Cupid's Wingman: Social Dating at Doubble

Doubble is a Danish dating app founded in October 2021 by Dennis Rosenlund, a bachelor's student at Copenhagen Business School. Challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions placed on in-person events, the first-semester student developed an app to facilitate 'double dates'. Users signed up for the app and connected to their friends. Then they looked for other pairs with which to have double dates. This made it easier to initiate contact by chat and reduced the awkwardness of first dates. Doubble's first users were Dennis's fellow university students. However, over time, network effects facilitated growth beyond this initial niche. The case allows for a discussion of effectuation principles at the earliest stage of venture development and the financing needs of new ventures, especially those with a platform-business model.