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As almost anyone who’s experienced the current dating pool knows, searching for genuine connection can feel like a nearly impossible task. In a world of dating apps, finding an online match is easy—what happens next is the real challenge. How can you transition from the apps to a successful real-world date?
This is the question that Computer Science students Larry Le and Aadi Agrawal are looking to answer with their startup Locus. Locus is an app designed to help users plan a great date after matching with someone online. Using a personality quiz that helps uncover unique traits and vibes, Locus’s AI wingman analyzes the quiz results to create a date plan that allows users to enjoy getting to know each other without the stress of planning.
To learn more about Locus, ANTrepreneur Center Director Ryan Foland sat down with Aadi and Larry to learn more about their vision for the app.
Ryan: Ahoy! Thank you both for meeting with me. To start things off, can you explain what inspired you to start Locus?
Larry: The inspiration for Locus stems from our own experience. As college students, both Aadi and I have had dates or situationships where things seemed to click when we first met, but once we went out, the vibes were all off. And for a long time, we both accepted it as dumb luck and thought that if we kept trying, things would eventually work out. But the truth was that we were far from the only people on campus to have these feelings; it’s a universal problem with no clear reason why.
After a lot of introspection, we realized it’s not necessarily our fault or our potential partner’s fault; it’s the disconnect of not really knowing them yet. Everyone has a personality, but when we meet each other for the first time, we may put up a front that masks our true selves. That might make you want to choose “safer” options when going out, like a boba shop, when really a park hike would have been better for us both. The places we go to should enable that spark between us, not kill the vibe.
Aadi: I’ve had that experience a lot, too. It’s normal for people to act a certain way when meeting others. But it also brings a real problem. There were times I’ve vibed well with someone but got cold feet when trying to make the first move because I didn’t feel like I knew her well enough. When it comes to dating, putting up a front can prevent people from getting to know each other. This often leads to opting for simple but disconnected first dates that leave potential partners feeling like complete strangers.
Locus helps create the desired date for both you and your partner. It finds the place where the vibe will be right, and where you both will feel comfortable. Locus offers advice for a date that is centered around being yourself. The best relationships are built on shared experiences, and Locus helps create that situation. Our goal is to remove the difficulties that come from the awkward stage where you don’t really know anything about each other, and instead, enjoy connecting with each other.
Ryan: How does Locus differentiate itself from other companies offering similar products or services?
Larry: Social disconnect is a problem that other companies have tried to solve, but unsuccessfully. Other companies aiming for successful dates are designed to keep you glued to their app, where they tell you to do things like answer icebreakers or text this or that. Locus uses a personality test and then instantly gives you a plan that you and your partner might like, allowing you to skip all the initial back and forth over the phone.
Aadi: We want users to be focused on the person behind the screen, not on the app. We aren’t trying to compete with dating apps; we’re making their users (who have initially matched with each other) more successful by removing the anxieties that come with trying to connect. Locus is designed to help you engage with your partner, in real life, sooner.
Ryan: Can you describe the core technology or methodology behind Locus and how it benefits your clients?
Larry: Our app uses a personality quiz when you first sign up to gain an understanding of your personality based on OCEAN principles.
Aadi: OCEAN is the Five Factor Personality model that measures openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. We believe that your personality determines your interests, and our quiz is specifically designed to go past the mask, get to the user’s inner personality, and remove any chance of user bias. We use the quiz results for both people in our AI algorithm to find interesting date locations (that both you and your date can explore beforehand) and curate date plans for each user to support both of you before the date.
Larry: For example, if our quiz indicates that you have high openness, it suggests that you’re someone who’s open to new things, and our algorithm will use that as part of the formula to give you a good date spot and plan. Also, even if you have high openness but your partner has low openness, our app is made to find the Locus that offers the best vibes for both of you.
Ryan: What has been your biggest challenge in scaling Locus, and how have you managed to overcome it?
Larry: Funnily enough, our biggest challenge hasn’t been technical; it’s been strategic. The main challenge is resisting the temptation to hit the market too broadly, all at once. We took your advice to heart, Ryan: “If the product is for everyone, then the product is for no one.” The temptation is to market Locus to every dater, every community, every group of friends. But that’s how you burn through resources and build a product that doesn’t truly solve the problem for anyone.
