Andy Zhang of WooWho
Andy Zhang, founder of WooWho, a dating company that arranges in-person dates.
How did you start your business?
We started our business because we’d heard all about the difficulties that people were having with online dating. We thought there was definitely a better way to meet new people without having to spend too much time searching for people on online dating sites. We talked with a lot of people about what frustrated them the most about existing offerings and built our solution based on those conversations.
How did you come up the idea for your business?
The idea for our business came out of some conversations that my cofounders, George and Sean, had about how we would try to build a business. We realized that there was a significantly underserved market comprising people who had tried online dating sites and were fed up with the work involved in setting up dates for themselves.
What resources here did you take advantage of and how did they help?
We took advantage of the
Brandery incubator program, which provided us with funding, mentorship and the opportunity to connect with a bunch of other really great companies. It was invaluable to get second opinions on programming problems and ask for marketing advice. We were able to learn from other entrepreneurs who had traveled the road ahead of us.
What inspires you?
We’re firm believers in the ability for technology to make our lives easier, and we think that there is vast untapped potential and we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of what the next several years will bring. We see a unique confluence of technology, culture and mass-market mobile adoption that will kick off a fundamental change in the way we interact with one another and our environment.
What’s next for you and your company?
We’re launching our product in Cincinnati and looking forward to making dating easier by allowing people to simply meet.
Interview by Robin Donovan