When alum Boyan Golden ’21 transferred to Illinois State in 2019 as a junior organizational communication leadership major, he found himself working two internships and 40 hours a week developing his first mobile application—Purr, a social networking and dating app for lesbian, bisexual, queer, non-binary, and trans people.
“While all my friends were having a good time, I was in front of a screen spending hours away,” said Golden, Purr’s CEO and founder. “I was incredibly naive to app development―the processes, nuances, compliance, design, brand, tone, language―all of these things that had to kind of circulate the app and make it what it is now.”
Six years later, he’s excited to launch his app, Purr, as it releases this year. The app will be available through iOS and Android nationwide.
Because of his communication internships at an architecture firm, he learned more about managing people, relationship communications, and social media management.
On campus, Golden—a queer man—became friends with a group of queer women who enlightened him about a disparity in online dating options for queer women.
“There’s a slew of apps, specifically for queer men, but when we got to talk more and learn about each other, you realize that it wasn’t the same for women. The market and space for them is significantly smaller and narrower than queer men,” he said. “Queer women just haven’t had the space or visibility on platforms where men have, so that’s really at the heart of why we kind of came up with this.”
Golden wanted to create a social networking and dating platform where underrepresented communities could have equitable opportunities to grow their connections with each other instead of the traditional swipe-to-match.
“My hope for Purr is to be embraced. I want queer women, non-binary, and trans people to feel a sense of belonging and brand when they think of Purr, creating and encouraging fun and real connections.”
Boyan Golden
“If you’re going to do an open mic night or just want to have a good time with those community members, you should be able to do that with Purr. It gives the freedom back to the user,” he said.
With the existence of several dating apps already, Golden said Purr is meant to be different from other platforms like Tinder and Bumble because of its messaging, symbolism, app interface, and geolocation.
“In traditional dating apps, you swipe left and swipe right, and in that moment, the person is judged, and it’s done. The door is closed,” he said. “We’ve acknowledged that dating will always be what people want, but what we’re seeing is this desire to communicate as a community, especially for LGBTQ+ people―creating community and finding safety and security within one’s community has always been the heart of LGBTQ activism and visibility.”
Though Golden has experienced obstacles on the road to launching his app including having to learn how to build an app and being self-funded, he never experienced the journey alone. His team members have dedicated their unique skills to create the app while also working full-time careers.
“Everyone on the team is working with a labor of love,” he said. “They’re doing this because they feel strongly that this is something that could truly change the scene for the LGBTQ+ community.”
Originally, he’d hoped to launch the app in 2022, then 2023, but Golden knew with years of user feedback, he had to continue fine tuning to make the app perfect. Now, Golden’s ready for the next step.
“I’m excited for what lies ahead for Purr. From the moment I started Purr, I knew that this app was special, and every decision was made with great care. At the core of our hard work was the genuine interest to connect underrepresented queer groups. Personally, embarking on this journey is scary, but the people I meet and get a chance to connect with make the moments worth it,” he said.
Golden said his time at Illinois State played an important role in the development of Purr―the friends he made had a vital influence in Purr’s origins.
He also found his inspiration for its name and its visual branding while at Illinois State.
“When we were looking at logos, one of my friends had a sphinx cat, so the first logo design was of a cat. After months of trial and error, our brand hopes to embody the spectrum from femineity to masculinity. Our color choices resemble that as well―black, purple, and white,” he said.
“My hope for Purr is to be embraced. I want queer women, non-binary, and trans people to feel a sense of belonging and brand when they think of Purr, creating and encouraging fun and real connections,” he said.
