 Festival. We're going to find out more about that today with Zack Schleyen. He's here from company called FilterOff. I didn't get that quite right. FilterOff.com. Welcome to the show, Zack. Hi, Jay. How's it going? Good. So you had a creative idea, you know, and, you know, Think Tech thinks of creative ideas all the time. Yours was video dating. And actually it reminds me of speed dating in the venture capital world. I don't know if you've ever been involved in that, but I think it's the same thing. What is video dating? Yeah. So FilterOff is a video speed dating app. We run hundreds of events and you can attend one of these events that interest you in video speed date with other like-minded singles. Singles, dating, video, events. That's the part. It's stuck on the word events. So here you have a lantern event. What is a lantern event? And how does that relate, you know, to dating on video? Yeah. So with FilterOff, we host all sorts of events. Some are national events, festivals, sporting events, in this case, the Lantern Festival that's happening. And we host these events so you can meet other singles that have interest in that sort of event. And then you can discuss the event and maybe attend in person together. And it's just a great way that goes beyond the swipe. So it actually allows you to speak to humans. Okay, but this is all video, right? It's all Zoom or something like Zoom? Yeah. So it's hosted on the FilterOff app, our own proprietary video experience with different icebreaker games. But yeah, similar to Zoom, but all hosted on our platform. You know, you know, Zach, I hope it doesn't bother you when I'm married. And I was going to try the app. But I thought, hey, my wife, she might stand behind me while I did that. Then I'd be in trouble. So give us an idea of what the experience is like. Let's suppose my wife wouldn't mind. And I cut on the app. How would that work? Yeah. So the app, it's free. It's available on Android, iOS, as well as the web. So you first can browse through different events based off your interests. So the Lantern Festival, you may see. You RCP to that event. An hour before the event begins, I'll ask you to confirm that you'll be there. You click confirm. And then we schedule your dates based off your preferences. So you may have one day at let's say eight, eight or three, eight or six, et cetera, et cetera. And then when eight o'clock rolls around and press start date and you're entered into a live video chat speed date. And you're speed dating with this other single. And then once the date concludes, it will ask you whether you like each other. And then you go to your next date. Once the event concludes, you'll see if you have any matches. And if you do match with anyone, you could then message or video call with them as long as you like. Okay, let me let me take that into some detail. Okay. So the event, in this case, a Lantern event is coming up. Where is that? What is that? Is that a real event? Or is that a virtual event? Yeah, so most events on our platform are virtual. Again, we see it as a really efficient way for you to meet like minded singles. We also are starting to now host in real life events as well. So a mix of all sorts of events on the platform. Okay. And now I have a little schedule in front of me and it's broken down into I said, I imagine I surmise from what you said that three minute intervals. And you know, you know, that's a that's a perfectly reasonable period of time to accept or reject. Because the truth is, if you know, if you're in touch with your own intuition, you know, whether you want to pursue this after a three minute engagement. So okay, so I want to have, say, five speed dates, I can just fill in the three minute intervals. Suppose I'm really a hungry, a hungry fellow, and I want to have 20 speed dates. Can I do that? Yeah, so for the events themselves, you'll get up to 10 dates for the events hosted by filter off. But the beauty is, as a platform, we actually enable organizers, or if you host your own community, you create your own event. So if you have a an interest or a certain sort of community could create your own event on the filter off app, totally free of charge. And you could share that with your audience and you can make it up to 15 dates if you'd like. So yeah, we give you the platform that you can figure and really have a great experience. Okay, so what's it going to tell me about the Lantern event? That would form a common denominator between me and my various states. Yeah, so one is location. So we have all sorts of events. So like the Lantern event, it's in Hawaii. And then when you do, I was going to ask you about that. So it's the Lantern event right here in Hawaii. But it could be anywhere, could be anywhere, right? So we also have other sorts of events as well, different locations or some that are a bit broader as well. So it really just varies on the filter off app and you can see that right in the platform. But again, given that it's that sort of themed event, when you go on your dates, ask them, have you been to Lantern Festival before? Like it's a beautiful festival. I know like every year about like 40,000 Hawaiians and tourists like gather. So it's quite large and it's fun. So and then maybe you meet someone that you really like and you could go sometime with them. What makes you pick the Lantern event for this for now for your promotions now? Are you operating in Hawaii? Yeah. So we have events. We've hosted now over close to 7000 events since the pandemic. So we've kind of attached ourselves to all sorts of events. So like coming up the Super Bowl, we have the Super Bowl event with Valentine's Day. We have Valentine's Day. So all sorts of holidays and national events. That gives me something to talk to my dates about. I suppose, you know, if I was a smart guy, I would read up a little on the event. So I wouldn't I wouldn't be a dunce when she asked me questions about the date about the other event. So I should probably do a little googling, a little research about the event before I actually talk to her so I can sound like I know what I'm saying. No, I think that's that makes sense. And you can kind of share your thoughts on the event, or