I’ve been pondering an article by Paul Graham called “How to Start a Startup” (courtesy the Slashdorks.) There’s plenty in there that’s got me thinking, and maybe we’ll discuss that another time. For now, let me focus on one bit:

There are plenty of other areas that are just as backward as search was before Google. I can think of several heuristics for generating ideas for startups, but most reduce to this: look at something people are trying to do, and figure out how to do it in a way that doesn’t suck.

For example, dating sites currently suck far worse than search did before Google. They all use the same simple-minded model. They seem to have approached the problem by thinking about how to do database matches instead of how dating works in the real world. An undergrad could build something better as a class project. And yet there’s a lot of money at stake. Online dating is a valuable business now, and it might be worth a hundred times as much if it worked.

This got me thinking. First, how valuable is online dating, anyway? The answer shocked me: according to Hoovers, industry leader Match.com collected $185m in 2003, for 48% growth. That, friends, is a truckload of money. Consider my interest piqued.

So am I ready to launch my new super-dating site to get my piece of the pie? Well, no. Maybe I need to hire an undergrad, but damned if I know how to better approximate “how dating works in the real world.” Yes, I can see his point about how the focus seems to be on databases: I am a (blah) seeking a (blah) for (blah) within (blah) miles of (blah) ZIP Code is lame. But on the other hand you have things like eHarmony, which (supposedly) does all sorts of fancy slicing and dicing of your questionnaire to find your match(es).

Obviously these seem more analagous to store locators and online job applications than actual, you know, dating, but damned if I can think of a better approach. Have to ruminate on that one when I have a free moment. (Feel free to jump in on the comments if you’ve got a thought.)

Update [Mon 03:45]: Okay, I randomly remembered a friend’s story of how one of his friends was using the “social network” services such as Friendster to meet people for casual sex. That’s not really dating, but maybe it’s prelude. Or not. Anyway, it fascinates me. I wonder about the specific mechanics. Do you e-mail somebody and say “Hey, you know Todd, I know Todd, let’s fuck?”

I suppose it’s more complicated.

Also as it happens I’ve been sorting through various stuff on my hard drive, and in the “random stuff that amuses me” category I found this:

Now of course I hate any banner ad that uses fake pulldowns and submit buttons to incite you to click. But this one did work, because I had to follow through and see if you could actually choose “I am a Man / Looking for a Man” on the site itself. Alas, you cannot.

Not to worry, though. Church doesn’t want you? Site operator FriendFinder Network, Inc. still wants to serve you, whether you’re Indian, Korean, Filipino, or just good old-fashioned horny. In fact, the same servers that bring you BigChurch provide this, which limits your “I am seeking” choices in a very different way…

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