Seasons of Grace
Remember when you were in kindergarten and you had an imaginary friend? Well, maybe you didn’t–but if you did, you’ll understand exactly how a single girl can get hooked on a deal like Invisible Boyfriend.
Invisible Boyfriend and Invisible Girlfriend are the creation of a frustrated guy who got tired of family and friends pushing him to date. Matt Homann, co-founder of the start-up which launched last week, was newly divorced and, as he explains on the website, around Thanksgiving his mother called and asked if she should set an extra place for someone he’d be bringing. “In that moment,” says Matt, “I realized how great it would be to have an answer for her that didn’t require me to actually be dating someone.”
An idea was born. According to the Invisible Boyfriend website,
“Invisible Boyfriend gives you real-world and social proof that you’re in a relationship–even if you’re not–so you can get back to living life on your own terms.”
Here’s how it works: Say you’re a young adult woman and you’ve recently ended a relationship. Well-meaning family and friends keep trying to “fix you up” with their neighbor, their best friend’s son, their co-worker’s nephew. You’ve gone on some really bad dates, and what you really want is a little time to read a few books and ratchet down the drama, before you find your Mr. Right. Again, from the website:
We believe the Invisible Partner concept meets a universal problem. Society puts so much pressure on your relationship status. From Grandma to coworkers to romantic comedies, everyone seems to expect us to pursue a relationship. But sometimes you don’t want to be in one. We think that’s totally normal.
Even when you do want to be in a relationship, life doesn’t get any easier. Dating sucks. We’re excited about the ways Invisible Girlfriend and Boyfriend are helping people navigate the dating scene. The service creates a safe space for you to practice texting with a real human if you’re out of practice. Sometimes it even inspires just enough jealousy to jolt that special person into committing.
So you go to the website and design the boyfriend of your dreams. You give him a name and an identity: Bart who likes football; Chuck, the theater-goer; Mike, who’s the bookish type. You select his eye color and hair color, his body type, his personality characteristics, even his head shot.
Then BOOM! for just $25/month, your imaginary boyfriend begins texting you. He’ll send up to 100 texts, 10 voicemails and one postcard each month, keeping the conversation going.
How you use the service is up to you: Explain to your parents that your boyfriend Ryan is out of town or has to work? Rush away from a dreaded work event to meet up with your cutie for drinks? Jostle your real-life boyfriend into making a commitment?
Will the service be successful? Homann reported that they signed up 5,000 users on Wednesday alone. There’s a lotta “lonely” out there.
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