"This is worse than a divorce; I’ve lost half my net worth and I still have a wife."
Month: October 2008
Paul Falzone, The Right One & Together Dating CEO Interview
OPW INTERVIEW — Oct 18 — I interviewed Paul Falzone, CEO/Founder of The Right One and Together Dating at The Matchmakers Conference last month. We were in New Jersey, with NYC as the backdrop. Paul has been busy acquiring and merging with companies and building International Dating Venture. (Full Disclosure: International Dating Ventures is a client of Courtland Brooks). – Mark Brooks
Paul can you tell us a little bit more about International Dating Ventures and the acquisitions you’re working on?
International Dating Ventures is a holding company that we established this year. We are aggressively acquiring companies. We just acquired LoveAccess.com, which will be changing its name to eLove.com. The reason we bought the online company was to show the online world that we can convert online leads at a large price point. Its worked out incredibly so we’re very fortunate so far to have LoveAccess to make our business models much more efficient.
We’re also expanding our footprint across the US. We just finished an acquisition with another offline service, increasing us by 11 locations. We’re in about 35 cities across the US now and by the end of the year we’re looking at being in about 50 cities across the US. My goal is to continue to make our footprint larger and take online leads and convert them to paying members in the offline space at probably 100 times the price point the online company can.
How are you expanding? What kind of companies are you focusing on?
We’re focusing on well run, efficient, small locations. 9 or 10 services in all different parts of the US. And I’m focusing on taking the matchmaking end of it and bringing our management teams in and making these companies much more profitable. And so by year end these people will be happy they joined part of our team. They will be reporting on our CRM systems. We have got the metrics of this industry down. We know exactly how many minutes it takes to convert an online lead to be an offline appointment. We know how many leads we need to bring in for a location to make that a profitable location. We know what multiples we need to use. It’s all mathematical equations and its all part of lead flow.
Everybody is talking about a recession in 2008 and thank goodness this is a very recession proof business and our cash flow has never been stronger.
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Match.com Launches Consumer Dating Panel
MARKETING WEEK — Oct 17 — Match.com is launching a new consumer panel that aims to provide an "on-the-ground" view of dating in 21st century Britain. The "match100" panel will also be consulted on potential new services from the dating site. Jason Stockwood, international managing director for match.com, says: "The 'match100' is a vocal, diverse group of all ages from across the nation and their opinions and experiences will make a huge impact on our business."
The full article was originally published at Marketing Week, but is no longer available.
See all posts on Match.com
iovation CEO Interview, Greg Pierson on WCCO Radio
WCCO Twin Cities Radio — Oct 16 — Thousands of people find the love of their lives on online dating sites. Unfortunately, many users of those sites are also finding themselves to be victims of crime. There has been a substantial rise in the number of users who have been ripped off by potential love matches. Joining us now is Greg Pierson, CEO of iovation a company that helps businesses combat fraud.
Q: It would seem to me that people are a little more open and wanting love so that might make them more susceptible to the this kind of scam, no?
A: Exactly right.
Q: Can you explain how it works and what happens?
A: There are a number of problems that the internet creates for us. Namely folks can go on there and be anyone they want to be and adopt new personas, etc. And when folks do “bad things” nothing stops them from coming back and pretending to be somebody else.
So there are layers of problems here. One problem is folks that use stolen identities and credit cards to acquire access to these services and that by itself is a problem for the business and not necessarily a problem for other users directly.
A common practice is to set up a profile that looks like its halfway across the country or maybe even in another part of the world and to appear very, very interested in the person that is ultimately being scammed. And to very slowly but surely gain some confidence and then ask a favor. Hey I’m behind on my bills or I would really love to fly to see you but I just can’t afford it. Can you split it with me? Oh I missed my flight and I’m sorry I spent that money on the electric bill. Can you do this again?
Q: How hard is it to catch them?
A: Catching the individuals is extremely difficult. Preventing it from ever happening again, that’s what we do. Fortunately preventing it from ever happening again is a little bit easier then getting to the real people. We focus on the computer, on the laptop, the PC, the Mac, the PDA whatever the internet device is that consumers are using to connect to the online businesses that we protect. If one of those devices is used to defraud that business or its customer, that problem can “stick to it” at least digitally in our system. When that computer comes back and when that site reaches out to iovation to say ‘hey what do you know about the reputation of this computer?’ We can say: “Hey, warning guys! That computer was used to defraud you in the past so be advised.”
