One clever woman used a dating site to find her future business investor by pitching the same men who bid to take her out and pay for her company.
Samantha DeFazio, 32, received a $2 million paycheck from one of the many suitors who courted her via the dating site WhatsYourPrice.com. DeFazio, a single mother, joined the site in 2014 when she was going through a rough time handling bad credit and looking for ways to improve the standard of living for her eight-year-old son Lorenzo.
That’s when DeFazio decided to put herself up for auction on WhatsYourPrice, which allows men to bid on dates with attractive women. DeFazio claims to have suitors pay between $100 and $250 to take her out. One 63-year-old writer even dished out $600 to wine and dine her. In 18 months, the single mother allegedly raked in over $5,000 from members on the site.
While sipping cocktails and savoring expensive meals, DeFazio would propose her app idea called Joiride, a luxury taxi service driven by attractive women. DeFazio borrowed the professional expertise from the people who took her out on dates to improve Joiride. She told Daily Mail:
“I got the app design off of someone I met through the website, and learned a lot about tax law from someone else.”
Though DeFazio has been on 20 dates and hasn’t found the love of her life, the real victory was her match with her future investor in July 2015. The man, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed to invest $2 million in her business venture.
“One guy liked the idea so much he wanted to be involved. We decided not to date and be professional business partners instead. Last month he gave me the official OK for the two million dollar investment.”
With money to get her idea up and running, DeFazio decided to indulge on herself with a brand new Fiat. She admits that some may be quick to judge her use of a controversial dating site, but she explained the logic behind her method. She explained:
“I don’t view myself as an escort. I view myself as a single mother. It makes sense for me to get paid to go on a date because I have to pay for a babysitter, I have to pay for parking and I have to pay for gas.
“Dating is an expense in 2016. You don’t want to spend all that money and you end up across from a guy you can’t stand and you’ve wasted your time and your money. I feel sites like this are great because I can cover my expenses and put a bit of cash in my pocket.”
Men offer to take DeFazio out and offer all sorts of glamorous gifts from purses, lingerie, clothes, make-up to designer watches. They also write her thank you cards enclosed with cash inside. She said of the men who she has met on the site:
“Some of the guys seem like if they didn’t have the website, they wouldn’t talk to a lot of women so it allows them to make that approach. It’s like an ice-breaker. They give you $150 for the chance to talk to you even though you wouldn’t look at them on the street.”
