Problem
Conventional dating apps create superficial connections
As people are becoming more self-aware, they are craving more meaningful relationships. Conventional dating apps are notorious for fostering a "quick to swipe, quick to move on" mentality. This causes people to constantly be in a mode of connecting, as opposed to building. The superficial nature of these traditional apps often leads to shallow interactions and disappointing experiences, leaving users with dating fatigue.
Solution
LILA: Relate Deeper
LILA is a mobile app that helps you navigate the three dimensions of relationships: Self-Discovery, Social Discovery (dating), and Relationship Building. LILA translates astrological symbolism into useful information that enhances each dimension of your relationships. Our app generates a personalized astrological profile that highlights your relationship strengths and weaknesses, connects you with astrologically compatible people, and provides valuable tips on how to nurture budding relationships.
Product
Translating astrological symbolism into useful information
LILA is a revolutionary new app that takes deep astrological insights and delivers them in a digestible format to provide valuable guidance and content for reflection.
This is achieved by helping you navigate all three dimensions of your relationships:
1) Self-Discovery
We use astrological insights to help you better understand yourself and your relationship needs.
We translate your birth information into a personalized profile, which describes what it means to have your sun, moon, and ascendant (Primal Triad™) placed in your particular astrological natal chart.
Furthermore, we show you how to apply this information specifically in relationships.
2) Social Discovery / Dating
We connect you with other people who are working to understand themselves.
Our proprietary astrological algorithms match you with people you are more likely to have meaningful connections with. Every birth chart offers information on your ideal partners, and we use this information to deliver relevant potential matches.
3) Relationship Building
We use astrological insights to help you navigate your relationship journey.
LILA believes that all relationships can be made to work, especially when you understand what you're getting into. LILA uses the personalized astrological profiles of two individuals to help couples maximize the potential of their relationships.
We show you how your sun, moon, and ascendant (the core of who you are) interact with the Primal Triad™ of your partner.
Traction
Backed by star power
Led by the vision of Ricky Williams, the wisdom and writing of Steven Forrest, and the reach and experience of the AstroTwins, these diverse legends have created a formidable partnership in the form of LILA.
- Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL All-Pro turned spiritual thought leader/entrepreneur
- Successful trailblazer across multiple cutting-edge verticals, including cannabis and wellness
- 15+ years studying astrology, metaphysics, and yoga
- Originator of Evolutionary Astrology—the astrology of choice, freedom, and imagination
- Bestselling author and internationally renowned teacher
- 50+ years of astrological counseling experience, including for celebrity clients such as Sting and Robert Downey, Jr.
- 2018 winner of The Regulus Award for Excellence in Astrological Education
AstroTwins (Ophira & Tali Edut)
- Founders of the top astrology website AstroStyle.com which reaches over 10 million readers monthly
- Astrologers for ELLE for over a decade
- Authors of over 10 books on astrology, including multiple #1 Amazon bestsellers
- Featured in the The New York Times, Good Morning America, CBS, and other major media
- Celebrity clients have included Beyoncé, Emma Roberts, and Karlie Kloss
Customers
Those looking for more meaningful relationships
LILA is for people who view relationships as more than a solution to loneliness. We created LILA for people who’ve outgrown existing dating apps and are looking for deeper connections. LILA is an invaluable tool for those looking to learn more about themselves or to enhance their existing relationships.
Business model
Our subscription model unlocks compelling premium content
The company plans on earning money by selling a $14.99 monthly subscription fee for unlimited app content and unlimited access to our social discovery feature. A $29.99 VIP package will include everything from the premium tier plus a virtual "Relationship Siri."
We will also offer a free version with reduced features and reduced social discovery access to grow our audience and increase sponsorship revenue and other marketing opportunities. As our member base grows, the company plans to sell various products, experiences and services that LILA's paid and free members will enjoy. Our business model's success will rely on how well the company can convert free users into paid members and retain those members through investment into an excellent user experience and insightful content.
The planned revenue streams for the company are as follows:
- $14.99 monthly subscription model for unlimited app content and insights
- $29.99 monthly subscription model which includes everything from the premium tier plus a virtual "Relationship Siri"
- Astrology and relationship education courses and products
- Events and festivals
- Affiliate marketing
- Branded merchandise
- Sponsorships and advertisements
Market
$9.2B+ total addressable market
There has never been a more opportune time for LILA to enter the market.
- 45% of the U.S. population is single (highest it's ever been)
- 40% of single Americans date online (number is growing)
Spirituality is exploding, and people are spending more money on mystic services than ever before.
