Pre-product validation and experiential launch for a queer dating app.
- My role
- Brand & Launch Strategy
- Year
- 2025
- Client
- Sapphi
Generated 300+ attendees within one week of promotion, timed to Pride, amplifying cultural relevance and community turnout
Lesbian and non-binary users see existing hookup apps as unsafe and misaligned with how they actually want to meet people. Launching cold, with screenshots, would have inherited that distrust.
Trust and privacy matter as much as desire. Before product adoption, the brand needed validation through lived experience . The community had to feel the promise before it tapped 'Download.'
De-risked the launch through Pre-Product Validation — proving the brand promise of trust, safety, and belonging in the real world before the app shipped.
Architected the queer-forward Brooklyn Fruit Exchange to centre community over conversion. Music, space, and visible safety infrastructure mirrored what the product would deliver, making trust and belonging tangible before the app existed. Booked a roster of queer and trans DJs whose presence made the space feel culturally specific
“Pei has a brilliant mind for creative — both digital and in-person. She's great at developing partnerships and sees her strategic vision through to the very end.”
