Relationship Hero, an on-demand dating advice service raises millions

Liron Shapira
Relationship
Hero

• Relationship Hero is an on-demand coaching service that
  provides customers with dating and relationship advice.
• Users can call, text, or chat one of the company’s 70-full
  time coaches at any time of day.
• On Friday, the company announced it raised a $2 million seed
  round led by Foundation Capital, Village Global, and Shrug
  Capital.

When Liron Shapira was in his 20s, he relied on dating advice
from one of his best friends. He really needed help with online
dating.

“I would be looking at the blank wall, thinking like, ‘I have
nothing to say. How could I possibly say anything interesting?'”
Shapira remembers.

His friend would explain to him “there’s actually a way to have a
natural, funny conversation inside online dating.” 

Shapira and his friend, Lior Gotesman, realized there were
probably plenty of people out there who needed similar help —
whether it was getting over the anxieties of dating or working
through issues in existing relationships. 

The entrepreneurs launched Relationship Hero two years ago to do
just that — provide on-demand coaching for anyone looking for
dating or relationship advice. The Y
Combinator-backed startup now has 70 full-time relationship
coaches on staff and on Friday, announced it raised a $2 million
seed round led by Foundation Capital, Village Global, and Shrug
Capital. 

“We’re one of those companies that is finding a market that was
hiding in plain sight,” Shapira told Business Insider in a recent
interview. “We’re all going to our friends for relationship
advice, but where is the equivalent company for that?” 

Don’t call it therapy

So what does a relationship coach actually do?

The coaches help customers with a mix of dating and relationship
advice — from sending an opening one-liner on Tinder to composing
a heartfelt email to an ex. Customers range from 18 to
70-years-old and its demographic is split almost exactly even
between females and males, according to Shapira.

Users can call, text, or chat a Relationship Hero coach at any
time of the day and expect an immediate response. Fees for
coaching vary, but the average rate is around $90 per hour. 

Coaches all must go through the same intensive training program,
but not all have a background in psychology. One coach, for
example, was a former accountant.

There’s been some pushback by professional therapists who say
people should be going to them for relationship advice, Shapira
acknowledges. But he doesn’t think traditional therapy is the
answer. 

“If you go to a therapist, they’re going to have you focus on
yourself — focus internally on your emotions, your own mental
state,” he says. “And the problem is that relationships are
actually very external. It’s all about getting the results you
want with your partner and with the outside world. And it’s a
totally different skillset.” 

Working at Relationship Hero 

There are 75 employees at Relationship Hero, and 70 of them are
coaches. 

“We’re basically a team of coaches, with a little bit of
overhead,” Shapira explains. He says with the company’s 20%
month-over-month growth, it’s continually adding new coaches to
its team. 

Interestingly, these coaches are full-time employees of
Relationship Hero, rather than contractors. 

“It’s not a marketplace. We’re helping invent and ensure the
quality of the coaching so we have to own that,” Shapira says.
“The people who work for us, they’re really not independent
contractors. We’re really strict how they go about the
coaching.” 

When it comes to where and when employees work however,
Relationship Hero is very flexible.  The company is entirely
remote. Coaches live across the US and have flexible schedules
which helps the company provide customers with coverage
throughout the day. 

“It’s really hard for people to find quality jobs in
middle-America and places where the local economy isn’t doing
that great. We’re offering people a job that’s full time,
guaranteed, with a steady stream of clients,” Shapira tells us.
“They also love the work because they get to help people. They
can see that they’re putting families back together.” 

As for Shapira, he’ll be putting the remote work model to the
test next month when he leaves Silicon Valley and moves to
upstate New York with his wife. 

Shapira met his wife on Tinder three years ago, and thanks to the
coaching of his friend and Relationship Hero co-founder, he was
able to land a date. 

“I met my wife on Tinder all thanks to Lior’s help!”
Shapira explained. “Afterwards she told me she always flakes on
guys, but somehow I convinced her to go on a date. It was a high
stakes situation and the coaching was life
changing.”