Breeze is a dating app that skips the endless chatting and helps people meet in real life by planning an in-person first date after you match. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Breeze co-founder Marco van der Woude to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Marco van der Woude’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Van der Woude said:
“I was born and raised on the Caribbean island of Curaçao and later moved to the Netherlands to study Industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology. During my studies, I had several failed attempts at starting a company. After a stint as a working student at Deloitte Digital, I decided to try again, but this time with full commitment. That’s when I reconnected with a few like-minded people I had studied with. Together we laid the foundation for what would become Breeze.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for Breeze come together? Van der Woude shared:
“I met my co-founders during our studies. While we were on a fast track to become strategy consultants, we all really wanted to build companies. In the final phase of our Master’s Degree, we decided to flip the switch and go for it. We believed that having a strong team was more important than starting with the perfect idea.”
“Breeze was born from our own frustrations with online dating. We applied the lean startup method and started by validating the problem. We talked to students about their experiences and repeatedly heard the same things: swiping felt superficial and chatting was mentally draining. Unknowingly, we had tapped into what is now known as ‘dating app fatigue.’”
“We asked ourselves: what if we removed the chat altogether?”
“We began by testing our riskiest assumption: people want to go on a date without chatting first. We printed PDF profiles of friends and asked students if they’d be willing to date them with no prior conversation. We had our first match within a week and arranged a real-life date at a local bar.”
“From there, we scaled gradually: first via WhatsApp, then with a website, and finally launching our app in January 2020. After that, some of my co-founders dropped out of college and we all have been focused on making Breeze a success ever since.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Breeze so far? Van der Woude reflected:
“I have two: The first was getting our first salary after raising our initial investment round. That moment truly marked our transition from a fun student project to a real company.”
“The second was launching Breeze in Belgium in September 2023. It was so successful that we shifted our entire growth strategy to focus on scaling internationally. We’re still refining that process with every new launch.”
Main Features
What are Breeze’s main features? Van der Woude explained:
“Our mission is to humanize online dating. We believe the best way to find out if you’re a match is by meeting in real life. That’s why Breeze eliminates endless swiping and chatting. Users receive a handful of curated profiles each day, and once they match, they immediately plan a date. We make the reservation at a partner venue.”
“We also don’t have subscriptions or ads. You only pay once you go on a date, aligning our success with yours. Our goal is for users to get off the app as soon as possible.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in this sector of work recently? Van der Woude acknowledged:
“Our first major challenge was the pandemic. With all partner venues closed, we couldn’t organize dates. But users still wanted to meet, so we pivoted quickly and introduced walk & talk dates. We provided meeting points, and people went on walks. At one point, parks were full of Breeze dates. That flexibility really carried us through the pandemic.”
“More recently, our launch in NYC posed a different challenge. How do you stand out in one of the most competitive cities in the world? We had to rethink our entire content strategy, reinvent our approach to influencer marketing, and get creative with strategic partnerships. We’re still experimenting there. To be continued!”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has Breeze’s technology evolved since launching? Van der Woude noted:
“Apart from greatly improving our machine learning models to find the right date for everyone, one major shift has been how we integrate AI into our workflows. We actively encourage this within the team and we even have a weekly “AI example” shared internally. A recent big step was connecting Claude to our database, allowing team members to run queries without needing to be data scientists. This empowers everyone to make fast, data-driven decisions.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Breeze’s most significant milestones? Van der Woude cited:
“As mentioned earlier, our first investment round and first steps abroad were huge. I would add our launch in England since that’s now our fastest growing market and will overtake our home market in terms of revenue soon (it only took a bit more than a year!). Another proud moment was finalizing and sharing our company values. It was a team-wide effort involving multiple iterations, and it’s gratifying to see those values resonate and motivate the team every day.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Van der Woude highlighted:
“Our most memorable story involves the first Breeze baby. My co-founder Joris was in a meeting with a potential investor who mentioned that a colleague had met his girlfriend on Breeze. During the call, the investor got a message that the same colleague had to rush out—his girlfriend was going into labor. After the meeting, he came back to the office and, while everyone was super curious to know about how it went, he mentioned that he had even better news; the first Breeze baby was born!”
Metrics
When asking Van der Woude about metrics, he revealed:
“While I can’t disclose specific revenue numbers, I can share that we now organize about 25,000 dates per month and have surpassed 400,000 dates in total.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Breeze from its competition? Van der Woude affirmed:
“Most dating apps make money through subscriptions and ads, which means they optimize for user engagement. At Breeze, users only pay when they go on a date, so we actually want them to succeed and leave the app.”
“This intent-driven model leads to more meaningful matches. Users are selective with likes, and because both sides pay to meet, there’s a higher level of commitment. Our features support this: dates are scheduled immediately after matching, and ghosting is penalized.”
Future Goals
What are some of Breeze’s future goals? Van der Woude emphasized:
“We want to reshape online dating and prove that a business model aligned with user well-being can thrive. After becoming a strong alternative in Europe, our next goal is to break into the U.S. market. We’ve launched in NYC and have plans for Washington DC, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, and LA.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Van der Woude concluded:
“Yes, safety. It’s a top priority for us. We not only moderate all incoming profiles and allow selfie verification, we also think our partner venues play a key role here. The staff at these venues know that it’s a first date and keep an eye out. They’ve also been instructed to intervene if needed. After each date, users have the ability to give us feedback. This can be about our service, the venue but also about their match. In doing so, they can indicate if their match was respectful which is a badge that this person can add to their profile. The reason being that, if you’ve met someone in real life, you have valuable information about what that person actually is like and, if you want, can share that with the community. This way the community also moderates itself.”
