Meet the Young Black Entrepreneurs Taking on Tinder

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Meet the Young Black Entrepreneurs Taking on Tinder


May 23, 2016
mg_1544.jpg

Brian Gerrard Bae founders Justin Gerrard (right), Brian Gerrard (center) and Bae CTO Jordan Kunzika (left)
The creators of black dating app Bae are calling out biased investors
Justin Gerrard speaks quickly, Brian Gerrard speaks slowly. Justin jumps around the room, Brian glides with caution. If you met them separately, you would never guess they were brothers. But their oil-and-water partnership helped them create Bae, a dating app for black people.

Bae works pretty much like Tinder, but tailor-made for black users. The Gerrards came up with the idea after they realized how difficult it is for black singles to find dates on existing platforms.

“If you are a black person, you see Tinder as a white app,” says Brian. “Tinder isn’t calling itself the dating app for white people, but that is achieved implicitly because of the negative experience for black people.” (Tinder spokesperson Rosette Pambakian said the dating app is among the most diverse global platforms in the world, and that “everyone is welcome to use Tinder.”)

Indeed, dating while black is not easy, especially on platforms largely populated by non-black users. The Gerrards cite an OKCupid study showing that black users experience a strong negative bias in online dating. In 2014, black women were 17% to 20% less likely to get responses from non-black men on OKCupid, while black men were 8% to 27% less likely to match with a woman of a different race. According to the OKCupid analysis, 82% of non-black men on the platform exhibit some form of racial bias against black women.

Read More: Meet the Silicon Valley CEO Opening Doors for People of Color

The problem can go far deeper than an inability to find dates. Brian says friends have shown him screenshots of “being called a n-gger on Tinder. In 2016. In San Francisco.” Phoebe Boswell, a Kenyan artist living in London, recently created an entire gallery show about the racist insults she has received on Tinder.

Ten years ago, the Gerrard brothers weren’t thinking about starting a company together. They were too busy swordfighting. Their parents, both lawyers, sent the boys to separate private schools in suburban New Jersey. There, they both pursued fencing — Brian was ranked one of the top foil fencers in the state — and they frequently faced off against each another in tournaments, even though Justin is two years older. The brothers say their contrasting personalities have strengthened them as a team. “It has made us more successful because of how we are able to combine those different skill sets,” says Justin.

Now the brothers Gerrard are both applying their skills toward Bae. The operation is based in Brian’s small apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where basketballs roll around in the living room and old record covers hang on the wall. Their progress is tracked on a whiteboard, which lists the tasks of various team members and two questions scrawled in teenage-boy handwriting: “What did you accomplish yesterday? What will you do today?” There is beer in the fridge, an Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset near the TV, and the bathroom is what you would expect from a 20-something dude in Brooklyn. The Gerrards have three full-time and three part-time employees. They’re not yet making money, but they hope to do so soon, perhaps through advertising.

There are some dating sites for black people, more in the Match.com vein, but not an app for young black users. Since the Gerrards launched Bae last April, the app’s user base has grown to more than 100,000 people, roughly split between men and women (they won’t give an exact user count). The Gerrards don’t just want to create a hot app — they also want to help address the low marriage rates in the black community by making it easier for black singles to meet up. Pew found in 2012 that 36% of black people over the age of 25 had never been married, up from 9% in 1960. By comparison, 16% of whites over 25 had never been married.

Non-black people aren’t prevented from signing up for Bae, as the app doesn’t ask your race when you create an account. But the idea is to create an app for black people to safely meet people of all races who want to form a genuine connection.

“It’s shocking that there’s a dating app for people who like bacon, there’s one for burrito lovers, for Jewish folks, for Asians, there’s Hinge and Bumble, but nobody wanted to solve this problem,” Brian says. “In hindsight, it makes perfect sense. People don’t think about solving problems that don’t affect them, and investors don’t invest in ideas that don’t affect them.”

Indeed, funding is one of the biggest obstacles facing many entrepreneurs of color. The Gerrards say they know of many white entrepreneurs who were able to get a head start through inheritance or, as Brian puts it, “a quick friends-and-family round of $800,000,” but black entrepreneurs rarely have that luxury. Bae received an angel investment last year before kicking off a seed round at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this month.

“Two generations ago if you were black in America, the best job you could have was post officer or schoolteacher,” Brian says. “So there’s really no generational wealth to rely on.” That means black entrepreneurs rely heavily on investors even for the earliest rounds of funding, which can be challenging given that most tech investors are white men.

“Nine times out of 10 if we’re pursuing an investor, it is likely not somebody who has experienced what it’s like to date as a black person in America,” Brian says. Almost every black entrepreneur faces this challenge. Fewer than 1% of venture-backed startups are founded by a person of color.

