Although TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington recently posted an April Fool’s joke about hiring a matchmaker to find him a wife, matchmaking services are becoming an alternate (and pricier) way to find a mate (think Millionaire Matchmaker). For those guys who are looking to meet a lady but don’t have the time to devote to the due diligence, outsourcing the job is the obvious option. Trolling Match.com, eHarmony and other dating sites can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. Even setting up an appealing profile on these sites can be daunting. To help these dudes out, VirtualDatingAssistants.com has launched a service to allow busy male professionals to fully outsource their online dating experience.
At a price of $480 per month, the company’s virtual dating assistants will use “advanced internet dating techniques and strategies to create online dating profiles, interact with women and set up dates with them.” The company says it will work approximately 40 hours per month for each customer and guarantees them a minimum of 2 dates per month (or their money back).
Co-founders Mark Anderson and Scott Valdez are overseeing a cherry-picked team of virtual assistants that are referred to as “007” Dating Assistants due to the “suave and sophisticated nature of their undercover interactions.” Yes, they are actually called “007″ Dating Assistants. Anderson attests to the power of virtual assistants representing you on online dating sites because that’s how he found his wife. As a pharmaceutical sales exec, Anderson had his assistant manage his online dating accounts and schedule 79 dates with attractive women within a period of a year. One of these women happens to now be his wife.
Virtual assistants will help clients fill out their profiles and then search dating sites like Match.com and eHarmony to find women that fit each client’s tastes and preferences. Once the client informs the assistant of necessary information for a profile, the assistant will take over the process of finding, messaging, and setting up dates with women. According to the site, the “007″ assistant will begin “contacting and interacting with the candidates. Once an interesting candidate is qualified as a strong candidate, your 007 Dating Assistant works to stimulate interest, build comfort, and flip her attraction switches.” The client doesn’t have to participate in the process until a “pre-date evaluation” meeting before the actual date.
The service makes me a little uneasy. I get that people are busy but the idea that I’d be trading emails with a virtual assistant posing as the potential date seems disingenuous and gives me the creeps. Not to mention that $480 a month is a hefty price to pay for someone to just handle dating websites for you. There’s no doubt that online dating is a huge market, and there have been similar startups that have emerged to feed off this pool, such as ProfileHelper.com, which assists people in creating the perfect profile for online dating. But I think Virtualdatingassistants.com takes it a step to far. It almost seems like misrepresentation. What ever happened to romance?
(Photo credit/Flickr/Nick Slide)
what a scam
Think of the women that honestly interact with a man on a dating site only to find out it is fake, the other person is an assistant. That’s fraudulent and immoral not to mention lazy.
It is hard enough to meet men willing to be honest in their profiles, being contacted by an assistant proporting to be the person in the profile is just not fair play. What has happened to integrity? Honesty?
Our dependence on technology is starting to get a little scary.
Nice idea.. There should be admin privilege and assistant privilege levels. And proper chat/action history so that more people dont contradict
This must be a total scam. As Val points out below what happens when the date is arranged – how is the client supposed to keep track of all the previous online emails/conversation? I have a feeling that the site has a couple of good-looking girls around who will do a 20-minute date that will lead to nothing.
There may be disclosure that you are the assistant, or matchmaker. It shows a guy is wealthy enough to hire and assistant and it also shows he’s serious about getting married. This seems like e-harmony spread out to other dating sites. If a guy is serious about marriage, then this would work.
It doesn’t need to be a scam to make money, since there’s obviously a demand for the service.
It probably isn’t the first or only business of the type, though. As mentioned, Timothy Ferriss blogged about it back in 2007.
And there’s a new Canadian company that does the same thing, except that they hire people locally rather than overseas, and they charge per-date rather than per-month:
http://www.done...oryoudating.com
1 out of 79? Those are pretty crappy odds. I’d probably go nuts after 10.
Leena Rao is the weakest link!
i don’t think it’s a scam, but if you want to meet people for free then use http://www.plentyoffish.com/ don’t ask how i found this, but i met some nice girls through this site. Otherwise there’s a tone of beautiful models on myspace & facebook that are pretty easy to get if you have similar interests.
you need a professional or a therapists if it comes to this. seriously … if you need dating advice, come out to Outer Sunset (OB), Riptide is hit or miss, but there are real women out in OB!
I can see this working actually. Not a terribly bad idea. Just like those services that get your character WoW gold for a nominal fee.
$500 a month is not to bad either. It’s about what a personal trainer costs at a good gym.
It’s far more rewarding to meet your mate on your own though. I met my fiancee on speeddate.com. I even went out with the HR manager at the LA Times because I met her on Speed Date. My fiancee got on speeddate, because speeddate spammed Facebook with a couple applications they bought out. Had it not been for that spam, I would have never met her.
Thanks Facebook spam!
>I even went out with the HR manager at the LA Times
Really? When? It’s my wife.
Oh my.
lol, “it’s” my wife.
which reminds me that my friend used one of those pay sites like adult friend finder, he’s a good looking guy – but we came to the conclusion that they used insiders to talk to the guys long enough to give the impression the site was genuine, fake profiles and the rest of it, could be the same with this?
hmm, sounds like 2 high cost blow jobs at that price to me
Screw the date.
Crap that works out to like 4-8 college chicks within a month with change left over.
Hmm, how much for beer or liquor, a stash of pot, some tacos or pizza, at my place then get laid?
