Paul English and his fiancé Rachel Cohen launch Lola, Boston’s favorite new dating app.
Paul English and his now fiancé Rachel Cohen should have never met. They matched on the dating app Bumble about five years ago, but English was outside the preferences Cohen had established on her profile and she questioned whether to meet him at all. After some convincing from her mother, she went on the date and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, the two love birds have launched their own dating app called Lola (lola.com) in the hopes of persuading other singles to put down their screens to meet up face-to-face. In addition to making matches based on preferences and profiles like other dating apps, Lola connects people based on their availability for real world dates. The goal is to stop all the texting back and forth and cut straight to the chemistry.
Another unique feature to the app is a dating report card that users can access after they have gone on five dates. Here, people will be able to see the good things and the not so great things that their past dates have said about them. Cohen and English polled hundreds of people to see what the common dating complaints are and compiled a list meant to provide constructive criticism. The report card is helpful both for people to know why they aren’t getting asked on second dates and for Lola to more successfully create matches based on what users consistently liked about their dates. If after many dates and lots of positive feedback, there is still no love connection in sight, Lola will start to share matches slightly outside the set preferences.
Before Lola goes live, Cohen and English want to make sure there are enough willing daters in the wings. Currently interested singles can sign up and create a profile, and as soon as there are enough people ready, the matching can begin.
Photography by: NICOLE LOEB; Tom Merton/GETTY IMAGES
