This week the pod talks to Celeste the CEO and co-founder of Known. Celeste dropped out of Stanford to build an AI-powered dating app that just raised $10M from Forerunner and NFX. Celeste explains why dating apps are fundamentally broken: they profit when you stay single and are a part of their long tail of retained users. Known flips the business model by monetizing dates instead of monthly subscriptions. Their key metric is introductions leading to people meeting.

Celeste breaks down why the data shows opposites don't actually attract, why 98% of users share their deepest romantic preferences with an AI, and how voice-based onboarding gives Known a matching edge no competitor has because human voice conveys much more than text. Celeste debriefs Known’s beta in SF where 80% of introductions turned into actual dates, which is much higher than legacy players in the space.

Celeste also shares how she accidentally dropped out of Stanford (she and her co-founder missed class enrollment by weeks while white boarding the app until 4am), how she convinced one of Uber's first engineers to join a 22-year-old's startup, and the real reason she's launching in SF instead of New York. The pod ends with the wildest user stories and a speed round of kiss, marry, kill.

You can download Known today: https://www.knowndating.com/

Next week we are covering Ramp’s Super Bowl tailgate at Fort Mason. DM us @getthecheckpod on Instagram, if you want to come and put your Super Bowl trades in today on Kalshi: https://kalshi.com/r/getthecheck

00:00 Introducing Celeste the co-founder and CEO of Known

00:42 Throwing SF’s biggest party in 2 weeks

03:02 The decision to launch in SF

11:01 Why people misunderstand the loneliness epidemic

14:08 What makes Known’s business model different

21:55 Do opposites attract

27:39 Celeste’s craziest set up

30:16 How to ban your ex from Known

31:17 Why Celeste dropped out of Stanford

39:41 Kiss, marry, kill speed round