Show HN: My 62yo dad's online dating help site | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: My 62yo dad's online dating help site

profile-buddy.com

37 pointssnitzr25 comments

It should be more clear that you'll login to people's OKCupid and Match accounts to handle things for them, as opposed to just writing generic profile text. I'm sure there's people searching for terms like "okcupid tips" on google that might be in your target audience and you could try testing out some adwords campaigns on these terms.

First things first, your Dad is awesome.

Market research: The number 1 filter my friends use to filter out dudes they wish not to communicate with is spelling/grammar. You would think match, OK Cupid, etc. would have spell checkers in their profile creation process, but they don't.

The only bad assumption is this: An error or two isn't a dealbreaker. Also, the picture needs to match the profile (which probably is more of an issue than you would think).

Also, FYI match is doing market research on dating coaches and step by step coached dating, so I'd imagine they might be in the market for co-branded marketing of a service like this, if your Dad can make this work.

Automated spell checking would hurt Match's matching accuracy. It's one thing if a guy realizes he needs to make a good impression then edits in Word. But if it's automated the women (and men, I know I carry this same prejudice) will lose a valuable and cheap filter.

Agreed to a point, however, I wouldn't use the term "matching accuracy" if I was referring to Match.

At the end of the day, Match is a paid meat market unlike OK or PoF. So, by using it, and exclusively using email communications within it, you interact with folks who are motivated enough to at least pay for the service (which again, is a filter along with the lack of spell check).

The one positive I could attribute to Match is that you can (pretty much) use their profile filtering.

How exactly does this make money? There's no clear indicator on the site that either it's a for-pay (e.g. a 'Pricing' tab) or free (e.g. '100% Free!') service.

I know. You have to sign up to see pricing. http://www.profile-buddy.com/user/register

This is good feedback, though.

pricing needs to be much, much clearer, and it needs to be before signing up.

Here is the pricing: http://i.imgur.com/xKmrN.png

I'm not sure it needs to be before signing up. If the sign up completes right after the email/pw dialog tha commitment might be worth something. This should be tested. But cautious people like my sibling and I need to be dealt with in the faq at least. It's implied that there is a charge but no link to the cost page. I feel I should see it in the faq.

No pricing, no interested.

I would think most people would be very cautious to be signing up with a service where you can't even figure out the price.

Also, the testimonials don't look realistic at all to me.

It's not clear, but the sign up only creates a login. The testimonials are from before the site was online. I'm sure they're from friends, but the services were provided.

It's interesting that they're all "flabbergasted" at the notion that a man and a woman might split the bill.

It's annoying that they're "flabbergasted" at the notion without questioning the askee's own communication on that night. I don't think that is a good example of advice, but of course they and their audience are older.

Did he build the site himself as well? Either way, good on him - these kind of services are a hit with the match.com / eHarmony crowd, even though attracting someone under false pretenses kind of defeats the purpose of online dating. But that certainly isn't your dad's problem!

He bootstrapped the thing on his machinist's salary and hired a web designer. The content, idea, and business side are all his.

No false pretenses. The site offers the service of a well-written profile, not a fake one.

How come your dad wasn't the one to post this to HN?

I'm the only one in the family that reads or knows about HN. I also posted for my brother a few months back (he only reads Reddit!). Just trying to offer my support.

Without knowing the pricing up front, I am not going to sign up for it.

Awesome! In a few months, I hope you post about what your girlfriend has been working on!

This isn't reddit, I think he's being honest here and mentioning it only because it's interesting additional information.

The first and second statements in the "How we can help you" sound redundant. At second glance I realized the distinction, but the wording should maybe make the difference clearer.

Good to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well with a man in his 60s.

What about the "62yo" in the title? What if it was 42 or 34, or 22 or 81?

I would be a lot more likely to take advice from a 62 year old man on dating than a 22 year old man. It's not a matter of agism, its just plain experience.

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