

Review our startup:  FlowMingle - Online Dating for the Social Internet - iloveyouocean
http://flowmingle.com

======
songism
Nice logo.

Get rid of the b&w stock image on the homepage.

Keep wording consistent: change "Complete our simple registration" to
"Complete our simple sign-up form". On the registration page, change the
"register" button to "Sign Up!"

Keep your logo in the top left corner of all your pages. It's nice that it
gets out of the user's way after moving off of the homepage, but it's
confusing.

Use a feedback form like the one on slacker.com (i.e. omnipresent) -- you'll
be much more likely to get good feedback that way.

I really like the homepage design, but the content in the center of the page
should be simpler and draw in users' attention (e.g.
<http://pixtures.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/mingle-process.jpg>). You can offer a
detailed explanation of your service after the user signs up -- or on the "see
how it works" page... Or even just a little lower on the homepage.

Your homepage actually convinced me to sign up, but the "On your way to the
MingleWeek" page is just plain daunting. So much text. No images. No simple
instructions. Too much work before I'm able to see a reward. After I confirm
my email address I should be taken to a page titled "Upload Your Photo" (i.e.
no "Create Some Portraits") and there should be a big "upload" button in the
center of my field of vision. While the homepage is really inviting, the pages
after sign-up are less than inspiring.

The "Make a First Impression" page is cool. Make it easier to submit content.
Don't even bother having multiple fields under the "Music" tab (i.e. Song,
Musician, Album). Keep it simple: "Song Name" is enough. People will write
"Song Name - Artist Name" in a single text field if they're so inclined. I
would also suggest making all of the tabs omnipresent (e.g.
[http://pixtures.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/getting-to-know-
you.jp...](http://pixtures.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/getting-to-know-you.jpg)).

"Terms and Conditions, coming soon!" heh :)

P.S. Try to find a way to encourage a friendly atmosphere and community.
That's why people visit social websites: the community. I would invite some of
my friends to your service if there was a more compelling reason than "As the
FlowMingle community grows, so do the number of people you can choose from."
It seems like what you're trying to do is make a site geared more towards
friends casually hanging out, having fun, and getting to know each other --
and I think that's great. Formal dating is overrated.

Cool concept. Good luck.

~~~
pmsaue0
I really appreciate you taking the time to create/post the visuals of your
ideas, and they are good ones. Many thanks!

------
netcan
First, Good luck. There needs to be a winner in this area & I don't know of
any candidates. I kind of feel that the secret sauce is something that needs
to be discovered not invented. These are my thoughts (no particular order).

1\. Most players are paid services. I think there is a good chance that
whatever winner emerges will be a free service or at least free for 90% + of
active users. The service is essentially better if it is free (network effects
but more then that: You can take it lightly if it's free. It's serious
business if it's paid) so any paid service would be in constant danger of a
free clone emerging.

2\. Let non-singles get involved. Encourage meddling. Set other people up.
Introduce, create polls on who should be together. I dunno, something in that
area. Maybe think along the lines of 14 yr olds instead of 30 somethings using
a professional dating service. The former have fun. The latter do not.

3\. Let people approach this from an angle. Just like in real life. Meeting in
singles bars, via introductions, pickups etc. is only one way. Most people
prefer meeting someone at work, meditation workshops or University. Dunno how
you'de do that online, but it would be interesting if you could piggyback on
ways people interact with each other online already. Facebook/Myspace is an
obvious path. But maybe Digg, blogs, wiki editing, amazon reviews or even HN
might provide a thread to pull on.

4\. Be un-sleazy & you have an immediate edge (design looks right for this).
That feeling that half the users are fake, that they inflate women or men's
numbers... That's will be on users minds (good reasons too). All that damage
needs to be mended.

5\. Try to build in dynamism. However this is gonna work, I doubt anyone can
predict the whole picture. Find some ways to let users find ways of dating
online rather then handing them a system.

6\. Let the kids show you how to do it. Maybe you should try & focus on
getting dates for 14 yr olds. They might pave some sort of a path.

7\. Maybe focus on the non market. There's a tendency to focus on those people
that are having trouble. They're very goal oriented. There is a problem that
they're going to fix. So many services are tailored around filling that whole.
But there it might be easier to get earlier successes with those that will
probably get a date this month anyway. You just fill the 'how'.

