Here's What Went Down With Three Day Rule After Shark Tank
If you've been a longtime "Shark Tank" fan, you may remember Three Day Rule's appearance on the ABC show back in 2018. The dating company was founded by Talia Goldstein, who wanted to create an exclusive place for busy professionals to find serious love matches. "Everyone around me was single and I found myself more interested in their love lives than my production job," she explained to TechRound of how the company came to be. After successfully matching a few of her friends in her spare time, she then decided to quit her career in TV to work full-time as a matchmaker.
With that, Goldstein started hosting singles mixers. "The first party had about 20 people there, and in a few months, the parties grew to 300 people," she recalled while speaking to Tulane University in 2018. "They were all successful, interesting people, and I realized that there must be something missing in the market if they were paying to attend my singles events."
In 2013, Three Day Rule then became the online dating site we know today. But Goldstein knew that to scale the company quickly, she would need effective promotion nationwide. And that's when she turned to "Shark Tank" to take her matchmaking company to the next level.
Three Day Rule couldn't convince the Sharks to invest
Three Day Rule made its "Shark Tank" debut during the Season 4 finale in 2013. As founder Talia Goldstein was nine months pregnant then, she didn't enter the Tank herself. Instead, her business partner Val Brenner represented the company, looking to hand over 10% of the business in exchange for $200,000 equity. She explained the company was yet to bring in a profit and only launched four weeks before the episode was recorded, but revealed they'd brought in around $70,000. Brenner explained that the company was different from other dating sites or apps because of the way they vet their clients, who must be earning salaries of $50,000 or more, and paying $100 a month.
Sadly, despite a prediction the company could one day be worth $23 million, the Sharks weren't clambering to invest. Mark Cuban explained he didn't think the company was different enough from other dating websites, so he wasn't willing to hand over $200,000. Robert Herjavec agreed with Cuban, making it clear he also didn't think the niche was quite enough to make it stand out. As for Daymond John? He didn't agree with the company's $2 million valuation, something Kevin O'Leary agreed with. They both declared themselves out. And Barbara Corcoran wasn't convinced by the prospect either, and she also dropped out. And, just like fellow dating company Coffee Meets Bagel, Three Day Rule exited the Tank without an investment.
But not getting an investment didn't stop Three Day Rule
Talia Goldstein opened up on the "Stairway To CEO" podcast about what went wrong on "Shark Tank," admitting she believed Val Brenner being single counted against the company. But the blow of not getting an investor was surely softened by the impressive exposure. Goldstein revealed that 10,000 people signed up for the dating company the night the episode aired. "So, it was worth it," she admitted. A spokesperson for the company also had nothing but praise for the ABC show in 2014. "The exposure was incredible and resulted in a huge number of sign-ups," they told Los Angeles Business Journal.
It sounds like Goldstein certainly learned a lot from the experience, and business in general. "I learned that resilience is key. Keep pushing to make your dreams a reality," Talia Goldstein admitted to TechRound. "There will be many roadblocks along the way but if you genuinely care about the work you are doing, if you believe in it, it's worth all of the heartache and sleepless nights. I am obsessed with matchmaking so I never looked back. I'm so proud of how far we've come."
Some things did change after the "Shark Tank" rejection, though. Kat Haselkorn, a matchmaker at Three Day Rule, shared on Reddit in 2013 that the company had altered its business model. One of those changes was the addition of a free membership option, as well as an expansion in customer age ranges.
Three Day rule is still making matches today
As of January 2024, Three Day Rule is very much still in business. And that may be thanks in part to the company partnering up with Match in 2014. The company revealed to Medium that Three Day Rule became the huge matchmaking company's exclusive premium, personalized matchmaking service, which allowed them to bring matchmakers into the fold from across the U.S. The company has been without "Shark Tank" pitcher Val Brennan though, as she left the business before 2015 to pursue a career in law.
So it certainly sounds like "Shark Tank" was just a blip on the road to success for Three Day Rule. Talia Goldstein opened up about the business's continued success to TechRound, sharing, "We launched in 12 cities (with plans to keep growing), and we now have a team of more than 50 full-time Matchmakers who are making successful matches every day." She also told Tulane University in 2018 that Three Day Rule had a database of more than 90,000 people looking for love, and had worked with the likes of OkCupid, Christian Mingle, and JDate.
What's next for Three Day Rule?
After plenty of success over the years, it seems like Three Day Rule has no plans to slow down when it comes to connecting people with their perfect match. Speaking about her plans for the company to TechRound, Talia Goldstein shared, "We continue to add new cities for matchmaking and are now sharing our tips and tricks through social media so everybody can access the advice of our Matchmakers."
And it sounds like this CEO still very much loves her work, even after all these years. "It's only worth it if it's fun," she told Women on Topp in 2020. "Entrepreneurship is a lot of work and a rollercoaster of emotions so you should pick a company that you are actually passionate about because it's only worth all of the hard work and sleepless nights if you are working on something you love," she noted.