The Anonymous Co-Founder Of 'Bang With Friends' Explains How He's Helped 200,000 Couples Connect
The idea seems crazy.
The app helps you find a Facebook friend to hook up with and sends them a "nudge" letting you know your intentions. If that person happens to be into you as well, then you can take things offline and set up a meeting.
Crazy, right? Well, not really because its working, really well.
Bang With Friends (BWF) launched in January and since then has seen some incredible traffic.
Using the power of Facebook and no marketing budget at all, BWF has amassed more than 820,000 users who are all "down to bang," the BWF co-founder, who goes simply by "C," said in an interview. C also said BWF has 200,000 pairs, which is what happens when two people agree to meet in person.
70 percent of BWF's users are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to C.
C and his two co-founders have decided to remain anonymous for now.
"BWF grew out of something unexpected and at first we weren't ready to deal with [the attention it received]," C said.
The guys were running other companies at the time of initial launch, but C said he's getting close to revealing his identity. He's just waiting for the right moment.
"We saw a lot of frustration with how dating was happening, especially in the younger generation," C said when asked why he started BWF. "We also saw discontent with how things are working in the online dating world. We want people to be exactly who they are and say exactly what they want. We've seen BWF resonate with our generation, the 18-30 age group."
BWFHere's what BWF looks like after you sign in with your Facebook account.
The digital world has led to a ton of young people using smartphones and social networks to meet new people. "We've seen that [online and mobile] is how a lot of relationships form and we should acknowledge that and give them a better way to do it," C said.
BWF believes there is a cultural shift that is happening with the current way people date. C said the BWF app is serving a generation that is more open to the ideal of a no-risk hook-up.Instead of just facilitating encounters, BWF has a greater vision for how it wants to change the sexual landscape.
"Our mission is very sex positive," C believes that BWF is putting sex in its proper place, instead of something "we dance around too much and don't acknowledge."