~~~
SwellJoe
_6\. Let the kids show you how to do it. Maybe you should try & focus on
getting dates for 14 yr olds. They might pave some sort of a path._

The only problem with this idea is that it's dangerous. The reputation of the
Internet is that of a haven for pedo predators...you make a dating site for 14
year olds (or even allow them on your site) and you will bring down the wrath
of every Sarah Palin-loving soccer mom in America (i.e. the really dumb ones,
who believe it when Oprah tells them that pedophiles are organized, after
their children, and have over 9000 penises).

Besides that, kids from high school through college _already_ have tremendous
dating-related interactions at school. They're not short of new people to hit
on and flirt with. I just don't think it's a very good market to go after,
even if it wasn't a death wish from a legal and political perspective.

But, it _should_ be kept fun, distinctly non-sleazy, and light. I've always
been totally turned off by the "Find your soul mate, who has passed our credit
check and has a valid US ID.

~~~
DabAsteroid
_The only problem with this idea is that it's dangerous. The reputation of the
Internet is that of a haven for pedo predators...you make a dating site for 14
year olds_

Hence the market opportunity: a social site for kids/adolescents -- or
security tool for same -- that ensures that users are the ages they say they
are, and only allows close-in-age interactions. In fact, there is already at
least one angel-funded startup working on this very concept. They work with
schools to confirm user identities and ages:

[http://www.thefrankpetersshow.com/2008/07/eguardian_protects...](http://www.thefrankpetersshow.com/2008/07/eguardian_protects_kids_online.html)

 _TCA deal lead Steve Block liked what he heard about eGuardian before they
even presented! He had another company that was dealing with children online.
Steve would put the two companies together and bring the critical focus to
transform eGuardian.

Attorneys General from 49 states are pressuring social networking sites to
protect kids. eGuardian partners Ron Zayas and Robert Patrick have a new
approach to protecting children while they're online._

~~~
SwellJoe
_Hence the market opportunity: a social site for kids/adolescents_

Which isn't what they've built. It seems like maybe you're after a different
business entirely. It might be a _good_ business, but I don't think it's the
one the OP is trying to build.

~~~
DabAsteroid
I was addressing your response to Netcan's suggestion. Social networking is
not an area I am interested in, but I happen to have previously listened to
the eGuardian episode of the Frank Peters Show, and it popped into my head
when you mentioned security problems with social-networking sites for 14-year-
olds.

Another point about market opportunity: some high-school and college students
go to same-sex institutions (which might be a good idea, since it minimizes
distraction, and hence could become more popular over time).

------
hooande
From what I saw, the site looks decent. The design is pretty good, the
registration wasn't painful. I didn't really get to see much.

My main thought: I have to do way too much work before I can see the benefits
to using your site. I can't see pictures of people or anything. I'm not going
to fill out all of this information, upload pictures, etc with no idea if
there are any hot chicks on there. Try and show people the value before asking
them to make a time commitment.

~~~
iloveyouocean
Indeed. For someone who is already skeptical about 'online dating' (and they
should be with the crap out there now) i think it would be difficult to
'believe in it' enough to jump through all of our hoops!

As soon as we actually have some members and pictures, etc. we will show
people a sort of small network that includes people they may be in a
MingleWeek with.

