The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Sparkology
Quick Pitch: Sparkology is an invite-only luxury dating site for young professionals.
Genius Idea: Sparkology members must be college graduates and the men must have graduated from the nation's top institutions
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
Sparkology was started to help the smart, reserved, hopeless romantic guy win. This new invite-only online dating site allows only college graduates to join and the men are held to an even higher standard — all must be verified graduates of U.S. News & World Report's top 50 universities, top 15 liberal arts schools or top international schools. Many of the men already on the site studied law, medicine or business.
The business model might seem discriminatory, but Alex Furmansky, the founder of the site, stands behind his site that he says is successfully making matches. He was inspired to start the website back in college, when he noticed the loudest most obnoxious guy at the bar always attracted the most attention and got all of the girls.
"If you're looking for more than just a quick lay, and you're not loud, it's hard to find a partner," said the University of Pennsylvania graduate.
Before launching, Sparkology held focus groups to ask young professionals what's wrong with the current online dating sphere and also asked what users want from a dating site. Furmansky discovered that people wanted to have find quality dating matches who were highly educated, motivated and active.
"The problem is the current mass market [for dating sites] is amplifying the bar scene," Furmansky said. "I believe there has to be a better approach to dating where the guy with the wine and flowers wins."
In the focus groups, women said they wanted ambitious guys who graduated from prestigious schools. Men wanted women to be educated, but didn't care much about where women attended school. Sparkology created its rules for the site based on this information.
"There's so much grime in the online dating industry," Furmansky said. "I'm running Sparkology with a high standard of ethics. It might hurt our growth in the early days, but maintaining a brand of trust will be worth it."
Sparkology launched in October 2011 aiming to bring courtship to online dating. Sparkology prides itself on being classy and sophisticated. Furmansky hands out personal invites sealed with a wax stamp to educated singles he approves of. The company even teaches its men users about courtship, manners and how to be classy. Back in November, Sparkology invited 50 of its guy members to an event where they received fashion advice and learn about fine scotch.
"I cant promise that every guy is going to be ambitious," Furmansky said. "But Sparkology's pool of men is like day and night compared to Match.com."
Sparkology is supported by an under $500,000 seed fund. The site has 10 employees, including four concierges, who give dating advice and help guys plan dates. They also monitor the site and respond to user feedback.
About 1,200 members have joined Sparkology. The site is exclusive to New York now, but the brand plans to start up in San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C. and Chicago. The site doesn't cater to gays and lesbians, but Furmansky says the site will in the future as his company grows.
The pricing model is different than most dating sites, too. Guys pay $2 for a spark, which is one message to a girl he is interested in. Girls pay $15 per month to use Sparkology and can send messages without paying any extra fees.
"This pricing model works because women know guys can't send spam," Furmansky said. "Guys send fewer messages and women are more likely to respond to messages if they know they're genuine."
So what do you think of Sparkology? Is its elitism appealing or outraging?
Images courtesy of Sparkology
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario