Seventy Thirty is a matchmaking and headhunting company, so called as it refers to the optimal work-life balance required for success in life. Here, Susie Ambrose, an experienced psychologist and founder of the site, talks to The NextWomen about: the concept behind the business; establishing a client base and why her users would never go to a traditional dating agency.

When did you come up with the idea of Seventy Thirty and what was your perceived gap in the market?

I was running my own successful psychotherapy practice where some of my clients were wealthy, successful, attractive people, but because of their busy lifestyles, had difficulty meeting a compatible partner. I tried to find an introduction agency to refer one of my clients to and soon realised there was nothing out there that I had any faith in. There didn’t seem to be any service specifically catering for wealthy, busy and…well, to be blunt, fussy people. I saw a huge need to develop a high-end service delivered by psychologists, with complete discretion and confidentiality, and most importantly, that exclusively matched truly exceptional people.

How did you go about setting up the agency and what kind of brand building activities were in your strategy?

My focus has always been towards building the brand through word-of-mouth. I had enough contacts within my network to launch the service, and I got stuck in with making select introductions myself. With time, dedication and a lot of networking with highly successful people, Seventy Thirty became increasingly well known as being the place to go if you wanted to find the ultimate partner. I brought in a team of young, dynamic psychologists who have genuine passion and confidence in dealing with some very powerful people.

How did you position yourself as an upmarket matchmaking agency for the time poor, cash rich, and has the credit crunch affected you?

I made a bold decision to set Seventy Thirty apart from any other agency by introducing a financial criterion for joining. We expect our members to have assets in excess of £1million and also to have achieved something significant in their lives.

The credit crunch has altered the incentive for people to join Seventy Thirty, but has not affected the number of new members joining. Before the recession, people joined because they were simply too busy to do conventional dating. Since the recession, however, the biggest incentive is the desire to create a strong family unit. The recession has a similar impact to war time. People re-evaluate what is important in life and turn their attention to people rather than money or material goods.

How did you manage to get your client base going?

I already had some key contacts in London, and so invited a few to join with a small introductory fee until I had built up my critical mass.

What criteria do you use to match people, and is it all done by your staff or is there any psychometric testing involved?

We match on many factors, including background, lifestyle, attraction and relationship goals. However, fundamental to these factors is having an understanding of each person’s values, motivations and outlook in life. Our psychologists conduct specifically designed profiling interviews, but we only use psychometric testing as part of our life coaching services.

What kind of capital did you need to start and what are the major costs of running this kind of business?

I invested £50K when I started. The majority of costs are due to salaries for the highly educated and experienced people I employ, followed closely by those associated with their ongoing training and development.

How do you screen your clients?

We ask our members to prove their identity, age and address. They also need to prove their net worth exceeds £1million.

You don't have your prices published on the website, what is the reason for this? Is it to do with being a discreet agency?

Our prices are set and available to people who make genuine enquiries.

A lot of traditional dating agencies have found the competition from online dating sites hard to deal with as people prefer the ease of choosing for themselves, have you found this a challenge or is this not the case for the upper end of the market?

I don’t believe other online dating services have any impact on Seventy Thirty, because our members simply would not be interested in having their details publically available. They are also incredibly selective about what they seek in a partner, and have no desire to find a life partner through a casual online dating site.

What are your expansion plans for the future, and do you have an exit strategy?

We will look at opening a few more offices and developing our life coaching service. I plan to exit in a couple of years, although not yet, as I have so much fun and pleasure running this wonderful business.