As with most dating trends (e.g. run clubs, marriage contracts, new dating apps), I first learned about the concept of pitching a single friend through a PowerPoint presentation from TikTok. It was a video with the subtitle “It’s 2025 & this is how we date” that caught my eye, with comments ranging from excited (“Please this would be so much fun”) to cringe (“I would melt into my seat, no thank you”).
Immediately, I was intrigued. As a 24-year-old who has been on and off dating apps for the last five years and still single, I’ve concluded that I’m not going to find my partner online. Frankly, I’m exhausted. The tireless swiping, conversations that go nowhere, and repetitively deleting Hinge only to download it again a few months later—it’s a cycle that’s forced me to consider the question: Is friendship-fueled matchmaking the next era of dating? And do these PowerPoint presentations actually work?
The TikTok I saw was specifically for event-planning site Pitch and Pair, which, according to its website, is “where PowerPoint meets romance.” While their events are currently held in NYC, I discovered there are similar concepts, like Pitch-a-Friend, happening across the country.
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“It’s a lot harder to find good activities and dates and ways to mingle,” says Joe Teblum, Pitch and Pair’s founder. “A lot of people are trying all the online dating apps, online events, in-person, standard speed dating, and none are really tailored for them.”
It was enough of a recurring issue for Teblum and his friends, who work full-time in tech, that he was inspired to do something about it. “My friends deserve to get a match and find somebody, but they’re just not putting themselves out there,” he explains. “So I created Pitch and Pair to find a unique, fun way that would allow people to more organically meet people and have that kind of meet-cute moment.”
To blend the ease of digital apps and the energy of an in-person gathering, each “pitcher” creates a three-to-five-minute slideshow to sell their single friend to a room full of strangers. As Teblum tells Glamour, “When people come in, they’re going to be coming in with groups of friends, usually all very excited.”
Like a true journalist, I went to a Pitch and Pair event on June 11 to see it in action for myself. I arrived a few minutes after the doors opened, and the room was already close to capacity. By the time it started, there were no more chairs available and people were standing along the wall at the back of the room. I was curious—who would be brave enough to stand up in a room full of strangers and be a part of this?
Joe Teblum
