Letter from the CEO

Hi, it's Rob here.

I'm an Intended Parent myself and over the years I've had the pleasure of meeting with many Intended Parents and Surrogates from several Countries. I often get asked Why should I join Matching Day? To help answer that, I want to share what Matching Day is about and why I started it. I'm hopeful that Intended Parents and Surrogates can relate to what I'm about to share, and, if you do, I invite you to join us.

We're not an agency and we're not a matching service. We're the place where Surrogates and Intended Parents can discover their next match. I'll be honest - behind the curtains, we're more like a giant database of Intended Parents paired with a beautiful, easy to use search tool to help Surrogates find them. Internally, we say we're the “home for Intended Parents” and the “place where Surrogates can discover their next match”.

As a tech savvy start-up, we have a simple and straightforward pitch: We think the matching experience for Surrogates and Intended Parents can be greatly improved.

Why do I think this? Let me answer by saying - I've been listening to stories and feedback from the community and it seems like something is missing and that improvements can be made to the matching experience. But it doesn't seem like anyone is leading this, so I started Matching Day to lead and incrementally improve the matching experience.

I'll share the feedback I've been hearing. First, Surrogates want an easy way to discover Intended Parents and learn more about them. However, sorting through lack-lustre profiles, Facebook posts, social media messages, and Agency recommendations can be a daunting and clumsy experience. Also, Intended Parents are dispersed into several communities and Surrogates have to join and search through each community to find their next match. Although the existing methods are working, they are also time consuming and sometimes they feel forced and lack feelings of connection. Matching Day makes discovering Intended Parents a key component of our mission - we want to make it more enjoyable and easier for Surrogates to discover their next Intended Parents.

Second, the feedback from Intended Parents is that they struggle to get noticed in the crowd. Whether you're an indy or with an agency, getting noticed and making a connection is difficult and takes time. Today, the way Intended Parents present themselves online is rather haphazard; they are limited to platforms (like Facebook) and tools that are not designed for the unique needs of an Intended Parent. Although these methods have worked for some, most Intended Parents see them as less than ideal solutions. Intended Parents are frustrated and they say they feel lost or ignored. Furthermore, as the industry grows, these platforms and tools will have more and more Intended Parents, becoming further strained and stressed. A key part of our mission at Matching Day is to improve how Intended Parents get noticed and stand out. That means building better online tools and, in the long term, building a strong Intended Parent brand. If we can execute this well, then in a few years Matching Day should be the global place for Intended Parents to call home, and we'll be the go-to destination for Surrogates to discover their next match.

I've been asked by Intended Parents to share our playbook and long-term roadmap. This is not a secret; I want to share these with you because I know it's important for you to hear where we're going. We're just getting started and I realize our current feature-set might not be a good fit for everyone, but hopefully this helps you imagine what the future might look like.

Our early-stage playbook and long-term roadmap look like this:

Stage 1: Build the basic online tools

Our first few releases will cover the basics.

Release 1 is for Intended Parents (including agency Intended Parents and indy Intended Parents). We want to get our software into your hands as early as possible, so we're looking for a group of Intended Parents to be early adopters. Here are the release notes for version 1.0:

• Looking to build an online presence? Everything seems to happen online now. Kick things off with our profile builder and tell people about yourself, your partner and your embryos.
• Want to showcase your journey and foster a connection? Matching Day helps you share your story, list your matching criteria, and share photos.
• Are you on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook? Of course you are - build your credibility by adding your social links to help Surrogates connect and network with you.
• Want to share your profile? I'm betting you do. Your profile has a unique link so you look professional and credible when posting on Facebook, Instagram, or just sharing your profile online.
• Need to take a break or hide for a bit? I get ya. We built stealth mode for that. When enabled, nobody will find you and nobody will even know you're here.

Release 2 is for Surrogates. This release will have the basic tools to help Surrogates discover Intended Parents. Its' still being worked on, but we're including a search page for browsing Intended Parents, various search filters, different ways of engaging with Intended Parents, and features to share profiles.

That should cover the basics. Once these two releases are finished we'll continuously listen to your feedback and invest in building these tools further.

Stage 2: Onboard the early adopters

We're in this stage now!

It's early days and our first several Intended Parents are a special group we call our “early adopters”. We're looking to onboard about 100 Intended Parents who can see the vision and can help us grow our solution. At this early stage, there will be bugs and mistakes and features missing - and we're OK with that. Incrementally, we'll improve things together until Matching Day becomes the destination for Surrogates and Intended Parents to discover their match.

Our first set of Intended Parents have a unique advantage because they'll help guide our early development efforts. And you'll have our full support - we'd love to chat with you and help build out a great profile. Furthermore, we're offering a discounted price as an incentive to join us early.

If you want to be an early adopter, I encourage you to create a profile.

Stage 3: Build the brand

We need a strong and trusted brand for Intended Parents.

While we're onboarding the early adopters, we'll be executing a series of online advertising campaigns to test different approaches to marketing (at this early stage, we take an experimental approach to marketing). Over time, as things start to shape up, we'll be investing heavily in our brand to help attract as many Surrogates and Intended Parents as possible.

With your permission, we'll also include random Intended Parent profiles in these early ads. This will help the early adopters get noticed while also helping us advertise Matching Day.

Stage 4: Plan for the long term

As we learn and grow in the early stages, we'll be planning our long term roadmap.

Depending on our momentum and our financing, we'll continue to invest in tools and build up the brand to help meet the global needs of the Surrogacy community.

Staying focused is important - we want to help you find your match - and being creative, listening to the community, and having fun while we grow is the fuel that moves us forward.

Partnerships are very important to our long term roadmap. We have a philosophy of “Create, don't compete.” We want to work with and support others in this community - including consultants, agencies, clinics, lawyers, and everyone else who's helping and supporting this community. If you're doing something and think it fits into our mission, I'd love to hear from you. There may be an opportunity to work together (contact me at [email protected] and we'll chat).

As we grow, I'll be sharing more of our roadmap and asking for your feedback.

I've written a lot so I'll stop here. I hope you got a sense of what Matching Day is about and you were able to relate, at least a little, to our mission and what drives us. After reading this, if your an Intended Parent and you want to be an early adopter, I welcome you to join. If you have questions, or just want to chat, please contact me at [email protected].

Cheers,

Rob DecaireCEO of Matching Day