8. A sort of "dating" website for college campuses.

[JakeCarpenter]

So, from my experience, the largest thing on many college students'
mind (behind school) is sex. But, in a lot of college environments,
the path to the goal involves a lot of work (usually):
1. going out
2. getting drunk
3. awkwardly hitting on girls
4. maybe succeeding
However, I think that there is a lot of potential for relationships
(mostly just casual sex) between people who are already friends. So,
basically the idea is to create a web app that connects to Facebook
and draws in all of your Facebook friends who live in the area around
you (would probably need to start on a college campus). Then, the user
goes through and marks the people they would definitely have casual
sex with (or relationship or something, could be a variety of
choices). Then, all of their friends go through and do the same thing
and if there is a match then the two people are told.
Problems:
1. People wouldn't necessarily want EVERYONE knowing that they signed
up to use the service.
SOLUTION? Rather than draw in only the friends who are also using
the service, just draw in all of the friends.
2. People's feelings could get hurt if no one marks them or they mark
someone and they don't get connected with that person
SOLUTION? Advertise that there is some sort of proprietary
"algorithm" that matches people based on interests or something (could
either exist or just be a front). This way, people can at least choose
to think that the algorithm didn't match them. ALso, the solution to
the first problem helps this one because people could also attribute
not being selected to the fact that the other person is not on the
app.
3. The level of anonymity necessary prevents viral growth.
SOLUTION? This one is tricky. I think that one way to handle it
would be to prompt users to enter an email address for people they
mark that they are interested in. An anonymous email would then be
sent from the service to the person invited. Obviously, the email
would need to be perfectly written to avoid sounding like spam or porn
invite or something.

I've talked to a fairly large number of students at my school (20+)
about this and while some of them say that they wouldn't use such a
service, ALL OF THEM have said that they find it an extremely
interesting idea that has an intrinsic pull on them—even if their
brain might tell them it's a bad idea.
Business model: unknown
Final thought: College students aren't going to sign up for dating
sites, but many also struggle to find relationships or sex, so I think
the college dating game is a completely empty technology space right
now. Like a Little entered it and got millions of dollars in funding—
and their idea isn't particularly good (and doesn't even really
connect people). I think there is real potential here, even if this
might not be the perfect iteration.
^Similar idea I've heard of is to have a service which hosts std test
results and will give an individual "clean/not clean" when you request
with the other person's secret code. problems involve getting data
and making sure it's not tampered with (submitting fake test results,
etc), HIPAA
^ I like this idea and think that (in the same vein as Like a Little)
there is a lot of potential for users IF the system can be conveyed
easily. I worry that the anonymity issue might scare users away (I'm
always hesitant to use Facebook Connect for an application that is
potentially embarrassing for fear that it might post to all of my
friends' walls).
^ agreed on the anonymity issue. It would have to be very clear that
it wasn't going to be posted anywhere.
I think the branding would also make or break this idea more than for
other ideas. This isn't necessarily a problem, but it might be
difficult to create this without making it "sleazy" (Like a Little
does this... somewhat well).

[Drew Blaisdell]

This project is one that I would like to work on.

I haven't used Facebook Connect before, but it's something I've been meaning to start building for (and I have done work with Open Graph). I am mainly a front-end guy (plus UI/UX) but I can set up an MVP in Python/PHP if need-be. Every part of the process of creating a website like this fascinates me and I'd like to give a try at everything necessary.

[Jesse Pollak]

Definitely interested in working on this project.

I place myself in the coder category and have the most experience with Ruby/Rails. I'm open to picking up any language or framework though and consider myself a fast learner.

Excited about this,

Jesse

[Drew Blaisdell]

I think this is an idea which could spread virally if implemented properly. If we had a design, branding, or copy person, that would really be all it would take.

[Jesse Pollak]

Agreed. Right now, we are the only ones that have shown interest, but I think that since we are doing 3 projects and only 2 others have serious traction, we might be able to win some people over.

Anyone interested?

What languages would we want to use?

Jesse

[Jake Carpenter]

I think this is an awesome idea too, guys. I wish our talent pools was a bit larger. I think the 9a folks are going to go through with going meta, so maybe that will bring more folks on.

[Drew Blaisdell]

Regarding languages, I prefer Python to Ruby and would use Django if it was just me, but I'm totally fine with using Rails if that is what you would like to do (and we'll just go with SQL then, I guess). I think there are a few higher level discussions we should have before discussing this, though (flow, Facebook logistics, etc.).

[Jesse Pollak]

Agreed on the need for high level conversations. Should we start an ether pad?

[Drew Blaisdell]

Absolutely.

[Jesse Pollak]

We just set up the etherpad: http://notes.avaaz.org/cIpWUW2Mdw

For any undecided possible founders: we could use a marketing or design person, and the etherpad link above summarizes why you would like to work on this project.

[Jesse Pollak]

We'll also welcome technical people!

Jesse

On Dec 28, 2011, at 8:30 PM, Drew Blaisdell wrote:

[Rory W.]

Hey, As touched on in IRC.

This seemed similar to http://www.crushnotifier.com, wanted to get
thoughts on that?

