Along with Emily Heazlewood’s 9-5 role as Snowball Effect’s Director of Partnerships & Growth, she’s also juggling her passion project, the recently launched dating app Amor App, and running an Airbnb.
Q: What inspired you to create a dating app?
A: Amor is a dating app I developed to change NZ dating culture. I was frustrated with traditional dating apps and wanted to develop a better way to foster human connection. Given my start-up experience and involvement in investments, it made sense to grow a business on the side.
Q: What have been some of the challenges?
A: The competitive dating app market. After a year of building Amor, its community and offering, Apple rejected us for 6 weeks, delaying our launch because there were “too many dating apps.” This was heartbreaking, but after a call, they saw the value, loved it, and were excited to have us in the app store. It’s also been challenging to balance work, Amor, life, and running an Airbnb. Cleaning the Airbnb after work and then spending late nights coding have been challenging. But it’s all been worth it.
Q: What have been the highlights?
A: We had over 400 app downloads in the first week, plus couples who met through our first matchmaking events are still dating today, which continues to make it worthwhile. Our engaged community fuels our roadmap and passion.
Q: How have you juggled work at Snowball Effect and the app?
A: It’s been challenging, but nothing good is ever easy. The team has been so supportive—they got their friends to sign up early and provided app and business feedback on financials. Snowball has also been incredibly understanding when it came to taking last-minute leave to fix bugs and get Amor launched. I’m super lucky!
Q: What’s your advice for females who want to get into tech but don’t have any experience?
A: Surround yourself with skilled people, seek feedback from customers early on, and don’t be afraid to share your ideas and aspirations with others. Once you have a network, you have accountability, honest feedback, people to ask for help, and a unique bunch of skill sets to all help each other, and there’s something powerful in that.
