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An online dating network that recently launched at Stanford University aims to help students overcome an obstacle many people face when it comes to finding love: the fear of rejection. Unlike Tinder, Bumble or OkCupid, which connect strangers with one another with the help of user profiles, Ishan Gandhi's Link works within a preexisting community. Gandhi hopes to establish his network at 100 colleges and universities across the U.S. and have a quarter-million users this time next year. As of Wednesday afternoon, 2,250 Stanford students were signed up. The rising sophomore's idea for the app came through conversations with friends who had crushes but lacked the confidence to pursue them. Gandhi, a computer science major, started working on Link after classes ended earlier this year while in his hometown of London and rolled out the app earlier this month.
Using their Stanford email address, students can fill out a form with their name and the names of up to three romantic interests once a month. Any two students whose names match up on the app receive an email. (The first round of matches were sent out a week after the app rolled out.) Users also have the option to include their crush's email address, and Link will send that person a message. An algorithm connects students whose names are a match on the app and no human ever looks at the data, Gandhi said. The app comes at a time when more people are spending most of their time at home and itching for social connections. Gandhi has secured a $50,000 investment through the father of a friend he met through the university's BlockChain club that will help pay server costs and build more durable databases. He plans to take a year off from Stanford to expand Link (which he said was an easy decision considering the academic year is kicking off in a nontraditional fashion).
Credits:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/08/29/around-town-stanford-students-new-dating-app-helps-crushes-connect
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