We’ve managed to overcome this scaling problem by precisely defining our beachhead market. Our focus is exclusively on college students who are in that critical moment: they’ve just met a match and need a plan for a great first or second date. By focusing on this one high-need group, we can concentrate our product development and marketing to win them over completely, rather than being mediocre for everybody.
Aadi: Additionally, having that beachhead focus was how we overcame our other big challenge: finding the right solution. We’ve pivoted our strategy a few times now. At first, we were just thinking of recommending restaurants to couples. After some careful reflection, we realized we needed to get to the root of the current dating problem. Focusing on current college students is what allowed us to iterate until we got to the root of the issue. We want to make sure the product we offered was something that truly solved real problems for new couples.
Ryan: How do you approach customer feedback and incorporate it into improving Locus’s offerings?
Aadi: Our philosophy is customer obsession; we start from the customer and work backwards. We know our product will evolve, so we’re always prepared to shift based on what users need.
Larry: In fact, our core ‘Date Playbook’ concept exists because of early customer feedback. We learned from users that they didn’t want another general discovery tool; they wanted a specific solution for decision fatigue and first date anxiety. We listened, and we pivoted the entire product to focus on user success.
Ryan: Marketing strategies can make or break a business—what channels have you found most effective for promoting Locus?
Larry: That’s our exact focus right now, as we’re just rolling out our MVP. Our entire marketing strategy is built around engineering authentic word-of-mouth, not just hoping for it. Our plan is to launch and focus exclusively on college students, starting with our own campus. We’re shipping on iOS and using an invite-only system for Android to build exclusivity.
Aadi: Also, instead of buying ads, we’re going directly to student organizations, clubs, and social groups. We’re getting Locus into the hands of community leaders first. The core of our marketing is the product itself. When a student uses Locus to plan a genuinely great date—one that’s not the same, awkward boba run—they become our best advocate. That’s the validation that matters.
Larry: Essentially, our most effective channel won’t be an ad; it’s a strategic, community-based rollout designed to create first success stories, which will then fuel an authentic word-of-mouth campaign.
Aadi: We plan to use Instagram to share those first success stories with others to garner interest and to share the value of our app directly from new couples.
Ryan: What role does innovation play in Locus’s future plans and product development?
Larry: Our algorithm uses AI that analyzes your and your partner’s personalities, finding relevant places that will create sparks. The app also learns from the date plan suggestions that you use and reject, giving you a more personalized experience the more you use Locus.
Aadi: Many have tried to solve this problem before, but they’ve always fallen short. We believe this is caused by an inability to understand the user’s personality and find well-matched locations. We’ve integrated the base of our app with AI (and will continue to do so as AI improves) because of its unique ability to curate for the user easily.
Ryan: As you look ahead, what are your goals for Locus over the next three to five years?
Aadi: Our goal is to first focus on capturing, marketing to, and testing out the market of new couples. We are dedicated to improving the app to make sure it fully meets their needs.
Larry: That’s our first phase. While Locus was created to serve the dating scene in college, we have a much larger vision that will support meaningful social connections for relationships beyond dating. While we’re focused on destroying the weak link in couples now, we see Locus evolving to be applicable to friendships, business relations, and beyond.
Ryan: Finally, to close this out, how has your personal background influenced the direction and values of Locus?
Larry: My personal background is the foundation of Locus’s values. I’m an innovator and entrepreneur at heart, and my core drive has always been to solve tangible problems in the community and build a better future. For instance, one of my past projects was ‘Here-Charlie,’ a robotic service animal I designed as a more affordable alternative for the visually impaired. Locus comes from that exact same place—identifying a real problem and engineering a solution.
Additionally, my experience as an Amazon Future Engineer is what gives this mission its structure and direction. It’s where I formally adopted the leadership principles that are now the core values of Locus: customer obsession, ownership, and thinking big. This background ensures we’re not just building a cool idea, but that we’re using a proven framework to obsess over our users’ problems and deliver a real, scalable solution.
Aadi: I have spent almost my entire life working with computers because of their potential to solve meaningful problems that many face. However, I have also noticed greed in the software space and seen how viewing the customer as the product can cloud the ability to solve problems. Locus was created with the intent to truly help the user—not by keeping them on the app, but by helping create meaningful connections in the real world. That defines our values of customer obsession and innovative thinking. A lot of our current community is socially disconnected from one another, and we want to fix that.
Check out the Locus website for news and updates. Inspired by Larry and Aadi and interested in other student startups? Then stay tuned for the next installment of the Interview with ANTrepreneurs series.
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