First things first: Congrats on waiting for this moment when society is embracing software, mobile devices, and data to help solve what is essentially a large-scale matching problem. I am still shocked that it took until 2014 for online dating to become mainstream.

Secondly, you’re in good company. There have never been as many unmarried adults as there are today. More than 110M U.S. residents are divorced, widowed or have always been single, and more than 45 percent of Americans over 18 live alone. Kudos for deciding not to settle with ‘Mr. or Mrs. Meh.’ If you weren’t sure they were your soulmate, they weren’t your soulmate. Next!

Okay, back to your search for The One. I’m of the opinion that a soulmate is out there for all of us, but he/she is not going to descend from heaven onto our doorstep. Like any Homer adventure, you’ll have to fight some battles before reaping the fruits of your labor. Take my story: Five years ago I ended a serious relationship and decided to build the dating app I pictured in my head.

I called it The League, and designed it for the overly ambitious (okay. . . workaholic). My friends joked that The League was my personal ‘Fiance Finder’ app and as it turns out, that’s exactly what it was! And no, I didn’t use any special internal backdoors to find him. In a twist of fate, The League’s matching algorithm selected us as potential soulmates in September 2017, and the rest is #leagueLove history.

The League is designed with blood, sweat, tears, and most importantly, love. Every time I scraped my knee while looking for him, I translated my learnings into the product. While finding true connection can be challenging, you can use the tools I built so your journey doesn’t become as epic as The Odyssey. Using The League will save you precious time and valuable energy on the way to making what I believe is the most significant investment of your life. For five years, my work was my search, and my search was my work. Now it’s your turn!

– Amanda Bradford, Founder/CEO, The League