This idea is really good! (I'm socially average I would say, more on the outgoing side, and I see my friends totally going for this. If I think of 10 friends randomly (single or otherwise), and give them $20 credit towards either eHarmony or this, I see them all - except maybe one or two who are aggressively looking for a relationship, choosing Grouper). However, if I think of 10 random friends of mine from those whom I think are most likely to join a dating site - 9/10 of those would go for eHarmony or something because they are looking to get in a relationship and not just play around. Bravo! You just have one thing to look out for - mismatched expectations. I think females will like this more than males because they will feel more secure and they like to get input from girlfriends generally.
This will be a success. One of the things our church has done is something called 'dinner for 7' which is a system whereby people opt in that they are interested in meeting new people, and the church sets up a group of 7 who then agree to meet and have some dinners together (nominally hosted from house to house). It really helps you meet folks, interact and engage with them. It 'forces' what would otherwise have to be a very random event (you found yourself in a group they were in at some social event).
Why 7? I hate odd numbers of peoples in groups, most people tend to pair off in their conversation sitting at a table in my experience. If you're the odd man/woman out... it's awkward.
For the record, the "Auction House" is something my buddies & I refer to as the "Vampire Cougar Bar."
The place has fancy red velvet furniture, oil portraits on the wall, and a dark feel. It's sometimes full of older women who seem to be looking for younger men. We don't fill that bill anymore, but sometimes someone younger friends can be suckered^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hconvinced into coming along. Good times, good times.
> We took our $400 travel reimbursement check from YC and
> used that as seed capital for Grouper
I once returned a book to Amazon. If I used that money to fund a startup, it'd be rather disingenuous to call that Amazon-funded. Makes for a good headline though.
This has the potential to go viral. $20 with free drinks is not bad. Initially it might be awkward but I feel that if the matching is good enough connections can start easily. I would add that they send each participant a summary of each other's profile if they haven't already thought about it. This will give all parties some insight and tool to start a productive conversation.
> I would add that they send each participant a summary of each other's profile
I would be okay if they don't. Privacy matters aside, it lets everyone present themselves at the meet-up as they want to, and not be judged by some small sampling of pictures or posts on their profile.
So it's not a date, but you do have to have 3 men and 3 women? If it's not a date, then why the gender requirement? And why match on attractiveness?
If it is a date but for whatever reason they don't want to say so (I'm guessing because of the social stigma around online dating in some circles -- check out the description of Blendr: it's exactly like Grindr but it's totally different), what about gay people?
So it's not a date, but you do have to have 3 men and 3 women? If it's not a date, then why the gender requirement? And why match on attractiveness?
Because when the average person wants to have fun, he or she usually is looking for a gender balanced group with attractiveness levels similar to him/her. Even a tangential experience with greek life or the party scene while in college gives you a pretty good feel for why this is the case. There's actually significant strategy and human capital that gets devoted to achieving a gender balance for your average college event.
You obviously don't know NYC very well. Those first three questions are the exact same questions that went through my mind when I first looked at the hiring practices of the investment bank I work at. So is it a date? No, NY is really the loneliest place in the world. No one there is banging, even if they're obsessed with being surrounded by the most attractive people of the opposite sex.
Their big problem is where they're going to find all of those girls. Only going to get close to those ratios in the Northeast around college towns.
That article is a great example on a startup providing a compelling story for coverage by media. I don't doubt that they used the 400$ given by YC for Grouper but the 400$ probably was not the limiting factor.
This platform could potentially take social networking to the next level, getting strangers with similar interest to actually meet. And not just on a dating/adult level, but on a wholesome and casual scenario. People don't do this because of our social and cognitive limitations. I guess having an algorithm to do the picks takes out that awkward task. They say that a stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet, well, we will find out.
Yes, I would be a lot more into social networking if there was an opportunity to actually meet new people. However, I am still confused by the gender requirements.
What exactly is this if it's not a date? Or kinda a date? Or "something that might be possibly misconstrued as a date"?
Sounds like a great idea, but no matter the temptation I can't get the courage to give third parties complete access to my FB profile. Is there anyway you could have "access all photos" to "access profile photos", or put some sort of limitations on what you access?
We applied to YC with paperbuff.com. In the 36 hours before
our interview, we ditched paperbuff and built qomments.com,
were rejected, then decided to build a product people would
actually want
I am sorry, but this is ridiculous. This is not only a waste of everyone's time in YC, but it also takes away an opportunity from other people who could have pitched in their place. There is really nothing "LOL" about it.
I believe these are exactly the type of people YC wants. A couple of friends know they want to start something. They do not know what. Instead of brainstorming over beers, they toy with concepts between redbulls. One mvp catches on. Proves profitable. They stick with it.
pg's said many times that they primarily look at the people rather than the idea. It probably wasn't (just) paperbuff that got them to the interview stage. Just sayin.
So this is a triple "non date"? That sounds like it has a lot of potential to be awkward. What kind of social engineering goes into picking the people?
[+] [-] abbasmehdi|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ohashi|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lallysingh|14 years ago|reply
The place has fancy red velvet furniture, oil portraits on the wall, and a dark feel. It's sometimes full of older women who seem to be looking for younger men. We don't fill that bill anymore, but sometimes someone younger friends can be suckered^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hconvinced into coming along. Good times, good times.
Decent scotch selection. Not great, but workable.
[+] [-] biot|14 years ago|reply
That aside, it sounds like a fantastic idea.
[+] [-] metellus|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bryanlarsen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EREFUNDO|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patrickyeon|14 years ago|reply
I would be okay if they don't. Privacy matters aside, it lets everyone present themselves at the meet-up as they want to, and not be judged by some small sampling of pictures or posts on their profile.
[+] [-] jules|14 years ago|reply
If it is a date but for whatever reason they don't want to say so (I'm guessing because of the social stigma around online dating in some circles -- check out the description of Blendr: it's exactly like Grindr but it's totally different), what about gay people?
[+] [-] timsally|14 years ago|reply
Because when the average person wants to have fun, he or she usually is looking for a gender balanced group with attractiveness levels similar to him/her. Even a tangential experience with greek life or the party scene while in college gives you a pretty good feel for why this is the case. There's actually significant strategy and human capital that gets devoted to achieving a gender balance for your average college event.
[+] [-] gotobeach|14 years ago|reply
Their big problem is where they're going to find all of those girls. Only going to get close to those ratios in the Northeast around college towns.
[+] [-] akent|14 years ago|reply
What has happened to journalism.
[+] [-] nitashatiku|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dools|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prpon|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dools|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] StrawberryFrog|14 years ago|reply
... That is the ex that I don't want to see.
[+] [-] EREFUNDO|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tryitnow|14 years ago|reply
What exactly is this if it's not a date? Or kinda a date? Or "something that might be possibly misconstrued as a date"?
[+] [-] rmason|14 years ago|reply
But then thinking back to the dating sites I've tried where the match was poor anyway I thought maybe I'll give it a chance.
Most dating sites don't live up to the promise of a perfect match so you might as well opt for a quick one ;<).
[+] [-] ByteMuse|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] teletele|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] samstave|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rokhayakebe|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] huhtenberg|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rokhayakebe|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amirmc|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbiggar|14 years ago|reply
You don't have a right to a YC interview.
[+] [-] cienrak|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] morganls|14 years ago|reply
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/09/08/just-launched-grouper-...
[+] [-] angryasian|14 years ago|reply