Boutique Matchmaking Firm Something More™ Has Arranged Over 3,000 First Dates for Busy Professionals in Austin

The Short Version:  Something More is a luxury matchmaking service in Austin, Texas. The firm caters to working professionals who are single and sick of ghosting, swiping, and online dating in general.  Since 2009, the company’s CEO Julia McCurley and her team of matchmakers have arranged over 3,000 first dates between relationship-minded men and women. They personally vet all date candidates and select individuals who are highly compatible with their clients. Once they’ve gotten the thumbs up from their clients, the concierge team sets up first and second dates and provides useful feedback along the way. Local singles can enhance their dating experiences and increase their odds of making a suitable match by joining Something More.

Swiping isn’t a very satisfying way to date. You spend a couple seconds on each profile, making snap judgments and adding people to the reject pile for not knowing how to take a proper selfie or making a typo in their bios. Then, after all that decision-making and guesswork, you have to wait for mutual matches to respond and cross your fingers that they don’t flake out on the date.

Singles today have limitless options but no direction. They have to figure out for themselves how to pick a date, flirt via text messaging, and make a good impression in a short span of time. It can be a lot to shoulder alone, which is why matchmakers have started picking up the slack by offering concierge dating services.

In 2009, Julia McCurley set out to give single people a more personalized alternative to online dating. She was a former headhunter and believed she could use her recruitment skills to match people to quality dates instead of companies. She founded Something More, a premier matchmaking company, to provide singles with something more than a list of profile pictures and statistics. She wanted to give her clients a clear understanding of how dating works and what they can do to be successful.

Watch on

The Something More team offers its clients hand-selected dates, image consultations, and dating feedback as a way of giving men and women a leg up on the dating scene. These matchmakers don’t want a bad photo or a poorly worded profile to stand in the way of good relationships, so they do what they can to advise singles and help them choose their romantic partners in a more discerning manner.

“I offer a shortcut and a more targeted approach to dating, so you’re not wasting months on someone who’s not interested,” Julia said. “People are so busy that they really appreciate that. Our clients value their time, and they would rather have us do the work.”

Something More is a boutique service that provides first-date vetting as well as post-date feedback. The matchmakers take the time to get to know their clients with an in-depth interview, and they conduct thorough background checks before setting up any dates. Julia said her team does their level best to knock every match out of the park.

“It’s not a science; it’s an art,” she told us. “You have to think about the soft skills that don’t show up on paper. All these little things — like money, travel, diet, and temperament — affect compatibility. Algorithms don’t account for those intangible things.”

The matchmakers look beneath the surface when pairing people up and rely on their gut instincts to tell them which clients have a shot at making a relationship work, getting married, and starting a family. They don’t base their date recommendations on superficial traits, but on deep-seated compatibility.

“At the end of the day, we all could lose our looks or our money,” Julia said. “You need someone who’s got your back and who’s going to be your best friend.”

Something More serves an elite clientele of well-educated professionals in their 30s.

Something More increases the likelihood of making a good match by drawing from its database of local singles as well as recruiting attractive date prospects throughout Texas. The matchmaking team will handle all the logistics of finding and setting up a date, so clients just have to show up and enjoy themselves. If both individuals want to see each other again after the second date, Something More will facilitate the exchange of contact information and let them take it from there.

Julia said she limits the number of singles she takes on at a time so that she can give every client her full attention. As a result, Something More currently has a waitlist to join. “I would rather provide the highest level of customer service,” Julia said, “and not spread myself too thin.”

Once the first date is over, the work has only just begun for the Something More team. They talk to both individuals about how the date went and provide useful feedback to clients. This takes a lot of the uncertainty out of dating.

Matchmaker Julia McCurley devotes a lot of effort to preparing her clients for the dating scene.

Julia offers her clients straightforward guidance, so they know how to improve. She can’t promise that every date will lead to a relationship, but she can provide dating tips to help singles start out on the right foot.

“You need to be vulnerable, be open, and not be superficial,” said Julia. “And keep it light. Stick to small talk on that first date.”

Something More gives singles the opportunity to learn and grow while meeting worthwhile and compatible date prospects. Julia said she has seen some singles hit it off on the first introduction and end up in a committed relationship, but more often than not the matchmakers have to work with clients more closely to get them to that point. Their job is to increase the chances that a first date will lead to a second date, so they don’t hold back when assessing their client’s dating strengths and weaknesses.

“A lot of semi-therapy goes on when you’re a matchmaker,” Julia told us. “I’ve had people cry in my office. I’ve heard some stories you wouldn’t believe. It makes you appreciate the human spirit and how strong we actually are.”

Something More has helped over 500 singles meet people and gain confidence in the modern dating scene. Julia’s matchmaking business has grown through referrals, and she said she’s proud of the testimonials she has received from happily matched clients.

“On my third introduction I met a kind, smart, and wonderful man,” said A.R. who signed up with Something More to save herself some time. She said the investment in the matchmaking firm was “totally worth it.”

“I would highly recommend Something More because you can tell they really do care about matchmaking.” — T.C.

R.Z. said having a matchmaker to help with the dating process made him feel less pressure and anxiety when meeting someone knew. “I have to say this is a far superior experience than you will ever experience on any online dating site,” he said. “Deanna and Julia are truly dedicated to finding you the right mate.”

“Julia instinctively knew who to introduce me to after the first time I met with her,” said C.C., a former client who has been in a relationship for two years thanks to the Something More team. “I can’t thank them enough for their passion and persistence.”

Online dating offers the instant gratification of searching for and finding available singles in your area, but it doesn’t help its members take those next important steps to establish chemistry and build a relationship. You have to do that yourself, and it can be a time-consuming process. Being surrounded by dating options often isn’t enough to get singles into a satisfactory relationship — and so Julia founded a boutique matchmaking company to offer modern singles a more tailored approach to finding love.

Something More conducts an executive search for date prospects with long-term potential. The team looks beneath the surface to arrange dates between clients who have similar personality types, values, and goals. Julia has made thousands of introductions over the years, and she draws from that experience to help single folks reach their dating potential.

“I’m helping people change their lives and their outlooks,” she said. “There are single people all around us, and we’re all just one conversation away from finding a new love.”