I still enjoy occasionally collaborating with my offline agency and clients, I’m excited about Maxion’s potential to create meaningful connections on a larger scale. Dubai, like many expat cities, can be lonely as people on work visas often arrive without close friends or family. This sometimes leads to “closership,” where individuals bond with those around them rather than finding truly compatible partners. My vision for Maxion is to help expat cities become less lonely by enabling real connections.
From a business model perspective, it seems that the more successful you are at helping your customers find their ideal partner, the more you may be limiting your income opportunities from the app. Given that your ideal customer may find a long-term partner and may no longer need your services, have up-selling or cross-selling strategies or other ways to improve your business model to ensure continued revenue while maintaining dream relationships to build?
The great thing about being a matchmaker is that when you successfully match someone, they often share their positive experiences with their friends. This word of mouth is an essential part of our business model. For example, earlier this year, a group of business partners joined as customers after one of them had a successful match. Their satisfaction prompted the others to seek our services, which resulted in several people being together at the same time.
What does the future hold?
What excites me about matchmaking is our ability to foster love on a larger scale. We have just started expat contacts in Dubai and are expanding with a portal for Indian contacts. We also localize our product for Muslim marriages as the divorce rate among Muslim couples in the UAE is significantly higher than in the US. There seems to be a gap and I am committed to filling it to support lasting marriages.
Do you keep these pools separate so that, for example, Muslim customers are not mixed with the expat customer base?
Yes, we keep these pools separate because my experience as a matchmaker has been that certain cultures prefer to marry within their own cultural group. To provide the most compatible partners, we create different portals for each culture. I also plan to expand throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council to reduce the loneliness of expat cities and dominate this region. This area offers numerous possibilities and there is no other self-developed app that is specifically tailored to it. Our tagline is “Outsource Your Love Life, Boost Your Connections” because our goal is to streamline the process and enable real face-to-face connections.