you could say maybe we can go together. I've never been but looks super cool. So that's what FilterOff's about for you to authentically connect with other singles and going way beyond the swipe. What do you mean way beyond the swipe? I saw that on your your site. It's very interesting the way your site works. I'm going to talk about that. But you say going beyond the swipe, what's the swipe? Maybe I haven't lived long enough. I don't know what a swipe is. Yeah. So in 2012, like Tinder kind of made online dating acceptable or cool. And they used a swipe functionality similar to like being in a casino. It's very addicting, but it does not provide a very intense or a good human experience. It's more of an addictive nature. And you're swiping based off what they look like, not really who they are as a person. And with FilterOff, we remove that experience and we bring it back down to an easy and effective way to actually connect with another human. So going beyond the profile, you don't need to have those witty profile lines and pictures, just about you and the person. Yeah. But you get some background also, right? Yeah. So before your dates, you could actually learn about your date. They could add some run facts, a bio to actually have someone understand who this person is going into it. And again, it's a three minute date. If you're not a fit, it's only three minutes. And if you are maybe your person. You know, I was tossed on whether to ask you about Tinder Swindle, which I'm sure you've heard about it, you know, as being in the business. But you mentioned it. So now I have to ask you about it. That was a very, very, very interesting movie. And I guess it was all about the app called Tinder. Can you talk about it? And you talk about why that could never, never happen on FilterOff. Yeah. So I don't, I don't, I just want to say that with Swipe apps, you never know who is beyond behind the profile. With FilterOff, even if it's a video first experience, you won't have that experience of being catfished or, I mean, scammed, right? So it's like, it's, it brings it down to a much more human experience. You see who you're speaking to. Obviously, you have to use your best judgment. If this is someone you want to continue to chat with or potentially meet with, but Swipe apps are designed to just stay on the profile and just kind of swipe forever. Yeah. Well, just as if anybody is watching who doesn't know about Tinder Swindle, it's a cable movie on, I think, Netflix. And it's about this, this fellow who swindles people using Tinder and he, he has like a half a dozen of them that he's swindling at the same time and he gets them to give him money, kind of a Ponzi scheme. He takes money from one and he spends it on the other and sort of lives a very high lifestyle with jet planes and fancy cars and clothes and incredible what he does. And this is a true story, by the way, right? True story. And they finally caught him, but not. They caught him and the only place he was prosecuted was in his home, which was in Israel. And, and there he got a relatively light, light sentence. And he probably went back to it. It's a very funny movie because it's all about love. How do you appeal to that? Or do you make a con, you know, a conscious effort to appeal to that? Yeah, so I just lost you for a second, it just froze. But are you saying to appeal to in terms of what, what, you know, what people need for love? And in the movie, it was especially women and the guy was a scammer. But I suppose it's really both, both sides of the equation. They may be lonely, especially now the time of COVID, right? Yeah. Home and not getting out much and afraid. And so this fills a need for a lot of people and increasingly so. I mean, I feel probably agree with me that there's a future in this. It's, it's not just a static app. It's an app with a, with a future in our society. So how do you appeal or do you intentionally want to appeal to their need for companionship for love, for connection? Yeah. So filter off definitely hits on a different sort of data than most traditional swipe apps. I call them intentional daters. They're looking for that sort of connection they want to actually meet up. And with filter off, given it's a video first experience, what we noticed during the pandemic is how fundamentally disconnected people were. And that definitely helped fuel me to provide people that sort of connection. And being a video first experience allows for them. We've created a number of marriages since. Really? Marriages? You keep, you count cool on that? I mean, do you have stats on marriages that resulted from engagements on filter off? Yeah. I mean, we've had a number of marriages, one of which was covered in the Times. So we have a lot of these communities who host events for their members. And it's, it's been really effective in creating hundreds of matches. And just with the numbers, if you create hundreds of matches, one may lead to something pretty great. Any event is fun. You sharpen your own skills, you sharpen your perceptions, you sharpen your ability to read people virtually, which is a skill that we didn't have a couple of years ago. Now we have. So, why are you doing this? Are you doing this for the altruistic side of it to make a better life for all these people? Or you do it for money? You do it for, I don't know, for the thrill of doing new technology? What are you doing it for? Yeah. I've been an avid online gator when I was growing up and I used all the swipe apps and was quite dissatisfied with my experience of swiping for hours. And yeah, I make it a match, but then nothing comes from it. And then maybe I meet them in person and then we just don't have chemistry. And I was just so frustrated with this long process. So I asked my dates beforehand to be open to video chatting and very few agreed. They thought it was weird, but the ones that agreed, I was like, wow, this experience is so much better and it feels healthier. And I wanted to create the norm for a video first experience where video was the mechanism for singles to connect. And the pandemic happened and people really got on board with video. And now it's just our goal is to facilitate authentic human connection