Several years ago, the former Navy Dental Officer was one of millions of Americans using online dating apps and websites. He was also one of the many who had a bad experience with a person using a false identity. Gernhofer realized that these sites and apps have a major trust issue—rather—an issue of being able to trust if someone is who they say they are. That could mean using a fake name, or just pretending to have a different personality.
“You have no way of knowing if someone is portraying themselves accurately,” Gernhofer says.
Gernhofer and his friend Matt Wiles decided to try to correct this issue by creating Voujo, a crowd-sourced dating app that allows users to give Personality-Based Feedback.
“In other words, you’re allowed to see what other members think of someone before you spend time messaging back and forth and eventually meet in person,” Gernhofer explained. “PBF is given in an anonymous and controlled setting and slander is never an issue because feedback is not submitted in a narrative form.”
Feedback ranges from first impressions to in-person meetings, but never touches on physical appearance.
“We just recently launched in Southern California and we’re available in the App Store and Google Play. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from our members and I think our approach especially resonates with people who have experienced a ‘catfish-like’ incident similar to mine.”
Gernhofer hopes that with some investors, Voujo can expand across the nation—even to Kalamazoo, he notes.
Visit voujo.com for more information.
About Kyle
Kyle Gernhofer grew up in Traverse City, Michigan. He played tennis on scholarship for the Broncos from 1996-2000 and was a member of the Lee Honors College. After graduating from WMU, Gernhofer obtained a degree in dentistry from U of M.
“After being accepted to U of M dental school, I was awarded a Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) through the Navy. Essentially, the Navy paid for dental school in addition to providing a housing allowance in exchange for four years of active duty service as a Dental Officer upon graduating from dental school.”
“For two of those years, I was stationed in San Diego at Balboa Hospital and the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot. The other two years, I was stationed on the USS TORTUGA (LSD-46), a forward deployed ship out of Sasebo, Japan. I have nothing but great things to say about my time in the Navy. There were definitely some long days and nights at sea while deployed but I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.”
After completing his active duty obligation, Gernhofer decided to stay in San Diego and began working with the Mission Boulevard Dental Group.
“I work with an incredible staff that makes the day so much more fun and we're just a block from the ocean.”
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