Q: You can imagine the joy that I felt this morning finding out that I was the nearest next of kin to a couple in England who passed away and had millions of dollars that was just for me.
A: Yes exactly, congratulations!
Q: I didn’t even read that far and put this in the spam. It had a blind CC on it, is that dangerous?
A: Yes and there are lots of clues about those kinds of things. But the golden rule of thumb here is the typical – if it sounds too good to be true.
Consumers need to be increasingly aware of the kinds of services that they’re using online because there absolutely are things that online services can do to protect their community. Online businesses need to take responsibility for their part of this problem as well. And there are absolutely some fantastic services and technology out there that online business can use to protect their customers.
LISTEN THE INTERVIEW HERE
PerfectMatch On The Bonnie Hunt Show
BONNIE HUNT — Oct 16 — Bonnie Hunt and her compadre, Holly, took the PerfectMatch compatibility profile. A series of true/false questions. This compatibly profile is what PerfectMatch.com will be using to find potential guys for Holly.
Singapore Men Put Love On Hold On Financial Worry
REUTERS — Oct 16 — Singapore’s bridal agencies are seeing slowing
business as the
financial crisis and a looming recession hit love in the country.
"About 10% of my
customers say ‘The economy is slowing down, I have no money,’" said
Mark Lin, who runs the Vietnam Brides International Matchmaker in
Singapore. Matchmaking is not uncommon in the country, which has a
population
of 4.8 million and a low birth rate, as older men turn to professionals
to find a wife. Some agencies help link up singles, while others —
like Lin’s — help customers find a prospective wife from abroad. For
$5,450, a man can pick a wife from among the women in
Lin’s shop, send her to the doctor, and get his marriage registered —
all in 12 hours. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
Interview With Victor Daniel, EliteMate.com
DATING AD NETWORK — Oct 15 —
Q: What's your background and what inspired you to start EliteMate.com?
A: I came from owning a dieting fresh food delivery service called 'Zone Diet Fresh Food Delivery Service". Then we sold out the company and decided that we are going to get into the dating business. And in 2001 we've started EliteMate.com.
Q: How many people do you have in your team?
A: Right now I have all in 52 people.
Q: How long did it take you to grow this company?
A: In 2002 we were doing 200 people a day, 2003-2004 we started building it a little bit more in a high hundreds, 2005-2007 in thousands, 2007-2008 we have 10000 people a day.
Q: Can you name some partners, with whom you worked or planning to work?
A: The people we are working to increase their membership base on our registration path are AmateurMatch, SexSearch, OnlyForLove, YouLoveMe, OKCupid, Double Your Dating, ChristianCafé, Eroticy, and coming down the pike Naughty and Nice.
Q: Could you suggest a few tricks and tips to the beginners how they can attract and convert the traffic, any mistakes to avoid, etc.?
A: Internet is mostly about people coming to a specific URL and filling out the information or taking some type of action – and then you go into another URL. So it's one URL at a time. The most important URL is the actual landing page.
The full article was originally published at Dating Ad Network, but is no longer available.
Manhunt Sees Record Numbers After Crash
NY PRESS — Oct 15 — Manhunt, the online "dating" resource in NYC for men looking for a hookup, recorded three times as many new memberships than usual on Sept. 29 when the stock market fell 700 points. We know that during recessions that "cheap" entertainment usually does well—TV, movies, etc.—but the guys at Manhunt think their "cheap entertainment" is even more of a bargain. For the same price as a movie ticket, you can get a month of online cruising that may just end up with hot coupling.
The full article was originally published at NY Press, but is no longer available.
TechStars Startup Ignighter Raises $1.2 Million
TECH CRUNCH — Oct 15 — Ignighter, the group dating site that is part of the TechStars class of 2008, has closed a $1.2m angel funding round. CEO Adam Sachs says that the money will be used to expand its development staff, and will also be used for a marketing push to increase awareness. Ignighter allows small groups of friends to collaborate on a group profile, where they can include photos and specify their interests. The site then presents a list of possible matches with other groups and helps them arrange get-togethers in the real world. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH
Dating Direct Launches Affinity Site For Long-term Relationships
PRESS RELEASE — Oct 15 — Dating Direct, the online dating service, is launching DatingDirectAffinity.com, a site which uses online psychometric testing and a professional coaching team to help single people find a serious long-term relationship. The service also offers members professional relationship advice and guidance through online coaching videos and advice columns from a team of psychologists and dating experts. FULL ARTICLE @ BRAND REPUBLIC