osetinsky

As odd as it may sound, we think this process should work much like online dating: what can you say to pique a stranger's interest and encourage them to meet with you?

We're borrowing from online dating to create a community of professionals open to receiving coffee meeting requests. No one is guaranteeing that they'll meet with other members who reach out to them, or that they'll even respond. But by joining, everyone implicitly communicates an openness to at least receiving meeting requests from people outside their network. This is already proving powerful:

www.treatin.gs

not yet - we'll be in touch with you in the next month or so about it opening everywhere. thanks!

The one-on-one aspect is huge. Our startup is trying to facilitate these kinds of informational coffee meetings:

Treatings: www.treatin.gs

We think there's something special about dating sites as compared to, say, Facebook or LinkedIn: everyone who has signed up has implicitly opted in to the possibility of being contacted by strangers to possibly meet up offline (though they aren't guaranteeing anything). Knowing that people have opted in like this makes most people more comfortable reaching out to strangers.

an interesting example of this (machine listening):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_separation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect