If you thought winning “Wheel of Fortune” was the pinnacle of Penn State Class of 2013 alum Brian Davis’ success, think again.

After appearing on the show’s “Fan Favorites” episode in May, Davis put his winnings towards creating a new app called “Greenlight” for all the singles out there. And, spoiler alert, it’s not a dating app.

Rather than going on a lavish spending spree or jetting off on a boujee vacation, Davis started to think bigger. He wanted to use technology to help form bonds between people and combine both to enhance the digital dating landscape.

In the age of Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and endless dating apps that keep people glued to their phones, Greenlight’s approach is refreshing and different — it isn’t meant to match people based on extensive bios or curated photos. Instead, it’s all about creating real-life opportunities for conversations and connections, whether romantic or purely social in day-to-day environments.

“Our goal with this app is to create genuine connections among people with similar interests within the same location,” Davis said. “Whether it’s at a bar, a grocery store, church, coffee shops, parks — this app can be used anywhere.”

Greenlight isn’t simply about setting up blind dates or romantic expectations, either. It’s about giving people permission to say hello in real life — something that’s becoming increasingly rare in a world of digital communication.

“We don’t like the term ‘dating app’ because they’ve got a bad stigma right now,” Davis said. “People hear ‘dating app’ and they think, ‘Oh, another one? I don’t want to deal with that.’ Ours is a little different in the fact that it’s promoting genuine connections through live locations and conversations — you’re not actually swiping. There’s no messaging and no matching… You have their playbook on how to approach them. Once you have that playbook, your only job is to go up and talk to them.”

However, Davis wasn’t alone in bringing this vision to life. He and his longtime friend, Rutgers alum Mike Maglione, co-created the app, bringing his marketing expertise. Despite coming from a rival school, Maglione has a soft spot for Penn State, even launching the app alongside Davis in not only Hoboken, New Jersey, but downtown State College, too.

Davis has been the face of these events, handling promotion and getting the word out, while Maglione has taken on the role of director of marketing, brainstorming efforts for partnerships, and working on the technical back-end piece.

What sets Greenlight apart is its dedication to fostering interactions in a world increasingly dependent on digital engagement and scrolling through a screen. Unlike traditional dating apps, where users might end up exhausting profile swiping and never actually meeting in person, Greenlight pushes people out the door and into social settings in an organic way.

“I think what makes it different is the fact that it’s no matching and that you have to be doing some activity or at an event,” Maglione said. “Back in the ’90s, most people met through family friends, or coworkers — online didn’t exist. Now, of most couples that meet, 60% of them have met online. We want to bring back that real, human interaction and engagement.”

“The other piece of it is we have a safety mechanism — when you are geofencing an area with a live location, if you leave that location, you’re automatically kicked out. That keeps men and women safe… It’s literally only in the bar, at the time,” Davis said.

Given that the majority of society, especially college students, is on phones all the time, the app uses this to its advantage by encouraging its users to communicate the way folks did back in the day.

Launching their app in Hoboken, where they reside, was an equally fitting choice for the CEOs. Just across the river from Manhattan, Davis and Maglione made it possible for the people of Hoboken to experience their app for themselves with a few launch parties already accomplished and more on the way.

“We use a form of Google Maps that allows us to have access to all the locations. We program them as we go,” Davis said. “Every bar in Hoboken shows up on the map — we have about 30 of them that we actually programmed into the system where you can check in… We’ve already had a few successful launch parties at a few of them.”

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The launch parties are designed to bring the app’s concept to life, with fun, mimicking the “stop light parties” that the app creators used to go to themselves. Davis was first exposed to those parties at Penn State roughly a decade ago. At these events, attendees wear colored wristbands — green for “single,” yellow for “not sure,” and red for “taken” or “not looking” — mirroring the functionality of the app.

“We took off the yellow and the red, and we created the green, saying if you’re single come on this app. Once you’re on the app, everyone else on is it single,” Davis said. “It takes the pressure off of having awkward conversations or going into a group of girls or guys, where you’re unsure… Have a real conversation and if it doesn’t work out, onto the next.”

Launching Greenlight in downtown State College felt like a natural fit for the pair. With its vibrant social scene and proximity to Penn State’s sprawling student body, State College has always been a hub for social connections in the CEOs’ eyes. However, the app goes beyond the bar scene.

“Even at Penn State tailgates, we can map lot 22, lot 21 — you can have all these people who ‘gone green,’ as we say, and are open to meeting people. And you might already have a similarity with them like always tailgating in the same spot,” Davis said.

State College and Hoboken share something pretty important to the duo: lively public spaces, energetic nightlife, and a sense of community, making them perfect places for Greenlight to flourish and continue to expand.

“Going downtown, I just saw there was such a heartbeat in there. It was so lively in the sense that every bar was packed and walking around you could see how lively it is,” Maglione said.

Since its initial soft launch, Greenlight has already seen several success stories, with users making real-world connections in surprising places. Several users have reported meeting new, potential interests at Trader Joe’s after checking in via the app, giving them that organic feel and natural connection the duo sought.

In addition to grassroots events and word-of-mouth promotion, Davis and Maglione are also exploring innovative ways to market Greenlight, including the possibility of partnering with Penn State athletes through name, image, and likeness deals.

“Our company isn’t looking for the starter or someone who has been successful and has the most talent out there — I’m looking for the guy that’s part of the community, that may or may not even be playing — someone that believes in themself… If they grow, we grow. lf we grow, they grow,” Davis said.

Now that Greenlight has geolocations in both State College and Hoboken, Davis and Maglione are trying to expand the app’s reach with hopes of bringing it to other college towns and metropolitan areas. The feedback has been positive so far and as word spreads, the pair is excited to see where it goes next.

With downtown State College at the forefront of Greenlight’s expansion, along with several other common social settings, the app’s creators hope to continue planning to co-host launch parties with various bars in the area. They’re also in the works with bar partnerships and collaborations with local businesses, including hosting more launch parties and events. So far, roughly half a dozen downtown bars are set as geolocations on the app, including Champs, The Basement, the Phyrst, and the Lion’s Den, to name a few.

As the app continues to grow, one thing is clear: Davis and Maglione are determined to change the way singles connect, one check-in at a time.

“We’re here to create genuine connections,” Davis said. “Whether it’s at Champs or Trader Joe’s, we want people to look up from their phones and start conversations in real life — that’s the future we’re building with Greenlight.”