Single Woman Turned to Dating Startup to Find a Match in Person. But First, Her Friend Had to Make a PowerPoint (Exclusive) Jillian FrankelOctober 31, 2025 at 12:12 AM 0 WeMetIRL A WeMetIRL event in Brooklyn in May. A new wave of startups have launched in the past few years that offer a range of inperson events for young people burned out from swiping "No matter how innovative an app claims to be, there's something about either the algorithm or about the convenience of swiping people that really just rarely brings a match for me," New York single Felicia Singh tells PEOPLE Singh, who admits sh...
- - Single Woman Turned to Dating Startup to Find a Match in Person. But First, Her Friend Had to Make a PowerPoint (Exclusive)
Jillian FrankelOctober 31, 2025 at 12:12 AM
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WeMetIRL
A WeMetIRL event in Brooklyn in May. -
A new wave of startups have launched in the past few years that offer a range of in-person events for young people burned out from swiping
"No matter how innovative an app claims to be, there's something about either the algorithm or about the convenience of swiping people that really just rarely brings a match for me," New York single Felicia Singh tells PEOPLE
Singh, who admits she's still on dating apps too, says it's important to set realistic expectations going into the meetups, just as anyone would before a first date
Felicia Singh, a 36-year-old single New Yorker, has been using dating apps for years, but is tired of all the swiping.
"No matter how innovative an app claims to be, there's something about either the algorithm or about the convenience of swiping people that really just rarely brings a match for me," she tells PEOPLE.
Singh, who works in policy advocacy, estimates that she only goes on an online date every few months — and sometimes, with all the mindless scrolling, she finds herself "not actually paying attention."
Singh isn't alone — and a new wave of startups offer a range of in-person events for young people burned out from swiping and overwhelmed by a seemingly endless carousel of options churned out from ill-understood algorithms.
Singh was on the market for an alternative when she stumbled upon one, fittingly, on social media.
She clicked on an Instagram ad for WeMetIRL, a company that hosts in-person dating events, then was struck by the range of people featured in the company's photos: an immediate green flag. "I want to be in a space where there's going to be a diversity and not just one specific type of person," Singh says.
Before she knew it, her friend was taking advantage of WeMetIRL's option to pitch a friend and they began creating a PowerPoint presentation together ahead of an event at a bar in Brooklyn this May.
"We submitted it. Literally the next day, the host was like, 'You're in,' " Singh recalls.
Felicia Singh
Felicia Singh and a friend on the night they attended a WeMetIRL event.
Although the first event she went to was attended by mostly women — Singh is straight — the night offered a much-needed boost of self-assurance.
Not to mention, it was just fun, with mini-sets from comedians and a bunch of strangers presenting decks about why attendees should date their friends. (Her friend who made the PowerPoint was one of those hype women.)
"I kind of let go with the fact that I was going to meet a person there, and more so really enjoyed being in the community of people cheering each other on," Singh says. "It felt so good to be reminded of, through my friend, all of these traits that she appreciates and loves about me."
WeMetIRL was founded by Maxine Williams, whose swiping fatigue post-pandemic led to the creation of the company.
In February of 2022, WeMetIRL hosted its first meetup at a wine bar with about 30 guests evenly divided between men and women. She filmed a TikTok video about it which quickly went viral.
"Everyone left like surprised at how much fun it was," Williams says. "I think a lot of people were skeptical and then once they saw the TikTok and the pictures, I think it clicked for everybody that this could be something worth trying."
WeMetIRL
A WeMetIRL event.
Three years later, she's still getting similar reactions from attendees.
"The most common comment I get is that people are surprised that it's actually fun and that they feel like something like this — they only see it in movies," Williams says. "They don't see singles events for young people that actually look cool, fun, engaging and diverse."
But diversity wasn't always easy to come by.
"Scrolling through Eventbrite, all the different dating events you see, all the flyer pictures, if they had people in them, it was all White people," Williams says. "For me, I'm a Black woman, I was like, 'Okay, I don't think these events are necessarily for me.' "
As she planned her company's future, Williams became committed to making space for everyone. "I wanted people of color to feel like they were invited to attend and have fun and not be like the one person in the room," Williams says.
Singh says the modern iteration of in-person dating companies feels fresher and she appreciates the opportunity to forge new connections, even if they don't lead directly to a new partner. (To this day, she still hasn't gone on a date thanks to the in-person meetups, although, as she points out, she's also only attended a couple of them.)
"You can meet people and make friends, or you can meet somebody that you're going to go on your next date with," she says. "There's so much possibility."
Williams says that's baked into the nature of her events, which have ranged from playing shuffleboard to indoor rock climbing and a friendship-focused event in partnership with the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., during Women's History Month.
Even if an attendee doesn't meet the love of their life on any given night, she says "the person you're in front of could lead you to your next job or it could lead you to your next roommate or best friend."
WeMetIRL
A WeMetIRL meetup.
Observing similar dating app fatigue among their friends, siblings Jake and Jillian Kushner, both in their 30s, cofounded MeetIRL, another N.Y.C.-based dating company that focuses on in-person events.
Their twist? Instead of PowerPoints they invite attendees based on their responses to an online questionnaire completed during the registration process.
The questionnaire ranges from politics to tidiness and whether being famous sounds more thrilling, annoying or "like my destiny." Other questions are more open ended: "If I could change one thing about the way I was raised, it would be __" or "If my house were on fire, and all people + pets were out safe, the one thing I'd save on the way out is __."
From there, the organizers manually create small groups, optimizing event guest lists for compatibility based on the answers.
"Maybe it's something about the environment they grew up in, or something specific that they're looking for in a partner or someone who's very outdoorsy and adventurous versus more of a homebody," Jake tells PEOPLE.
"It hasn't been like everyone who's going to this answered a certain way," he explains. "It's been like, okay, there's a couple people here that might be similar, another cluster here that might be similar."
Attendees, who range from 21 to 40 years old, have to show ID at the door and confirm that they are actually single. After each event, everyone receives a link to a form where they can identify who they're interested in connecting with. If two people select each other, the organizers exchange their contact details to keep the pressure low.
So far, they've held a handful of meetups, but more than 1,000 people have signed up.
As for success stories, both companies are largely hands-off after the events themselves. The Kushner siblings don't keep tabs on the status of potential matches from events, while WeMetIRL sends out optional quarterly surveys to see if attendees made connections or started relationships. The reply rate is only about 10%, Williams says, but adds that lots of people have reported making friends and going on dates.
WeMetIRL
A WeMetIRL event.
After attending her first in-person event, Singh kept the momentum going, attending an event hosted by The Feels, during which attendees were guided through a number of prompts, including gazing each other's eyes for the entire duration of a song.
"That one was, I think, the hardest for me," Singh says.
While she continues to search — including on the apps — she says it's important to set realistic expectations going into the meetups, just as anyone would before a first date.
"Both times I didn't meet anyone, but it didn't discourage me from the possibility and the hope of meeting someone one day at these events," Singh says, "which is why I want to keep going."
on People
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Source: Entertainment
Published: October 31, 2025 at 01:36AM on Source: VOXI MAG
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