The one thing I haven’t talked about too much is the actual startup I’m working for, rather than the experience, so a bit of background seems in order. The company is ready to launch a new free Internet dating site with an interesting angle. We are working to make the site as honest as possible. We will be using the power of the community to make sure that people can feel safe and secure that the person they are communicating with is real and honest.
There’s a lot of excitement for us around this concept. It’s a pretty universal complaint in online dating for people to show up to meet someone and find that the person is using photos that are 5 years and 20 pounds ago. Using the community to help keep people honest in online dating is only the first thing we are going to do, but we think its a very significant first step.
We are also actively testing the site. We are seeking churches and other non-profit groups with access to single individiauls to test out the site while its in a private beta. In exchange for the group participation, we’ll make a donation to the organization. Honest and active people are a key target for us, so the feed back is very important.
It’s been an interesting experiecne for me. I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart for many years now, so I know very little about dating, let alone the Internet version. Hopefully, it makes me more objective as I have to look at data objectively. I can’t be a focus group of one.