Totally agree.

~~~
michaelmurphy
I agree with the other comments that customers will need some sort of
immediate gratification, especially if you expect them to pay.

I think the mingling concept of the site is a great idea. Are the members put
into MingleWeeks manually or is it by some sort of automated algorithm? I'm
assuming the latter.

I couldn't find anywhere on the site that says how long it takes to put those
groups together. I think you need to set some expectations as far as that
goes.

So I created an profile and answered some questions about myself. Now I'm
waiting for MingleWeek to begin. I didn't pay and I only spent a few minutes
so it really doesn't matter if it takes a few hours or days or weeks for
MingleWeek to start. If it never starts I'm only out my small time investment.

If I paid on the other hand, I feel like I'm in limbo with no idea of when
I'll see results or if anything is even happening. Sure I can continually
update my first impression but I'm not likely to spend any more time until I
know whether it will "pay off" or not. Does that make sense?

------
ChaitanyaSai
"Start on a Monday, have a date by Saturday"...makes it sound like a website
done by enterprise software peddlers (or AdultFriendFinder :) ). Something a
bit less precise and goal oriented, and more fluid, to go with the concept of
mingling perhaps? To "mingle" somehow makes me think of stepping off my
routine treadmill and getting to know people in a lazy, smell-the-flowers-
along-the-way setting.

------
kirpekar
I really liked it. Good, interesting & original take on an age-old problem.

Good name too. "Mingle" sounds non aggressive, laid back and cool... exactly
what I want in a dating site.

I really see this being a success. I'm not flattering, nor am I kidding. Good
Luck!

------
jkent
I am concerned that you'll place me in a group with 19 other YC men who are
similar to me. I can do that at a hacker meetup!

------
djm
I haven't created an account to try it out but I have spent some time browsing
your main page, features page, and sign-up form.

Your information is presented cleanly and looks good. I wasn't sure about the
background at first but after a few minutes looking at the site I've decided I
like it.

Heres what I really love: "We want you to have a date next weekend" and "Start
on Monday, have a date by Saturday". That's a very powerful message, almost a
promise, and if I had come across the site whilst actually looking for a date
it would definitely make me spend some time there.

I like your idea too - it seems to make sense that spending more time sharing
messages etc with a small group of people over time is more likely to yield a
connection than searching a database of thousands of people and spamming them
with requests to hook up.

I have bookmarked your site and will refer back to see how you do over time.
Good luck :)

~~~
technoguyrob
I like "Start on Monday, Have a Date By Sunday" better. It sounds more
pleasing to the tongue (since it rhymes). The phrase they use now is
semantically nice, but not as stylistically pleasing.

~~~
apmee
Except, who goes out on a Sunday - the Day of Rest?

I know, many people, but still, conventions are important and Saturday is
still the conventional "fun day".

------
iloveyouocean
You can join using a last name of 'Demo' to try the site out without actually
being placed in a real, date seeking group.

~~~
Raphael
What if someone's name is actually Demo?

~~~
pmsaue0
Well, then I suppose we will be adding another unfortunate event to his/her
life... and with Demo as a name, even FlowMingle couldn't help much ;)

~~~
minstrel
According to a quick search, "69 People found that match Demo in the state of
California." I noticed 1 or 2 with the name "Demos", but other than that.....

Perhaps, since sign-up as "Demo" is special functionality anyways, you could
ask the user to confirm that they're "Demoing" the account or if their name
actually IS "Demo".

Albeit, 69/36.5m < 0.0002% of the population so you could probably get away
with letting the user know that they're been automatically "Demo'd" and only
fix it if you have to.

------
gabrielroth
Interesting concept. I have a suggestion about the presentation: Right now
there are very few pictures of people on the website. There's some tiny ones
on the front page (the b&w one doesn't count), and then even tinier ones in
the screenshots on the tour. But mostly what I'm looking at are pictures of
web pages.

If I go to a dating site, I'm looking for people. As it is, I look at your
site and get the sense that it's all about web pages rather than about people.
(I'd imagine this might be especially offputting to women.)

I know you don't have any users to show off now, but I'm sure you could find
some suitable stock photos.

------
opal
I signed up for a site like this before.... never heard from them again. Good
luck making it popular enough to work.

~~~
iloveyouocean
out of curiosity, what site was it? and how were they like us?

Thanks for the good luck!

------
brentoids
I just really like the concept. I am glad that someone is approaching the on-
line dating scene in a more collaborate and, well, personal way. It would be
interesting to take this slant toward meeting collaborators for projects, or
just a group of friends, as well as someone that you like there personality.

------
rksprst
The idea sounds great, but if you are actually looking for a date, this seems
to provide more hassle than it's worth (why should I wait a week to contact
someone?, why the structure? I'd rather do things my way). Have you gotten
feedback from people who actually use dating sites?

------
qwph
A couple of points which stopped me from signing up:

* Why do I have to sign up using my real name? I'm not sure I'd want that plastered all over a dating site.

* As someone living in Canada, I don't have a valid ZIP code.

