By the standards of the algorithmic, instant-judgment online dating age, Jess Kushner and Ken Deckinger have a story fit for an old-fashioned romantic comedy. In 2003, Deckinger was running a speed-dating company when his friend and cofounder, Adele Tongish, posted his profile to a now-defunct website that promised online dating with a twist: Women recommended their male friends to other women.
Kushner and Deckinger married in 2007, and their how-we-met story is the model—and the marketing—for a new online dating startup, Jess, Meet Ken. “We know this works,” says Jess Deckinger.
Their love story is one of the differentiators that the Deckingers hope will set Jess, Meet Ken apart in the increasingly crowded, $2 billion US online dating sector, which includes Hinge and Coffee Meets Bagel. But all three companies also have something important in common: They are taking on the online dating establishment and promising a new generation of singles a better way to date.
