Meet Zach Schleien and Brian Weinreich, Co-Founders at NYC-Based Dating App: Filteroff

Dating has changed drastically throughout history. But no generation has faced more obstacles to making true connections than ours.

Yes, there are countless dating apps out there. But how are you supposed to create a meaningful connection with a profile, a list of facts and a picture that may or may not be real? Rather than igniting the spark that should have made us want to meet a match face-to-face, the apps, to us, felt like they turned dating into a game.

Up, down, A, B, swipe left, swipe right, game over. And the cruel joke was that we could never win this game. If we were lucky enough to match with someone, we’d simply end up going on a first date that was also, sadly, a last date. To us, 1-2 seconds was not nearly enough time to make an informed decision about whether or not someone might be a good match.

So what about going to meet someone in person? Easier said than done. You get dressed up, try to get your hair perfectly coiffed, but wait, are these the right shoes to wear with this, oh no this doesn’t match – two hours to get ready, half an hour in the car or on the subway or bus, just to know within five minutes that the person sitting across from you isn’t right.

We knew there had to be a way to circumvent this digitization of people into 0’s and 1’s with profiles that only told half-truths (or non-truths) without also having to spend hours getting ready to meet someone in person, just to risk Covid. So we came up with Filteroff.

Our goal with Filteroff is to embrace the digital age (we’re not Luddites!) while also emphasizing true, personal interaction. No more catfishing. No more texts being left on “read” for weeks. No more filters to hide behind. Filteroff is all about building trust among a community of single people looking to create meaningful connections. We want you to date a person, not a profile, and we want to ensure that it’s all done safely and securely.

Find someone who loves you for you. The authentic you.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
Online dating routinely leads to bad first dates. A dating profile / picture isn’t representative of the person nor is texting. Due to this frustration, Filteroff’s CEO, Zach started asking dates to video chat prior to meeting up in-person. Online dating needed to change. He then launched a video first dating app.
 

 

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

 
We started with virtual speed dating events. We now provide daily picks, which allows you to video date on your own time as well as in-person events. We also cater our virtual events around niche communities.

Last year, Filteroff raised $2M from Anheuser-Busch, ZX Ventures. The team has now grown to 5 people.
 

What can we hope to see from Filteroff in the future?

 
Expansion to new cities as well as expanded functionality to help facilitate the video date.