~~~
michaelmurphy
I was originally put off by having to use my real name at first too
(especially since it doesn't say how it's used). Turns out they use your first
name and last initial although I'm not sure if this is shown to other members.
I believe this is what Yahoo uses also.

I can see how this could be a turn off to some people but realistically if
you're serious about online dating, your profile probably needs at least one
good photo to yield any worthwhile results. And they're required for this
service as well.

match.com uses usernames instead of real names but I don't need to see a
person's first name to recognize her from the cube down the hall.

------
sfamiliar
would any of the folks who signed up as demo users want to go through a fake
mingle, updating on the hour instead of the day to get a better feel for how
things work?

------
Bluem00
Tried to create a profile, but failed when I got to the picture step. In my
first attempt I tried to upload a bitmap. I don't see any reason why you don't
support this format. Size isn't the reason, as it's already been uploaded to
your servers when you reject it. I converted the file to a tiff, uploaded it,
and was stuck staring at a "Loading" screen. I tried both IE and Firefox, but
never got past that point.

~~~
iloveyouocean
Thanks for pointing this out. Both TIFF and BMP should work just fine now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

------
elai
How is this easier/quicker than real life dating? The difference between
online and real life 'dating' is that online dating takes way too much time.

~~~
SwellJoe
I think this is a big problem with the whole concept. In real life, a glance,
flushed cheeks and a smile tells you everything you need to know about basic
attraction. Online, there's the back and forth over bullshit like music and
film and food (which all matters to long-term relationships...but without the
spark, there won't be a long-term) before you ever even get to meeting the
person face to face. I don't know if going online can ever really make it more
efficient.

~~~
iloveyouocean
"In real life, a glance, flushed cheeks and a smile" aka The Moment. Could
this happen online? Sure, and it undoubtedly does, but we recognize how rare
this is, and understand that The Moment is much more likely to occur face to
face.

FlowMingle is all about consistently providing you with a group of eligible,
interested, and feasible people, helping you get to know them a bit, then
facilitating some type of direct contact. Essentially, we want to provide you
with as many opportunities as possible for The Moment to occur, by lowering
the cost of finding a date. Most people do not consistently meet and interact
with 10 other interested people in a week, and in this way FlowMingle is a
very efficient use of your time.

We do not believe it is our job, or even within our ability, to 'create love',
'find your soulmate', 'provide a sure-thing hookup', etc. Instead, we focus on
leveraging what the web does best(sharing information, facilitating
communication, bringing people together, organizing activity) to help you do
what you do best, face to face.

------
SapphireSun
Wow! This is a cool idea!

Some of the art could use some changes, but the core idea looks like fun!
Perhaps you could also add something along the lines of principle components
analysis so that you don't only use random groups from your area - you want to
have a netflix kind of thing going on mixed with some truly random ones.

Good luck guys!

~~~
iloveyouocean
So we match people based on demographics (age, ethnicity, children?, etc.). We
also match based on the Media you include in your First Impression. After you
have been through a MingleWeek, we have data about who you rated highly and so
we can compose groups based on common affinity.

~~~
SapphireSun
Ah I suspected you guys were using a more complex algorithm than advertised on
the site ^_^. Good luck!

------
smoody
nicely done! good to see an original take on online dating.

i wouldn't worry about the background. for every person you find that doesn't
like it, you'll find someone who will. people are visiting the site for a
reason. they probably won't even notice the background.

------
mvid
the name is incredibly unappealing.

~~~
benjamincanfly
It does make me think about drains, sewers, menstruation, etc.

~~~
mrtron
Those all seem relative to the dating genre.

But really? That is what comes to mind?

------
known
Smaller font will do better

------
vaksel
not a fan of the background

~~~
iloveyouocean
the background has been a point of contention amongst us. it seems to be
polarizing, either you like it quite a bit, or not.

~~~
benjamincanfly
The soft-focus effect that the glowing creates is really disturbing.