Heading off, will be back online tomorrow afternoon (road trip)

On Dec 29, 10:41 am, Jesse Pollak <jpolla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> We'll also welcome technical people!
>
> Jesse
>
> On Dec 28, 2011, at 8:30 PM, Drew Blaisdell wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Absolutely.
>

> > On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 5:26 PM, Jesse Pollak <jpolla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Agreed on the need for high level conversations. Should we start an ether pad?
>

> > On Dec 28, 2011, at 8:20 PM, Drew Blaisdell <drew.blaisd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> Regarding languages, I prefer Python to Ruby and would use Django if it was just me, but I'm totally fine with using Rails if that is what you would like to do (and we'll just go with SQL then, I guess). I think there are a few higher level discussions we should have before discussing this, though (flow, Facebook logistics, etc.).
>

> >> On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 5:10 PM, Jake Carpenter <j...@jakecarpenter.com> wrote:
> >> I think this is an awesome idea too, guys. I wish our talent pools was a bit larger. I think the 9a folks are going to go through with going meta, so maybe that will bring more folks on.
>

> >> On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 3:54 PM, Jesse Pollak <jpolla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Agreed. Right now, we are the only ones that have shown interest, but I think that since we are doing 3 projects and only 2 others have serious traction, we might be able to win some people over.
>
> >> Anyone interested?
>
> >> What languages would we want to use?
>
> >> Jesse
>

> >> On Dec 28, 2011, at 7:49 PM, Drew Blaisdell <drew.blaisd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> I think this is an idea which could spread virally if implemented properly. If we had a design, branding, or copy person, that would really be all it would take.
>

> >>> On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 8:04 AM, Jesse Pollak <jpolla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> Definitely interested in working on this project.
>
> >>> I place myself in the coder category and have the most experience with Ruby/Rails. I'm open to picking up any language or framework though and consider myself a fast learner.
>
> >>> Excited about this,
>
> >>> Jesse
>
> >>> On Dec 28, 2011, at 4:24 AM, Drew Blaisdell wrote:
>
> >>>> This project is one that I would like to work on.
>
> >>>> I haven't used Facebook Connect before, but it's something I've been meaning to start building for (and I have done work with Open Graph). I am mainly a front-end guy (plus UI/UX) but I can set up an MVP in Python/PHP if need-be. Every part of the process of creating a website like this fascinates me and I'd like to give a try at everything necessary.
>

[jpollak92]

Definitely similar to www.crushnotifier.com, but that seems like a
real MVP. I think that in order for this to work, it has to be
polished enough to seem trustworthy to the user.

let's keep talking tomorrow. What time works for you two?

On Dec 29, 11:02 pm, "Rory W." <redr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey, As touched on in IRC.
>

> This seemed similar tohttp://www.crushnotifier.com, wanted to get

[bmelton]

I'm definitely interested in helping with this. I can handle the
design, UI/UX and front-end stuff.

I'm a Python/Django/Flask guy, but I'm not completely foreign to
Rails, but I'll probably hang back unless I'm needed to chip in on the
backend, and until I'm up to speed.

I have a paid GitHub account, so if you guys all post your github
usernames, I'll create a private repo and add you all to it.

Once we get a more solid idea of what our mockups should look like
I'll get started on some design mockups.

On Dec 29, 11:03 pm, jpollak92 <jpolla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Definitely similar towww.crushnotifier.com, but that seems like a

[jpollak92]

When is a good time for everyone to talk today?

[Rory W.]

I can talk; 8:00pm tonight

[jpollak92]

I can't, I have a family birthday party. I feel we might have to push
it to tomorrow, especially because I haven't heard from Drew. Should
we set a preliminary time for tomorrow? I'm on EST. 11am? 12pm?

Jesse

[Drew Blaisdell]

12pm PST or EST? I can try to make either.

[jpollak92]

Forgot you were west coast, 12pm EST is a little early for you I would
imagine, so I'm down with 12pm PST. Work for everyone else?

Also, I'm on IRC right now, so if you have a second pop in at #susu8
and we can work this out and talk a little. I don't have too much
time.

> ...
>
> read more »

[jpollak92]

1pm EST tomorrow. let's meet up on IRC on freenode at #susu8 then we
can move to skype or something.

talk to you all soon.

> ...
>
> read more »

[bmelton]

I'll be there.

> ...
>
> read more »

[jpollak92]

Just a heads up that we'll be starting in like 5 minutes at #susu8 on
freenode.

> ...
>
> read more »

[jpollak92]

What time works for everyone tomorrow?

> ...
>
> read more »

[Drew Blaisdell]

11am PST (the same as last time) works for me.

[Drew Blaisdell]

* or even 10am PST (1pm EST).

[bmelton]

1pm EST or 2pm EST works fine. Either one.

Any time after 10:00 am EST works for me, actually.

> ...
>
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[jpollak92]

Let's do 10am PST then.

Talk then on #susu8

On Jan 1, 8:39 pm, Drew Blaisdell <drew.blaisd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> * or even 10am PST (1pm EST).
>

> On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 5:39 PM, Drew Blaisdell <drew.blaisd...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > 11am PST (the same as last time) works for me.
>

> ...
>
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[jpollak92]

Don't know if my last message worked, any chance we could push back to
130pm est? Sorry!

Jesse

> ...
>
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