Page 47 of Hang the Moon
“The whole market,” Brendon stressed, looking to Katie for confirmation. “Not just us.”
She offered him a smile and nodded.
Jian sighed. “I’m not trying to be a Donnie Downer or anything, but our model, what sets OTP apart, is that we promise to help users find their person so they can ditch the app and ride off into the sunset.” He held up his hands. “I’m not harshing what we stand for. Just, from a business standpoint, if we want users to delete the app, we’ve got to replace them with others. If we’ve got a slowdown in growth—”
“We’ve got a problem,” Brendon surmised.
Jian nodded. “Or we will. Right now, our revenue is exceeding expectations; great. User satisfaction?”
Katie shot him a thumbs-up. “Is at an all-time high.”
“We don’t need to panic, but we’ve got a problem on the horizon and it’s one we’re going to need to tackle sooner or later.” Jian shrugged. “Personally, I’m in favor of sooner.”
“Sooner sounds good,” Brendon agreed, leaning back in his chair.
Jenny leaned forward. “If I’m understanding this correctly, our issue is attracting new users to the app? Refresh the pool of singles, so to speak?”
Jian nodded. “But don’t ask me how. I’m the numbers guy.”
Katie and Jenny exchanged a look before Katie gave a sharp nod. “We’ll get right on it.”
Jenny reached for her pen and began scribbling in her notebook. “Testimonials, maybe? Those usually work.”
“If we want to see big growth, not just a trickle here and there like we get from users switching between apps, I think we’ve got to branch outside our usual demographic.” Brendon turned to Katie. “Those thirty percent of dating app users who feel apps have made courtships devoid of romance.”
Katie frowned sharply. “You want us to convince a bunch of skeptics?”
Jenny dropped her pen. “How are we supposed to do that?”
Therein lay the million-dollar question.
“Challengeis another word foropportunity,” Katie said, shooting Jenny a glare. “We’ll brainstorm.”
“We’ve got time,” Jian reminded them. “No rush.”
Brendon wished he could say the same.
***
DARCY (3:16 P.M.):Could you please come over after work? I think Annie broke my espresso machine.
BRENDON (3:22 P.M.):Did you try turning it off and back on?
DARCY (3:25 P.M.):
BRENDON (3:26 P.M.):Kidding! Yeah, I can drop by. What time?
DARCY (3:29 P.M.):I’ll be home at 5:00.
BRENDON (3:32 P.M.):I’ll swing by around 5:10. How’s that sound?
DARCY (3:35 P.M.):That works. Thanks.
***
Brendon rapped his knuckles against Darcy’s door and waited.
And waited and waited and waited.
