[Avant-Garde]

Ok, I know there's a 1000 of them out there but I saw this idea on a internet startup video.

Basically, the idea is to build a "Kayak" for dating websites. Instead of logging into all these websites, just log into this one site and choose which dating sites you can it to pull profiles from.

Comments from any internet experts or tech guys on if this is possible and of course any comments from anyone who thinks this would be helpful.

[WestIndianArchie]

(06-23-2013 06:53 PM)Avant-Garde Wrote:  

Ok, I know there's a 1000 of them out there but I saw this idea on a internet startup video.

Basically, the idea is to build a "Kayak" for dating websites. Instead of logging into all these websites, just log into this one site and choose which dating sites you can it to pull profiles from.

Comments from any internet experts or tech guys on if this is possible and of course any comments from anyone who thinks this would be helpful.

Just pony up the funds.
And you can get developers to build it for you.

WIA

[one-two]

How does Kayak make money? My guess is commission on referrals. How would this site make money? Assuming you build something like that, all the cute girl profiles would get overwhelmed and they are already at capacity. OKCupid is as techie as it gets in this industry and they are good at it too (http://blog.okcupid.com/index.html/the-bi...ne-dating/) From what I understand, the dating experience there is not that great, at least for guys.

I think niche is the way to go, i.e., dating for gay/divorced/rich/pretty people. One memorable site is http://meetcute.org fantastic idea and they have already done all the hard work (still looking for investors).

Ideas like yours pop up in hacker news all the time, it would be wise for you to do some research
https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=dating

[gsinplaya]

you'd be scraping the data from all the dating sites out there?

If this is the case I cant see them being happy with this and assume it would get shut down since it would canabilise there business models.

From a user perspective it seems like a good idea but If you were allowed to do it ...

You'll be competing in a space where other dating sites are willing to spend 10$ + just for a non paying user. It would take a very healthy budget to get any traction

I used to have a client in the dating space...way back in 2004 who was spending over a $1 million a month on ppc ads just in Australia so that should give you an idea of what you are up against to get exposure and users.

[cardguy]

I am interested in the business challenge of creating better dating websites. Even though I have yet to ever use one myself.

With that in mind - I recently came across a couple of nice looking links to articles in this area. But I haven't had a chance to read them yet.

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive...cy/266796/

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arch...es/309195/

[Alpha Mind]

If you think you can do it, go for it. Just know that MANY experienced entrepreneurs have dropped loads of cash and failed many times before.

My buddy used to sell billboard ads and closed a deal around 500K per month and the website still didn't take off.

The problem is, you need real women to get dudes to pay and you need leagues of men to get women to sign up for a free account.

If I was looking into this space, I think an online dating service--meaning you optimize their profile, help them get better results, etc.--would be a smarter route. Not sure if anything like this exists or not, but might be worth looking into.

Another easy business idea would be a pipelining service. Even if people aren't members of RVF and related forums, if you have a system down, I feel like it could work.

[babelfish669]

Years back I made a fair amount of money from dating affiliate programs. I started my own dating site & knew how to get women to sign up. However, what I got was a site full of straight women and gay men.

If you have experience running mass market ad campaigns & you can get the numbers to work, this is doable.

[Brodiaga]

I have some more startup ideas I'd like to give away for free today because I'm feeling generous:

-Kayak for real estate where brokers also compete by offering to take almost 0 commission

-Kayak for car buying and leasing - sales directly from manufacturers, all car dealers get fucked

-Kayak for all kinds of insurance - standard contract terms that can be entered as options when searching for the cheapest, almost 0% commission as a result of fierce competition, insurance brokers get fucked

-Finally, here is my greatest idea: Kayak for medical services. Get this: you search for a doctor by price and verified ratings. The problem of America spending almost 20% of GDP on health care and many people not having access to it is finally solved! Health insurance companies are fucked, all overcharging parasites are fucked, all people are happy! I get the Nobel Prize! Yes!