Sonder grows in London with a deliberately tedious sign-up process

Sonder, a connections app based in London, is gaining traction by intentionally slowing down the user experience to combat dating app burnout. The platform has acquired about 6,500 users in London with no paid marketing, relying on a strategy that runs counter to the frictionless onboarding of mainstream consumer technology. Instead of making it easy to join, Sonder has a deliberately tedious sign-up process designed to filter for users who are willing to invest real effort into making connections.

The app uses a hybrid approach to technology. It utilizes a Large Language Model (LLM) to analyze screenshots of user profiles to suggest matches. However, the founders refuse to introduce AI profile-generation tools. Co-founder Mehedi Hassan explained that automating profile creation would destroy the human element of the platform. “I think at that point, it loses the human touch of it,” Hassan said. “So even though we’re probably losing out on hundreds of users, and there’s a lot of friction setting up the profile, we want to make sure it’s an actual person putting their own effort in to make that profile, because I think that also acts as an indicator of how much effort you’re actually interested in putting into your connections.”

This friction is a deliberate rejection of the format popularized by competitors like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. Sonder’s founders—Hassan, Helen Sun, Lenard Pratt, and Hannah Kin—built the app based on their own frustrations. Hassan noted that the founders did not learn about user frustration through interviews or calls, but rather through their own personal experiences. Sun stated that while existing dating apps initially aimed to lower barriers to entry and make it easier for introverts to meet people, the evolution of these platforms has created a monotonous experience that causes user burnout due to a loss of authenticity. To counter this, Sonder organizes recurring, in-person events to help users connect.

The four founders currently run Sonder part-time alongside their day jobs. Hassan, for instance, works in product engineering at Granola, a London-based AI note-taking app that recently raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. While mainstream competitors deploy automated features, Sonder’s team is betting that users in London want less automation and more genuine human effort in their social lives.

Why it matters

Sonder highlights a shift in consumer tech where startups are intentionally adding friction to combat the burnout and inauthenticity associated with highly optimized, algorithm-heavy platforms.