- 90%+ American adults know their astrological Sun Sign
- 65% of Millennials and Gen Z check their horoscopes daily
- 68% of Millennials and Gen Z believe in astrological compatibility
- Astrology app revenue is growing 65% year over year
With LILA at the intersection of the online dating industry ($7B) and mystic services space ($2.2B), we are poised to disrupt traditional dating apps and pioneer a new way to facilitate deep and meaningful connections.
Competition
The best of both worlds
Astrology App Landscape
Most astrology apps are too complicated and overwhelming for the layperson, and too abstract to be practical. LILA delivers relatable and actionable insights developed by leading astrologers Steven Forrest and the AstroTwins, Ophira and Tali Edut. LILA's powerful content is delivered in layers, providing value to everyone from the cosmically curious to seasoned astro-geeks.
Online Dating App Landscape
Current popular dating apps are designed around superficial connections, while LILA provides valuable insights throughout the process. Further, dating apps offer no value to users once a relationship is established. LILA encourages deeper connections, and offers features that help people navigate all three dimensions of relationships, not just the dating component.
Vision and strategy
Using technology to make relationships more conscious
Our vision is for LILA to become the go-to for anyone entering into a new relationship. With your investment, LILA will establish itself as the leader of this new category of relationship apps. As we collect behavioral data and gain valuable feedback, LILA's proprietary algorithms will continue improving to help you navigate all types of relationships, from romantic to platonic—including significant others, friends, family, and even business relationships.
Funding
Raised $155k to date
- Founders invested $150k
- Raised an additional $155k from friends and family
- Founders are funding operating costs with short term loans on an as needed basis
Founders
The story of LILA began with me, Ricky Williams, at a crossroads in my life.
Down one path — the conventional one for a retired football player of my caliber — I could become a coach or a TV broadcaster. Or down another, much more unconventional path, I could pursue my dream of becoming a professional astrologer.
As you can see, I chose the latter.
Although I’d been studying astrology seriously for over 10 years at the time, I hadn’t considered doing anything professionally with it until the Spring of 2015, around the same time I met my future wife and one of LILA’s co-founders, Linnea Miron.
I met Linnea at a friend’s birthday party when she approached me after being impressed with my impromptu birthday toast honoring our mutual friend. We struck up an interesting conversation that led me to ask her if she knew her Sun sign, to which she replied, “I’m a Pisces, but I don’t know what that means.”
I informed her that Pisces was the sign of the mystic. She gave me a confused look as if to suggest she was surprised by my interpretation. She replied, “I’m actually a corporate attorney.”
Something about my comment touched something deep inside Linnea, and she later told me that she felt seen in a way that both surprised and delighted her. Little did she know that her receptivity to my astrological perspective made me feel seen in a way I’d never experienced. Something was cooking.
We ended up falling in love over the next several months. The beginning of our affair coincided with entering the Steven Forrest Astrological Apprenticeship Program. I was ready to really learn how to do astrology professionally, and I chose my favorite astrological author to teach me.
The next thing I knew, Linnea was joining me in attending Steven’s classes. We were learning astrology together. I noticed that having a partner with whom I could share and explore astrology deeply enriched my life. It reminded me of the saying that a family who prays together, stays together.
Linnea and I had a shared language that we could use to deepen and improve our relationship. We knew we were on to something, but it wasn’t until we attended Steven’s seminar on Relationship Astrology that our vision began to coalesce.
It’s an understatement to say that we were blown away by Steven’s synastry class. It brought so much understanding about our past failed relationships, as well as a deeper appreciation of why we ended up in each other’s lives. (We got so much clarity about ourselves and our relationship that we got married a month later.)
On the final day of that workshop, Linnea and I approached Steven with an idea that had us up all night thinking about it. We had to find a way to turn this priceless information into something that everyone can use: an app for a mobile device.
Steven thought it was a good idea and we were off. Linnea and I had enough money saved to hire a development shop to begin building LILA (Sanskrit for divine play). Like many first time tech founders, we took our lumps and learned some things the hard way. And what we lacked in experience, we made up for with luck.
One day, Matt Cohen, a close family friend and now LILA’s COO, overheard Linnea and I complaining about an issue with the development shop we hired to create LILA. Matt had spent the past several years building and launching a social discovery app as CEO of his own tech startup, and offered to take a look to see if he could help. Through the process of consulting us and getting us back on track developing LILA, Matt began to embrace our vision. He joined the founding team and has been crucial in getting us to this point.
Although they are not original founders, the AstroTwins are also an integral part of our team and another example of our good luck. We knew that we had a great idea and the ability to bring it to fruition, but we lacked experience in marketing an astrology-based business. After searching social media and the web, it was clear that the AstroTwins’ Astrostyle brand stood out above everyone else. We reached out to gauge their interest. To our pleasant surprise, they were fans of Steven and shared our vision of using astrological insights to give people practical tools to enrich their lives.