Unlucky in Love HBS Alumnus Offers $10k to Successful Matchmaker

He’s got a job in private equity with New Capital Partners. He looks like he’s in pretty good shape. He uses words like ‘heuristics’ and, crucially, his mother thinks he’s a nice boy. But the one thing Harvard MBA, Ren You, doesn’t have is love. You has offered the princely sum of US$10,000 to anyone who can introduce him to someone with whom he can enjoy a relationship of over six months.

Now, you probably have some questions. That makes sense, so did we…first, and most-importantly, why, Ren, why?! The HBS alumnus launched this campaign after having no luck the old-fashioned way or through online dating sites (that staple of MBA entrepreneurs). One anecdote, which You admittedly describes as an outlier, goes from bad (gross unpunctuality) to worse (missing teeth) to worst (racial epithets).

Stating that after working 12-hour days, he has no desire to stand around in a bar with his fingers crossed, You has created his own website – dateren.com – through which he has invited people to introduce him to the woman of his dreams.

Who is our Harvard MBA looking for?

Ren lays out some particulars, to help us get an idea of for whom he is looking. She must be intellectually curious and find it fun to think about “ridiculous hypotheticals”. She must be physically active but also enjoy spending Saturday night with takeout and a movie, and – this is the big one – know the difference between astronomy and astrology.

And what about Ren, himself? The lucky lady will find themselves courting a 5’9” Harvard MBA who grew up in the suburbs of Washington DC. He doesn’t smoke, have any strong religious beliefs or own any pets, and seems to have a university student’s taste in television shows (Game of Thrones, Archer, Rick and Morty). We’re sure you’ll join us in wishing Ren good luck in his quest for love.

Ren isn’t the only MBA who’s been unlucky in love. A survey conducted at Wharton earlier this year found that only a quarter of students were satisfied with the pool of potential partners at the school. The survey asked men and women to give each other advice on breaking this froideur. Female Wharton MBA candidates advised men to stop being cheap, cowardly, jerks, while the males advised the females to “aim low.”

Whoever said romance was dead?