SCHENECTADY — To swipe or not to swipe? Exhausted by endless scrolling, mindless small talk and an oversaturated online dating pool, it’s no surprise more singles are choosing the latter.
Some, like Becky Daniels and Gabby Fisher, are ditching the dating apps altogether and looking for more organic ways to find love.
“A lot of people, even those who have been attached to their cellphones for a really long time, are finding that dating apps just aren’t giving them what they are looking for in terms of connection,” said Daniels, who has sworn off the pursuit of love at first swipe on apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge.
In 2021, frustrated by the lack of opportunities to meet potential partners in person, Daniels and Fisher launched Capital Heart Connection, an event series designed to connect a vibrant and inclusive community of singles in the Capital Region.
Now, the pals are taking the business to the next level by offering matchmaking services out of a brand-new office space at the Palette Community in downtown Schenectady as part of its corporate partnership with the female-focused co-working space. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at the office, located at 508 State St., on Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. to celebrate the expansion.
Now playing cupid, the friends-turned-business partners have rebranded their business as Micropolitan Matchmakers and are taking on clients eager to delete their dating apps and find their romantic match with real world experiences.
Inspired by the interest of other singles who attended their events in past years, the pair enrolled in a matchmaking course this summer to become expert love brokers. Thus, in June, the pair’s swipe-free dating service was born.
“We really want to bring the joy and the humanity back to dating,” Daniels, 36, said.
Their matchmaking services include an in-depth intake, a guaranteed number of dates based on the selected membership package, organized and private feedback from each date and access to member-only group coaching and events. Packages begin at $1,500.
Here’s how it works: if someone were to sign up for a five-date package, for example, the process would begin with a two-hour, in-person consultation. The goal of the initial meeting is for Daniels and Fisher to leave with an in-depth understanding of their client’s dating history, preferences and interests so they can set forth on identifying a suitable match.
To do so, the matchmakers browse through the business’s database of singles, which is free for people to sign up for. As longtime residents of the Electric City, each with a hand in networking in the area for their day jobs, they also leverage their personal connections in thinking up prospective matches.
Once a handful of singles are chosen, Daniels and Fischer conduct video interviews to make sure the person is who they say they are and that it would be a good fit. Background checks are also conducted to give clients an added level of peace of mind lacking from the often-feral landscape of online dating (a round of applause for no more secretly married suitors).
The two will then determine the top match they want to set their client up with, a process Daniels describes as having “a little bit of magic to it.” Once properly vetted, the business partners plan the first date entirely, prohibiting the individuals from exchanging phone numbers or social media handles prior to meeting.
“On a dating app, you might meet someone and text for three weeks before you meet in person and you build up a story about that person in your head before you even meet them, for better or worse, and it’s very rare that someone is going to live up to that expectation, so we really tried to take all of that out and just have them focus on that in-person connection,” Daniels said.
After pandemic-induced lockdowns and minimized social activity, more people are keen for face-to-face interactions that don’t require a stable Wi-Fi connection. Micropolitan Matchmakers facilitates just that — but leaves the more awkward parts of the courting process, like figuring out whether to see each other again, to the organizers.
After the date, both parties fill out a feedback form and meet with the matchmakers to discuss how they want to move forward. If they decide to part ways, the client gets to try their luck again by moving on to their second date of their five-date package.
A perk of the program is that the dates never expire, so even if the client continues dating their first match — or just wants to take a break from the scene altogether — they can return weeks, months or even years later for their next match.
The database of singles, accessible only by Daniels and Fisher for matchmaking purposes, comprises around 200 people and continues to grow. Daniels said they are currently seeing slightly more women than men, but registration is starting to even out as they market more social events.
There is also a large demographic of people in their 50s and 60s, many of whom are recently divorced, who Daniels said are taking advantage of the platform. “They don’t want to worry about having to navigate the dating app scene because there’s this whole culture and all of these unwritten rules to it that I think is very confusing and overwhelming for folks,” she explained.
While matchmaking is their current focus, Daniels and Fisher will continue hosting a variety of events for singles to come out and socialize. The business is planning a series of events in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, including a night with the Albany Symphony Orchestra at Proctors Theater, an afternoon meetup at Grahams Coffee Parlor, “The Ghost of Ex’s Past” comedy show and a social gathering at The Berlin in Troy.
A full schedule of events, as well as more information on dating services, is available on Micropolitan Matchmaker’s website.
