Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2022
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:13
ShareBar

Abstract

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth expectations, abandoning plans to raise more venture capital, and keeping tight control over costs. Dating Ring's founders originally aimed to achieve a billion dollar valuation, and their participation in the elite Y Combinator accelerator has stoked their ambitions. However, growth had subsequently sputtered and the founders had not been able to raise more venture capital.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

Citation

Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Lindsay N. Hyde. "Dating Ring." Harvard Business School Case 822-013, January 2022.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Authors

Thomas R. Eisenmann

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

Lindsay N. Hyde

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Interior Collab

    By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
    • February 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Kapor Capital

    By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lindsay N. Hyde and Julia Kelley
    • February 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Enstitute

    By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar and Sarah Mehta
More from the Authors
  • Interior Collab By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
  • Kapor Capital By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lindsay N. Hyde and Julia Kelley
  • Enstitute By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar and Sarah Mehta
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College