You found your perfect match... Now what? Dan Groch’s app HeroBoyfriend has you covered

DAN thought he was in the perfect relationship. But after 12 years, she dumped him. Now, he’s on a mission to make sure it doesn’t happen to other guys.

GETTING the girl is the easy part. But keeping her, well that’s a whole other ball game.

Thankfully, one Australian tech start-up is here to help, and it doesn’t involve sitting on a counsellor’s couch.

Dan Groch, 32, is set to launch an app, dubbed HeroBoyfriend, that aims to keep the honeymoon phase blazing by turning the Average Joe into Mr Right.

And Groch speaks from experience, confessing he was once the Average Joe who unwittingly triggered his 12-year relationship to break up.

New app ... The logo for HeroBoyfriend shows is all about that little thing called love.

Groch said HeroBoyfriend stemmed from the idea that there were countless dating sites and apps for lonely hearts to land dates, but there was nothing to help people keep sparks flying and stop them from swinging back into singledom.

“The whole digital dating industry is focused on acquisition and nobody is working on retention. It seems crazy,” Groch said.

“With Tinder, it’s easy for people to just throw you back on the heap and you go back to swiping.”

“It has made finding someone easier, but also less valuable.”

Aww shucks ... App co-creators Dan Groch and Mike Carr are the apples of their girlfriend’s eyes.

The concept is simple: blokes download the app onto their smartphones, and it will send curated reminders and suggestions to help keep their girlfriends swooning.

When a user signs up, he answers five questions about himself and his girlfriend so the app can push out content according to what their personalities indicate they will like — and it continues to learn more over time.

Notifications can come in the form of surprise gift suggestions, prompts for cleaning or affection, creative date ideas and reminders for key events.

There are also location-based nudges so a user remembers to ask whether any groceries are needed as they leave work or to help with the dishes when they are at home.

“Most guys think they’re doing a great job and girlfriends don’t always tell them what they’re really thinking because they don’t want to feel like they’re nagging, and ... then they get disgruntled,” he said.

LAZY BOYFRIENDS: BroApp sends automatic loving text messages

Don’t be shy ... Public displays of affection are go.

And Groch knows this better than anyone.

The Melbourne entrepreneur was in a 12-year relationship with a woman he was convinced he would marry.

But he was blind to the festering problems that were bleeding obvious to his girlfriend.

He was stunned when she broke up with him in April last year.

Groch said he falsely thought it was enough to treat his girlfriend to the odd grand sweeping gesture like a weekend away.

In reality, he failed to remember important events, didn’t have time to dote on her and only offered up the occasional run-of-the-mill date.

“After much reflection it occurred to me that there’s a gap between what women expect and what most guys deliver,” Groch said.

And while no one is perfect, Groch said the HeroBoyfriend app can help to fill that gap.

Outdoor cuddles ... Dates in the park are both fun and penny-wise.

Groch is now in a new, happy relationship — and he follows his own advice by working to remember what’s important to his partner.

He encouraged men who found the app offensive to think of it as a fitness app for their relationships.

“It’s not about telling guys they’re doing the wrong thing, it’s about making what they’re maybe already trying to do, better,” he said.

“Everyone’s working hard, they’re timepoor, and this is about making life easier.”

And the ladies are likely to lap it up.

Melbourne’s Lauren Broomhall, 30, was excited by the idea and said she’d be keen to get her boyfriend of three years, Edward, to download it.

“He adores me and would do anything and says all the right things but when it comes down to making the gesture, remembering dates or organising fun nights out, executing it is difficult,” Broomhall said.

Smitten ... Lauren Broomhall and her boyfriend, Edward, are happy together — but could be happier.

She said the pair are both busy professionals but she would be stoked if he got cues to grab some milk on the way home, to get started on dinner on the nights she regularly worked late or simply to pick up on what chores can be done.

Broomhall said she felt it might not work for all couples, but believed it would be great to bridge the natural gender gap between men’s and women’s ideas of romance.

Groch and co-founders Mike Carr and Andrew King are currently hiring copywriters to produce content and are in discussions with investors view to launch in the coming months.

Sign up at heroboyfriend.com.

Twitter: @sopphie

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