The difficulty facing black entrepreneurs is obvious in the name of the product itself. That the Gerrards were able to trademark a phrase as common as “bae” and sell such a simple idea illustrates just how few startups are being created for black users. “Bae” has been part of the cultural vernacular for years, especially in the black community. It’s been around so long that it was even declared “over ” in 2014, after mainstream media outlets like this one took to explaining the term to old fogeys. But “bae” is such a common phrase, used by everyone from teens on Tumblr to Pharrell, that the Gerrards were shocked when they were able to use the word to name their app.

“It’s crazy that we were able to trademark the word bae in 2015,” says Brian, noting that the annual buying power of black consumers is expected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2020. “It actually puts those particular investors at a huge disadvantage.”
 

Afro

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WOO!

:salute:

Them dudes alright:myman:

Tinder is definitely a white person's app and no one has ever argued that fact. Guess Tagged better get their game up :sas2:

Two generations ago if you were black in America, the best job you could have was post officer or schoolteacher,” Brian says. “So there’s really no generational wealth to rely on.” That means black entrepreneurs rely heavily on investors even for the earliest rounds of funding, which can be challenging given that most tech investors are white men.

Bolded for emphasis, they get it. Thanks for the topic breh.

EDIT: :: BAE Before Anyone Else :: | Meet. Chat. Date.
Their homepage. Those reviews for both the Itunes and Google play reviews. Wow.
 
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philmonroe

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I'm always for black cats doing their thing but I wonder how many going to bring up it sounds like cats want to do some IR dating. I've been on dating apps before and never had any problems "dating while black". Sounds like an ugly and or someone trying to make people of other races date them problem.
 

Afro

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I'm always for black cats doing their thing but I wonder how many going to bring up it sounds like cats want to do some IR dating. I've been on dating apps before and never had any problems "dating while black". Sounds like an ugly and or someone trying to make people of other races date them problem.

The Gerrards don’t just want to create a hot app — they also want to help address the low marriage rates in the black community by making it easier for black singles to meet up. Pew found in 2012 that 36% of black people over the age of 25 had never been married, up from 9% in 1960. By comparison, 16% of whites over 25 had never been married.
 

philmonroe

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That sounds good but being realistic my dude most people date people close to them and or they have met through someone they know. They don't need no app like that. Think about it I bet most of the people you know in relationships probably met because they were in close proximity and or some mutual person introduced them compared to Internet dating. I've meet cool people on them no doubt but an app ain't about to be any real part of saving low marriage numbers. Like I said I hope their shyt blow but that is a question that can be raised.
 

Audemar

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Tinder isn’t calling itself the dating app for white people, but that is achieved implicitly because of the negative experience for black people.”
This same implicit message can be seen in many other facets of society. It's refreshing to see that there are Black folks who realize this, particularly young Black folks.
 

MsReal

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:salute:

But anyone pick up their parents are lawyers, they are not making money but have 5 employees...... Not really a rag to riches story.
 

Afro

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That sounds good but being realistic my dude most people date people close to them and or they have met through someone they know. They don't need no app like that. Think about it I bet most of the people you know in relationships probably met because they were in close proximity and or some mutual person introduced them compared to Internet dating. I've meet cool people on them no doubt but an app ain't about to be any real part of saving low marriage numbers. Like I said I hope their shyt blow but that is a question that can be raised.

I hear you man and you are right all the way through. But I see it more as a first step towards better dating apps for ourselves. Just having this exist will spark more/better ideas down the road. I highly doubt it will "save the world" but in this highly digital age crazier things have happened. Worse case, it may bring people together who didn't even know they knew each other.
 
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What? nikka, there's already soul swipe with a nothing but blacks on there. It functions just like Tinder but with just mostly black people. I eat off that joint.
I'm always for black cats doing their thing but I wonder how many going to bring up it sounds like cats want to do some IR dating. I've been on dating apps before and never had any problems "dating while black". Sounds like an ugly and or someone trying to make people of other races date them problem.
Yeah, it do seem like these nikkas wanna get on that IR tip and just salty. But there's already Many IR dating sites :heh:
 

Afro

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:salute:

But anyone pick up their parents are lawyers, they are not making money but have 5 employees...... Not really a rag to riches story.

Yea I was kinda confused when I read that part. Figured they were paying them with what little investor money they had.
 

Michael9100

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black people don't need a dating app.... the black dating market is what it is....


Now you want an idea for an app that can help black folks date? Here are two: An app that matches black men with brazilian women; and an app that matches black women with white men.....
 
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