This is the first Better Dates newsletter. And the fact that you're reading it means you signed up before there was anything to sign up for. No app to download, no beta yet, nothing but an idea and a waitlist.

This means everything to us. We're a small team building something we genuinely believe in, and your support is what keeps us going. So before anything else: Thank you for being here.

While we work toward beta and launch, we want to use this time well. We want to learn what you actually need, what's broken about dating for you, and what would make Better Dates worth your time.

We'll be sending surveys. We'll be setting up short interviews with anyone who wants to jump on a call. Your input and experience of the dating world shapes what we are building.

For now, we've opened a WhatsApp community where you can meet other members, give us direct feedback, and talk to us.

Here's something we want to be straight with you about: we don't yet have enough people signed up in any single city to run a real trial.

Better Dates only works when there's a critical mass of people in the same place. That's the whole point. We find someone worth meeting, someone near you, someone real. To do that well, we need a starting point.

Our target: 100 people in the same city. That's it. One city, 100 people, and we run the first beta there. When we hit that threshold, we activate.

If you want this to happen faster: share it. Share it with your single friends, with people who've complained about other apps, with anyone tired of swiping. The more people who join from your city, the faster we launch there. We’ve prepared a few real rewards for you if you do.

You're part of making this real.

In every letter, we'll share what we've been working on since the last one. What shipped, what changed, what's next. No fluff, just the real stuff.

For the first letter, let’s recap our journey so far:

The app. We've been building for a few months now. The beta build is almost ready. It's been heads-down product work, and it's getting close.

First invites out. We sent our first beta invitations to a close circle. A small group of people who know us. First real test of the thing we've been building.

The brand. We spent serious time on how Better Dates looks and feels. Colors, fonts, messaging, the whole thing. We hope it feels like something different. Something that doesn't look like the apps you're tired of. Check out our new landing page and learn more about the app’s features. We'd love to know what you think.

Socials. We're starting up on all the major platforms. We've also opened a WhatsApp community for anyone who wants to connect with other members, give us feedback, or just talk to us directly.

App stores. We've started the process of getting approved on the App Store and Google Play. It takes time, but we're in it.

The boring but necessary stuff. Legal, administrative, compliance. All the things that have to happen before we can actually launch the app. We're working through it.

We're close.

Thanks for being here from the start 💖

Sam and the Better Dates team