Desti is different from other dating apps such as Bumble or Tinder. For example, it doesn’t include the ‘like’ feature as reinforcement for conversation. Users are allowed to send messages to potential interests, and the receiver can accept or reject the message. One twist here is the receiver can only see one message at a time and have to pass or reply to the text. Only then can they move on further. Although initially, the app is only available for iOS users in the Austin area. But it will soon be available on Android devices as well. Start-up says it plans to expand to other places down the road. Desti has shown impressive launch progress on July 29. Start-up had earned 500 users within the first hour. And it went on to 5,000 messages and 2,000 downloads in just one day. Also, the company raised a conversion cap of $5 million for a $1 million round. Desti is not the only app. There are other apps with similar ideas as Tik-Tok style videos. Snack, for example, enables users to post video content and swipe for videos from potential interests. Another similar app is Best, the friend version of Desti, currently available in beta in Austin, Texas.
Profile settings and features on Desti
Users will create their profiles. First, they must pick three ‘destis’ from the categories like Rooftops, Food Trucks, Breweries, Live Music, Dog Dates, etc. Then there are hundreds of prompts for users to choose from alongside their video. Such as “The CDC recommends..,” “Someone teaches me..,” or “Tonight we should….” Finally, the user completes their profile using four photos and creates an original bio. The application has set a daily limit of 5-12 messages for every user. But other subscription plans and paid features are also available, which will remove daily message limits. Answering a question, The company is still working on adding specific addresses related to each destination. Desti aims to create a more reliable discovery tool for users to search different locations, restaurants, venues, local businesses, and events.
Why Desti
Nick Dominguez and John Taylor, AJ Qutub founders of Desti. The destination-based dating company aspires to end “small talk, boring, dead-end conversations, terrible one-liners and flakey matches that never go anywhere.” “Dating online and attempting to initiate conversations with people you don’t know is inherently awkward. Being able to see that someone also likes one of your favorite coffee shops or frequents one of your and your friend’s favorite patio bars helps make them feel like less of a stranger. It helps make the interaction feel more natural, like it may be someone you would naturally run into. Every dating app’s goal is for people to eventually meet somewhere. It’s our thesis that introducing that into the swiping experience will lead to a higher conversion of that end goal.” As many single women struggle with the same cheesy pickup lines flooding their dating apps, Desti has brought a platform where women can ultimately choose their dates on the basis of destination matches. As Dominguez said, “We realized that the main friction in current dating apps was with filtering and communication. It was a full-time job for women to manage their dating app, and it was tough to control what they got out of it. The three of us loved the idea of people being able to have more control over their experience.” “Safety is important for everyone and especially women. Not all women want to meet someone for the first time at their house. When creating Desti, that was top of mind,” Dominguez says. “We wanted to give people the ability to pick a public place they liked as their Desti. Outside of that, there will be background checks and photo authentication with AI.” The existing app lacks photo authentication and background checks, but the start-up aspires to include these features in the future. Dominguez could not give any further details about future updates in the application. All he said was they would consider integrating a third party may be.
