Looking For The Chosen One – October 2015

An interview with Mr. Sumesh Menon, Co-Founder and CEO, of Woo, a matchmaking app platform for urban singles to find their perfect matches

What inspired you to start your venture?
Woo is a project that we (My cofounder, Ankit Nautiyal, and I) have been working on for about 2 years. The mission behind Woo was to fill the gap – between casual fling-oriented dating apps and the old-fashioned matrimonial portals – as urban singles are increasingly realizing it takes a lot more – common lifestyles, interests and vision for life – that helps one to identify a
life partner.

Can you give us a brief idea of how WOO works?
Woo is a matchmaking app for young urban singles looking for rich meaningful relationships. Woo matches people based on things that matter, like interests and ambitions, as a basis for lifelong relationships. TagSearch, one of the key features of the app, allows users to view profiles based on attributes – whether the city they belong to, the profession they’re in, the author they follow or their favourite music.

How do you ensure that WOO stands out amongst all the already existing match making sites in the industry?
Woo is a matchmaking app for urban singles looking for a life partner. Woo stand out of the clutter of other casual dating apps and matrimonial solutions that have no barrier to entry and thus become a legitimate playground for thrill-seekers, leading to a disappointing experience for people actually looking to find someone special.

Can you share anecdotes of people who have gotten hitched thanks to the site?
Our favourite story is that of a user who was looking to get married for 3 years, but nothing quite worked out. He downloaded Woo in July and in September we heard from him saying he’d gotten engaged to a girl he met on Woo and was naturally, over the moon.

What tips do you recommend for people who register their profiles for a better success rate?
In order to have a better success rate on Woo, there are 4 things that I would recommend: Authentic and complete information, good quality photos, being active, patience.

Do you verify profiles to ascertain their authenticity?
Our screening happens at various levels before anyone can even set up a Woo profile. We analyse every user’s digital footprint to verify their relationship status and professional information. There are three layers of screening which we do to ensure the authenticity of our user – Technical screening, Manual Screening and Community feedback.

How big is your team?
We have a team of 40 employees

If you could describe WOO in a phrase, what would that be?
How modern Indians find love

If you could describe start ups in India in one word, what would it be?
Promising