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Recently, we had the pleasure of speaking with the founders of Fourplay, Julie Griggs, and Danielle Dietzek about their journey as female entrepreneurs. Fourplay is a free dating app where single friends can team up and double date together!
How did your business idea come about?
Julie Griggs: In 2019 I was placed in New York City for a 6-week clinical rotation while I was in school to become a physician assistant (PA-C). Danielle offered to let me stay with her while her roommate at the time was traveling abroad. She and I were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on move-in day and I started telling her that I really wanted to experience dating in New York (now that I know what dating in NYC is I’m not sure why I ever wanted to do it… But at the time it was enticing) but that I also really wanted to enjoy spending time with my friends. For the past 3 years I had been so consumed by my graduate program that I missed out on a lot of quality time with friends.
Danielle Dietzek: So we decided what made the most sense was to change my dating app profile to pictures of me and Julie. We wrote, “Swipe right if you and your awesome friend want to double date me and my awesome friend.” This way Julie was able to date but never had to feel like she wasted a night if the date was bad. Selfishly, I was tired of the redundancy of dating apps and knew double dating with Julie would be so much more fun. We had an overwhelmingly positive response from guys. They were literally telling us to turn our idea into its own app.
What was the defining moment that made you decide to become an entrepreneur?
DD: So I was very resistant about launching a business because I was already working as both a nurse on a maternity unit and a family nurse practitioner. Julie’s brother kept insisting that we seriously consider turning our idea into a business because he said if we didn’t do it someone else would and we would always kick ourselves for not going for it. I was still very resistant to the idea and I was jokingly threatening to end my friendship with Julie because her family would not stop starting group chats with me.
JG: I’ve always been a Type A go-getter so the idea of building something from the ground up actually really excited me. That, plus the fact I’m very impressionable is probably why I didn’t think twice about doing it. So you’re probably wondering how the Griggs family was able to convince Danielle to become an entrepreneur…
DD: I came home from work one day and Julie said, “We’re gonna call it Fourplay” and that was it. I mean how could I NOT be the co-founder of an app that’s made for singles friends to double date called FOURPLAY.
What does a typical day look like as the founder of Fourplay Social?
JG: For a while we were bootstrapping, so Danielle was working as a nurse and I was working as a PA-C full-time while we were building Fourplay part-time and self-funding our venture. Once we hit a few thousand users in NYC, Fourplay started to become more and more time-consuming. We had to start working part-time in healthcare and full-time on Fourplay. Keep in mind Fourplay launched 4 months before the COVID-19 pandemic and we were frontline workers, so it was a really tough two years. Every day we weren’t in scrubs, we were working on Fourplay. We were spreading ourselves thin and it wasn’t sustainable, but it was what we had to do at the time.
DD: We used to call my apartment “Fourplay HQ” but now a typical day consists of going to a co-working space and staying there from about 9am until 6 or 7pm. I focus on our user acquisition and marketing strategy while Julie manages the technical team and fundraising. We’re in the middle of raising our pre-seed round from outside investors so it’s a particularly exciting time for us! Once we started fundraising we made a full-time commitment to Fourplay and took a leave from healthcare.
How have you found running a business with a co-founder?
JG: I know a lot of people struggle with the co-founder dynamic, but honestly, being a founder is an arduous and lonely journey, and there’s no way I would have been able to do it without Danielle. We DEFINITELY disagree and challenge each other a lot, but that’s also the reason why our business is as strong as it is. It’s important to be challenged in your way of thinking and to see things from another perspective. Your business is like your baby, and you and your co-founder will probably have different parenting styles, but at the end of the day you both want the best for your baby and it’s important to remember that. If you want to successfully run a business with a co-founder you have to check your ego at the door.
DD: I totally agree with everything Julie said. She and I had also been best friends for 9 years before we decided to start a business together so we had to learn how to navigate both a friendship and a business partnership. We struggled with the dynamic in the beginning, but once we established clear roles within the company everything fell into place!
