Inlu.st - new dating startup
inlu.st
inlu.st
No offense, Julia, but that's not much of an ability if you are a woman.
I am rather surprised that Julia has any problems meeting boys, I'm sure she could just sit in a coffee shop in the Mission with a laptop (preferably with a few stickers, including the obligatory CC) and be approached by decent young men all day.
however, i hear the odds are much better for single women in SF than NYC. so if this site doesn't work out for me, i know where i'm moving next..
I wish! I am in cafe right now surrounded by decent young men and all we do is glance at each other's laptops and smartphones.
Online dating is hard for both genders, but in women's case what's hard is screening the candidates, rather than a lack of them. So yes, women entrepreneurs may have better insight on how to make this screening process as easy on them as possible.
TBH, it is kind of hard for me to meet people online now. sure, i could go on OKC and find a hundred dates tonight, but most likely feel no emotional connection to those people. i'm trying to capture the vulnerable spirit of my early years on the web and create an environment where people who can actually connect with each other.
I would write something along the lines of, "she was known among her friends for her ability to meet great guys online with which she developed deep emotional connections".
Or something like that. You are now qualifying that you had the ability to find the right type of guy online, as opposed to just a random guy. Because as a woman, it doesn't take skill to do the latter.
If I can provide some further feedback, I would truly reconsider the name. Your initial crowd will no doubt be geeky. The word "lust" tend to intimidate women, and even shy men in my opinion. It also fails at conveying that it's a place to "find friends" or to "connect with each other".
Right now the name and your "lusty" design, would be perfect for a site for random hook-ups. I see a major gap between what you are trying to do and what you have so far.
as for the name, i'm actually specifically not going after a geeky crowd (which is why my heart kinda fell out of my chest when i saw it was submitted to HN) and am initially going for younger, artistic, NYC singles. the name is designed to attract the kind of people i want on the site for now.
Whats different about inlu.st and match.com/chemistry.com/$datingSite?
And how are you going to attract users (especially female users, because the men go where the females go)? There is really nothing sadder than an empty dating site.
Now, which one will that be? Hmmm..
Further, if you start with a domain like inlu.st, you are eliminating the % of women that actually care about long term relationships over one night stands. That is a very large %.
Just my opinion. I have no data for you.
I think that both the and community requirements can be very different for casual contact and ltrs, but there will be some natural mobility between those.
However I wouldn't necessarily trust my intuition and would prefer testing it.
Consider a creative two-word .Com domain. If you need assistance or available domain suggestions, please feel free to get in touch.
What differentiates a single person from a next-level single person? Or a date from a next-level date (I'm seeing a lot of 'next-level' throughout body copy). Barring a pre-selection/approval process for users, I'm assuming all people will be equally able to sign up and take part in the website, making the pool as "current level" as other dating sites.
Since I recently saw "The Social Network", its got me thinking that what dating sites are missing is exclusivity... isn't that why Facebook took off? ...because you were guaranteed that the members went to Harvard? Maybe a similar approach with dating sites is worth trying.
And the pic on the front is my girl and I. Glad you like it :)
i checked out your blog and we definitely share a lot of the same ideals about sex- very cool. as a heads up, your blog's RSS feed is broken right now.
Anyhow, the website seems promising and I'm looking forward to see the "killer" feature that would make it different from other dating sites.
As a side note, I had an original idea for matching people that could be used for facebook. I talked about it with friends and they pretty much like it. So, if you're interested just get in touch with me and I will tell you.
Is meant to be a "cheating" dating site or regular?
My Dating Site Idea:
A marriage between boutique clothing stores with a dating platform.
Make a list of the top 20 boutique stores in your city. Talk to the owners until you find a receptive audience. Try to get some male fashion stores as well.
You can coerce people at the stores with discounts to register to get it started (just need a camera and a laptop, good lighting, and a backdrop with logo on it).
Validated Profiles (aka. Real People) - Must try on/buy an outfit from the store and wear it on the photo to be able to use all of features of the site (look but don't touch model).
The pictures are tagged with the store and outfits that were purchased, so I can look at your profile and buy your outfit (or part of it).
It's kind of exclusive (no ugly people... well no ugly clothes anyway) and you can make money selling clothes.
thanks for your comments on this thread! you seem to understand the female online dating problem as i do, and it's nice to have another female backing me up on here.
In Luv? Insult? Oh! In lust!
The commentary about her personal life is...awkward.
Neat as it is that she dated the patron saint of modern JavaScript, I don't think that's going to help me get a date.
The geek content just makes me even more skeptical about bringing women and keeping them engaged, if it's any indicator of the greater aesthetic to the site.
That said, I hope it goes great and I wish you the best of luck. The world needs better dating sites.
Cheers.
I disagree. As a woman who has previously dated via many online/offline means it's refreshing to see an honesty from a real woman about a topic that has too long been dominated by the 'let's get you married' dating sites (okcupid aside). If I were dating I'd be happy to invest some time in the site to see how it works.
Most people seek a professional, stable, and safe image in a company they're going to share their personal details with. Misplaced commentary about the founder's personal life is one of those 'split' decisions where it'll make 5-10% of women love her, and the other 90%++ will get scared off.
Like OKCupid, I'm sure she'll have a passionate userbase if she continues to be personable and connect with people, but the awkwardness and lack of women will drive many away.