for singles around the world. You making money? So for events, you can sell tickets on the platform. We take a percentage. But the goal is to just grow this app. And when people think of connecting to humans, they think of filter off. So the problem is that you want to grow your your base, your mailing list, you want to grow your membership, your followers, all that, right? And social media. And it's on the way. See, if you want my opinion is the ultimate social media. But you know, they're all going to get married. And if they get married, you know, and you see them come back, you know, there's a problem. There is a problem. And here's the thing, people talk about that a lot. We're like, well, it's almost like you're, you want to lose users in some ways. But here's the beauty. If you provide a successful experience, people always ask, where did you meet? And then they say filter off, then they join filter off. There's a big enough dating pool where it's okay to lose users. And at least we're doing it for a awesome means. And one thing it strikes me is that when you're talking about anonymous connection, I mean, it's not anonymous once you get to actually talk to them. And, you know, I mean, I do these talk shows with people like you and a lot of women. And I really get to know them in spending a half an hour. I feel like, you know, I really know them. And it's a skill to see through the virtual, you know, and see the person and all that. Truth is, you never forget it. You always remember these engagements. I will remember talking with you for a long time. And you will probably remember talking with me for a long time and all that. And so there's a real benefit in meeting that way. However, and it's not a question of scamming so much. It's a question of abuse. It's a question of, you know, taking advantage, using it as a 900 number kind of thing. And, you know, sort of a way to prostitution or promiscuity, a way to violate norms or the law. How do you prevent that? Yeah, so we have robust reporting features. So if any users do anything inappropriate or seem like they're trying to scam you in any way or ask for money, or even ask you to video chat off the platform and you don't feel comfortable, you could always report them. And with robust reporting capabilities, we will remove that user. It's tied to the phone number so they can never create an account again on filter off. So we take that extremely seriously. It happens then. So there's always bad actors, right? But that's why you have functionality in place. And again, with an app like filter off being a video first experience, you can't catfish. But there's always people that could be somewhat malicious and we do everything possible to keep a really safe and fun experience. But you don't listen. You don't listen. No, no, everything is encrypted. We don't have access to the videos all through the carrier using something called WebRTC technology. It's encrypted in transit as well as in storage. So you have no idea what they're talking about. And if you want to know somebody's doing something outside the norm, you have to wait for somebody to report it to you that there's an abuse going on sometime. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, we take I think privacy is fundamental for any technology platform or company. And we take privacy extremely seriously. And if there is a case of some sort of a report comes in, we take that very seriously, we will inspect. And usually bad actors will do it to multiple people. So you could just see if there's been a number of reports. Just like the movie. Because if you find a bad actor is doing things on your system, you know, it's not just a one off. Yeah, but the point that's important to make is much more difficult to do anything inappropriate or import taste on a platform like Filteroff, given the video first experience, when you're hiding behind a profile, is very easy to send messages to scam people. And that's why these swipe apps have a huge problem with scammers and fake profiles. Yeah, what filter off? How did you get that name? What does it mean? There's got to be an underlying meaning there. What is it? Yeah, I mean, in today's age, right, with Instagram and Snapchat, it's all about the filter. And with filter off, it's about showing your authentic self and not being afraid to show that. And it's removing the filter, quote unquote. What great fun. Now, it just so happens. And if I wasn't married, you know, maybe I would, I would like, for example, Italian women from Italy, or I would like Albanian women or Tibetan women or Indian women. You have this for me? Yeah, so you can set preferences for different ethnicities or religions. What we also have is a lot of communities will host events for a religious community as well. So it's very configurable. And our goal is it's to serve every sort of data to find your match. So this has got international implications. So there are Tibetan women who would go to a Tibetan festival, for example, and I could meet them there on filter off and get to know them. I don't speak Tibetan, but you know, maybe they speak English. What do you do with different languages? You know, sometimes you might have a problem and one side of the other will not know what language. Yeah, I mean, it's a really valid point, right? And I think that's a good problem to have as we, I mean, like I mentioned, we've rolled out, like, have hosted down like close to 7000 virtual speeding events. We also host a few times a week, a global day night, which is really fun. You'll meet people from around the world. And yeah, if there's a case where they don't speak the same language, that obviously is difficult. We also have local day nights, so that will help you meet someone to speak the same language. Eventually we'll roll out different translations of the app right now. It's English only, but as we continue to grow, we'll roll that out. There's also the political implications. I mean, for example, I suppose you could pass classified information, not to say that that happens very much in the context of dating, but, and also you could have an argument over political things. But for example, if I am shocked and surprised to find