The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Relationship app is Forfar tech titan’s new venture
RELISH: Launched this week in the US, it will appear in the UK next year
A Forfar-born entrepreneur whose previous firm was valued in excess of $1.2 billion, has launched a new venture to help save romantic relationships.
The app-based service, called Relish, described as the “world’s first personal trainer for relationships” was launched in the US this week by Lesley Eccles.
Downloaded “tens of thousands of times”, Ms Eccles says the feedback has been “amazing so far” and is already being recommended by relationship counsellors across America.
Ms Eccles said: “I keep hearing that couples enter counselling too late to save the relationship, but if they had started six-months earlier, then something could have been done.
“Relish can act as an early intervention and it’s about giving you control of your relationship before it gets to the stage of couple therapy, although it is also being used as a companion tool for couples in counselling.”
The firm has an Edinburgh-based team of seven, with a view to taking on more staff in the capital, while in America the project has six full- and part-time employees.
The process, which costs $100 peryear, for two people, begins with an initial assessment and subscribers receive a customised plan each week.
Subscribers also have unlimited texting with a coach who will suggest additional lessons.
Ms Eccles said: “The programme has been formulated with help from leading academics from three universities, along with a qualified coaching team.
“Too often, people go into couple counselling wanting to change the other person, but in reality, you can only change yourself and Relish helps to do that.”
Ms Eccles, who has lived in America for three years, previously co-founded FanDuel, a fantasy sports betting firm in the states which has more than a million customers who predict the outcomes of sporting events for cash prizes.
However, the firm merged last year and is the subject of potential legal action.
Ms Eccles said: “Coming out of FanDuel, we had been beaten up by the experience and I realised the only thing that kept us sane throughout was relationships.”