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far, and how did you overcome it?
DD: The biggest challenge for us so far has been trying to figure out how to navigate both a friendship and a business partnership. In the beginning we struggled with it a lot, because it felt like our entire relationship and all of our conversations started to become centered around Fourplay. We decided that the best way to maintain a healthy balance of work and friendship was to create clear boundaries. So we started using WhatsApp for all things business related and iMessage for all things friendship. Now I know that when I see a WhatsApp message I’m talking to Julie, my Co-founder, and when I see an iMessage I’m having a conversation with Julie, my best friend. When I don’t want to talk about business I won’t read the WhatsApp message until I’m ready to. It sounds like such a trivial thing but it has really made a huge difference for us. We’ll literally have a WhatsApp call and then hang up and call each other right back on a regular phone call to talk about friend stuff.
JG: It’s definitely a challenge to go into business with a close friend and I can understand how and why doing so could ruin a friendship. You see a very different side of someone when you work with them, and it might be a side of them you don’t like. Luckily for us, we figured out how to hold space for both a business partnership and a friendship. We maintain a really open line of communication so we don’t build up resentment. We’re both very empathetic and do a very good job at seeing the other person’s side of things, which allows us to excel as co-founders. We also make a very big effort to plan and do things as friends outside of working hours. We’ve done a very good job learning how to be co-founders and friends.
What are you most proud of from what you have achieved so far?
JG: I’m definitely most proud of the fact that we’ve begun raising from outside investors. From the beginning we knew our idea was going to be successful, but just because we knew that doesn’t mean strangers also would. To meet someone and for them to believe in us and our idea enough to invest their hard-earned money into us is the absolute most humbling thing ever. I can’t wait to continue to work hard and share my future successes with these people. It’s because of them that I truly feel like an entrepreneur.
DD: I’m definitely really proud of that, too. I’m also really proud of the quality of the people that we have recruited to Fourplay. When we hear from our users with general feedback about the app, for technical assistance, or when they just drop us a line to show their support, it’s clear to us that they’re people who are genuinely open-minded and are rooting for us. A bunch of them are actually now INVESTORS, which is so insane to us! Talk about market validation!
What piece of advice would you like to share with other female entrepreneurs?
DD: Remember to stay grounded by continuing to do things that bring you joy other than your company.
JG: If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, but you’re willing to try, you still probably can. YOU GOT THIS! Don’t be afraid to go after what you want and don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself.
What inspires/drives you?
DD: I am someone who struggles with body image and self-esteem especially when I’m using a dating app. Julie and I are creating a platform that will not only change the landscape of the dating industry, but also has potential to change a collective mindset for those who share my experience, and that inspires and drives me.
JG: There are so many social causes I care deeply about and want to work to help improve. For example, the homeless crisis. The idea that one day, Fourplay will be so hugely successful and there will be so much good that I can do with that success really drives me to continue to work hard.
Who is your greatest inspiration?
JG: Honestly, I gotta go with Bob Marley. His music is so optimistic and positive and it inspires me to always see the glass as half full. Whenever I’m not feeling like myself I put him on and I’m immediately brought back to a better headspace and become so productive.
DD: Mine is Amy Schumer because she unapologetically expresses herself with her comedy and through this confidence she becomes a magnetic personality. She is so grounded in who she is and has not let fame change her, especially when it comes to her appearance. I think that she is a role model for little girls to feel comfortable in their own skin and I wish she was famous when I was a little girl!
What do you want to achieve next?
DD: We’re ready to bring Fourplay to more cities! Right now Fourplay is only live in the greater New York City area. Our goal is to launch in at least two more cities before the end of the year.
JG: We use the waitlist on our website to see where the greatest demand is for Fourplay. Right now it’s pretty close between London, Los Angeles, and Chicago. It’s going to be so fun to launch in more cities. We are also planning to close our pre-seed round this summer. That’s definitely something we can’t wait to achieve.
Visit Fourplay to find out more!