that a person who I thought was not politically wedded to Trump, all of a sudden is talking to me about Trump or various political issues that followed Trump, that would leave me very cold. And, you know, I suppose I can say to this person, look, it's been nice joining you for 15 seconds, but I got to go now. Could I, could I terminate that early? Could I say bye? Yeah, you have the ability to end the call at any point in time. Yeah. And do they get into arguments? Do people have bad experiences? I mean, again, the answer is given that we don't have access to video and nor do we want access to video. I can't give you a definitive answer, but when you have 7,000 events, I'm sure there are some bad dates where people may argue. That must be very, very, very interesting. Although you're not going to listen to them, maybe you can ask for testimonials afterward. How did it go? I mean, do you do exit interview kind of thing? How did it go? How was it for you? Yeah, I mean, when you delete the app, we ask how was your experience when we say like people say like found love on your app. I think I found my first, like it's so cool to see why people delete an app. For the positives, I know for the negatives, you take them and that's how you learn, you see how you can potentially make your platform, your app experience even better. How about the demographic? You know, I can see seniors. Really, I can. I can see seniors doing this, especially if they've lost a spouse, you know, they're alone and so forth. Do they? And what about juniors? I mean, what about kids who are maybe minors? How do you control that? Because that may not be the best arrangement for them. How do you control it? How do you track it? Yeah, so to answer your first question, the app is for all ages. We have users as young as 18 to in their 70s, which is really cool. Because we want to serve all audiences. We have events, a divorce and widowed single date night as well. So again, it caters to all sorts of people. To answer your second question, the app is 18 plus. So again, that's very important to keep no minors on our platform, not what our app is about. So you have to put in your age when you join. And again, we would take swift action if there's anything inappropriate. Yeah, okay. Well, you know, the thing about it is you're in technology, you're in cutting-edge technology. I consider Zoom and the like, WebEx and the others cutting-edge technology. And they're competing with each other. They're trying to find out how to get ahead of the other guy. They're trying to organize meetings and human contact in larger groups, groups around the world and so forth. And so, and we're doing, how do we do that? So we understand how you have to keep at the cutting edge. And you have to keep at the cutting edge. I'm sure you think about that all the time as an entrepreneur. So the question is, the two parts of this question is, how do you keep at the cutting edge? And the second, why don't you tell us your secrets about what you're going to do? Well, the latter question, I'm not sure if I can disclose the secrets, but I think when it keeps the cutting edge, just following our mission and facilitating authentic human connection. And right now it's video, right? With video technology, WebRTC, with telecommunications infrastructure now advancing to 5G, it just makes our platform better. So video, that video experience fits really well right now. Eventually in the future, having some sort of like avatar, but actually looking like that person because we don't want you to look different because that's not what our app is about. But having a visual experience where you're with someone, that'd be amazing and being in a bar, a coffee shop in Paris. So that's definitely down the line. Right now we're just trying to nail video speed dating and facilitate connection. I love that idea. I really do. A little cafe in Paris, oh my God, that would be fabulous. I'd go there in a minute, but I am married. So what about, I'm not talking about menage à trois. I'm not talking about that, although I suppose that's possible. What about double dates? What about triple dates? What about dates where they all get together in a group, right? And you're not only looking at the one across the table, so to speak. You're looking at a possible assortment of other people that you might want to connect with. And what about gays? Where do they fit in? I'm very interested. Yeah. So when you create your account, you could say if you're interested, men, women, or both. We have lesbian, gay, date nights on filter off. And again, you could set your preferences. Again, the app is for all people. So if you're into the swinging scene, you could join or create. If you run a sort of community, you could create that sort of event on filter off. Love is love. And we just want to be able to facilitate that. Love is love. There's a lot of psychic benefit for you in that, to create love, to create a platform that helps people enjoy love. That's a fabulous thing. You probably sleep well at night. But at the same time, I want to know where it goes for you. Because this is obviously a great idea that it has all the marks of success. If not immediately, then going forward. Is this something you're going to stay with Zach? Is this something, because a lot of entrepreneurs, they find a good idea and they develop it to the extent that it helps or it's a liquid, a liquidation event. And then they move on. Are you a serial entrepreneur? Or are you a one company person? I mean, I'm trying to get this thing as large as possible and be, when you think of meeting someone online, you'd think of filter off. So trying to hit the moon. So we're going up. We're all in on this. Good. Good. Great idea. And it resonates with me because we do a lot of video, virtual video. And so what a great idea you had. And I think as time goes by, there'll be more technology that you will see and latch onto. And it's only good helping people. Thank you very much. Zach, Zach Schleyen? Schleyen, got it right? Yeah. Schleyen. Yep. Schleyen. Thank you very much for joining us today. Really appreciate the discussion. And good luck to you. Thanks so much, Shay. Thanks for the time. Aloha.