Don't Tell Me I Can't… …Launch A Dating App

Tina Wilson realised friends make the best matchmakers

- Frances Leate

Watching morning television, a presenter starts talking about Wingman, the latest app creating a furore among singletons, and immediately I start to panic. That’s the name of my new dating app, only no one from the show has called to say they’re doing a segment on it. I’m so convinced that someone else must’ve had the same idea and got there first that I already start tallying up everything I’ve lost in work, time and money. I’m so quick to believe I’ve failed that it’s not until the presenter mentions my name that it finally sinks in. At 40, I’ve launched my own dating platform – and it’s so successful people are talking about it on TV.

It was in March 2015 that I found myself staring at my phone, swiping my finger sideways through profiles of available men. I’d become single after a 10-year relationship, and a couple of eager friends convinced me to join a dating app. I’d had no idea what to write on my profile.