Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Ohlala, An Uber For Escorts, Launches In Berlin, Plans Global Rollout
http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/10/ohlala-an-uber-for-escorts-launches-in-berlin-plans-global-rollout/?ncid=rss&cps=gravity_1462_-1332173763741511454#.vqbwc7:kfGtLast year, Berlin-based entrepreneur Pia Poppenreiter created Peppr, an app that connected clients to sex workers, where the client sent a direct booking request to the sex worker. Amid a storm of publicity, mostly in Germany, Peppr quickly ran into problems with simple mechanics of its model. If there were a couple of hours between sending the request and getting feedback, it was very likely that the request was canceled.
In other words, the booking process didn’t really facilitate “on-demand.” But equally as important, feedback from the escorts was they didn’t want to be labelled, and preferred more control over their profiles. Poppenreiter killed the service and went back to square one, consulting heavily with the women who work in the industry to find out what might actually work: “Because I still believe after all that this market needs be disrupted,” she tells me.
Today she launches the new concept, Ohlala, in Berlin first but with an English language rollout soon. While it’s a responsive mobile web app for now, it will become a native app in the next few weeks, assuming it’s accepted.
Here’s how Ohlala will work. It’s a platform where people connect to meet for their “paid dates” offline. (Paid dates is the language used here). It’s that simple. One person wants to be paid, the other one wants to pay. “Whatever those two people want to do — may it be to give company at a dinner or end up in bed together — is a private matter and should be agreed upon in the chat before meeting,” says Poppenreiter. “It’s simple: We match people for paid dates immediately. It actually solves problems in this marketplace, that dating sites and most escort sites don’t solve: We match expectations, on-demand.”
In other words, the booking process didn’t really facilitate “on-demand.” But equally as important, feedback from the escorts was they didn’t want to be labelled, and preferred more control over their profiles. Poppenreiter killed the service and went back to square one, consulting heavily with the women who work in the industry to find out what might actually work: “Because I still believe after all that this market needs be disrupted,” she tells me.
Today she launches the new concept, Ohlala, in Berlin first but with an English language rollout soon. While it’s a responsive mobile web app for now, it will become a native app in the next few weeks, assuming it’s accepted.
Here’s how Ohlala will work. It’s a platform where people connect to meet for their “paid dates” offline. (Paid dates is the language used here). It’s that simple. One person wants to be paid, the other one wants to pay. “Whatever those two people want to do — may it be to give company at a dinner or end up in bed together — is a private matter and should be agreed upon in the chat before meeting,” says Poppenreiter. “It’s simple: We match people for paid dates immediately. It actually solves problems in this marketplace, that dating sites and most escort sites don’t solve: We match expectations, on-demand.”
