We had a chance to speak to Anne Balduzzi, the Founder at SameGrain about SameGrain

Could you share a challenging factor of the development or marketing process?

One of the biggest challenges we have is quickly conveying the depth and breadth of SameGrain, plus its potential impact on people's lives and society as a whole. Our algorithm connects people on more than 45 million match points, so we can easily find unique connections between individuals and the people they were meant to meet. As a result, the list of use case scenarios is endless ranging from connecting like-minded people who just got married to connecting people that live worlds apart but share the same rare disease.

SameGrain can also be personalized by companies/organizations/universities to match people within their own networks. In fact, we just launched Connected College Visits to match students touring, applying or admitted to the same schools.

Do you plan on releasing your app to other platforms as well?

Yes. As it stands now, SameGrain requires iOS 7.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. We intend to launch a Web app early this summer and an Android app later this year.

If you could describe your app in ONE word, what would it be and why?

Meaningful. SameGrain connects people on more than 45 million match points so it creates the opportunity to discover people with multiple in-depth common threads. This in turn leads to more meaningful and relevant connections and makes it simpler to find new friends, roommates, teammates, travel companions, support and professional networks, and much more.

Were there any unexpected surprises post-release of your app?

Yes, the number of questions individual's answer within the app to create a strong match tripled our earlier forecasts. Users tell us they get addicted to the process of answering our questions because they are quick and fun and they instantly see the number of people who are like them both near and far.

What features do you hope to roll out to your app in the future?

We have several features planned, but GrainChat is one that should roll out in the near future. It's a feature that brings the power of SameGrain matching to group messaging. People can join open discussions on any topic, or engage in more meaningful conversations based on location, events and common profile attributes.

What is the coolest or most innovative feature of your app?

SameGrain is continually adding new features, however, one core feature is the ability to privately view in-depth areas you have in common with other people, like the same backgrounds, beliefs, health issues, life experiences, habits, professions, education, and tons more. For added privacy, SameGrain only displays areas users have in common and we allow users to anonymously import information from their existing social profiles. So, you could potentially meet a fellow neat freak, who shares your college major, eating habits, allergies, a similar run time, fear of heights, love of Zombie movies and is also in the same life stage and recently moved to the same city. We also enable users to prioritize, sort and search their matches via different match factors.

What is your favorite mobile app to date and which have inspired you?

When I started working on SameGrain, smartphones weren't smart so there were no other apps to inspire me. However, I'm now inspired by apps with great user interfaces like Pinterest. I also like apps like Gyft that make it easy to send gift cards to someone at the last minute.

What was your main objective or motivation for creating your mobile app?

I was motivated to create SameGrain following a series of missed opportunities I both experienced and witnessed. It's impossible to know what in-depth areas you have in common with people you meet for the first time, so you often end up talking about boring things until a common thread surfaces or you prematurely break off the conversation because you wrongly assumed there were no common threads. Then there are those moments in life when you want to privately find someone who is either going through or has gone through the same life stage or event to seek their advice, garner their support, or make a new friend or acquaintance.

While there are a lot of matching apps in the market, most focus solely on dating and flirting. I wanted to create an app to match individuals with multiple in-depth areas in common for multiple purposes, an app people could use to discover other like-minded individuals, whether they are around the corner or around the world.

You can view SameGrain here