Only some real losers with fat paychecks and nerds who cannot get laid would use this pimp net site.
Whatever happened to just chatting to a girl in a bar?
The idea of an agent priming potential dating partners is like misrepresentation…there is at least some merit to online flirting, and this service takes even that element away.
What happens when they meet on the date? The cheater comes clean or does he/she gets some guidelines to continue the lie?
Wow, how lame. I suppose if you are rolling in cash, but somehow are so socially retarded that you can’t get a date, a service like this makes sense.
My experience has been that if you leave your house, and have some idea how to dress yourself, interact with fellow human beings, etc, it is not rocket science. If your work/life balance is so out of kilter that you need a service like this, you should maybe deal with that first.
Everybody wants to date the bond girls.
This website has ZERO traffic. How it is possible for someone to slap together 2 days worth of a website and charge and outrageous fee for a simple and bland service and yet… get an article covering them in Techcrunch?
If they forward you the revenue from the first 10 customers as a result of this post, then ok, it makes sense. Because without this post, they have zero customers and would continue to have zero customers.
I’ll spend my $480 per month on hookers. And if you want to cover a web startup with real customers, real innovation and a compelling viral meme, look no further than: http://www.home...e.com/overview/
I think Arrington got setup or is using it.. probably for free..in return for some coverage…
With no traffic how does this warrant coverage…
Arrington you give me the creeps
This aint new. Timothy Ferris does this all the time, and gets dates pretty easily. Of course he’s rich and good looking, but thats another story
is it acceptable in Korea? ^^
This is cool indeed – 007 dating agents. Now the assistants will fine the possible dates and may be will also DATE them … they have to make sure they are what they CLAIM to be.
For that matter why not the assistants actually getting married to them lets say for a period of one year then you have a time tested product.
I can’t believe the stuff that goes on. It’s very difficult already for us women in the dating world.
Huh. I thought, “Good idea … ” until I saw the part about interacting with the potential date. Filling out the information and finding prospects? Alright, that is no different than real matchmakers, but actually interacting with the candidates? I agree with Leena, that’s creepy and crossing a line.
Leena Rao sucks Mike’s cocks.
Yay, I said that.
All you twitterers out there, http://bubble.villya.com should sound to you like a better option – its free and its cool.
i don’t know why your kicking a fuss over interacting, that’s why you pay for this service, so you let someone handle the initial stages & sort out the bad from good, then you get to go in & do the Van Damage
I too am not sure why this site is getting attention from Techcrunch …
Regardless, the Online Dating Sites spend real money to make sure there there is not any outside scam / fraud going on. They will catch this and shut it down fairly quickly; Iovation anyone?
Notice that I said “Outside Scam/ fraud” since many online dating companies will hire people to “interact” with members online to give the impression that there are people on the site that might want to date you.
That said, this could be a successful value add service to sell to the Online Dating Companies directly so that they could provide another tier of service to members?
I already have more virtual dating assistants than I need at zero cost. Namely my profiles on various social networking sites. My girlfriend found me through one of them. Several other women have left me messages saying they found my profile intriguing enough to want to know more about me, even when the relevant profile states that I’m in a relationship.
Wow, these guy’s stole my idea! I was planning to start a company doing this, exact thing, but during the testing phase I used it on myself and met a hot chick.. and never finished due to legality issues — TOS violations. Our attorney’s advised us the TOS of many of the sites would frown upon, and allow them damages against us. I think this is a GREAT idea, however $12/hour at $480 a month with only 2 dates per month IMO is alot of profit for the execs most likely! I got small team, who I trained myself on my own time, to work for $3/hour. If they’re outsourcing the work overseas, They are making a huge profit. If they were able to work out the legal issues, then I still think they could make it — I got girls photo’s, phone #s, online profile, and their logged conversations ALL in a spreadsheet in which I could follow up on my own time. These were all legit women, and I’m amazed people think it’s a scam. If you’re ass ugly, you still could find some unattractive girls that would go on a “date” with you. If your time is as valuable, as mine.. This service will be well worth it. Anyways, these guys got to the market first, so I hope they succeed.
What surprises and perplexes me, is that we are all “assuming” that single women are NOT busy, and are just sitting around doing nothing waiting for some BOT to find them and set them up on a date.
Is this site accepting women applicants who don’t have the time to search through all the tedious lists of “losers” on most of the dating sites? Hey, I can see paying someone to do that for ME. I don’t have the time to go looking either…hehe
If there is someone special ENOUGH, he’ll find a way to find me without any help at all.
I offer a similar service (for much less!) but I keep my clients 100% in the loop. They have a say in which girls, they have a say in what to write to them. I just hold their hand through the process and serve as the “editor” for their interactions so they can avoid the mistakes guys often make in the online dating process. I worry that this 007 process is just a matchmaking version of pickup “artists”.
i don’t see how ’serious online daters’ will be able to make the leap from 20 or 30 per month to 500, that’s the FAIL for me personally (gut reaction)
at this price point, catering to serious professionals with dedicated interest, they are competing with real matchmakers, most of whom i understand to charge from 5 to 25K – and they work to completion, in person, and they come with extensive references…seems like a more expensive option, but much more bang for the buck (no pun intended
I charge about $1000 for creating a professional dating profile.
That may sound outrageous, but my clients pay me for being effective. It takes about 8 hours to create one, most of which is spent doing an interview and a review of the person’s photo collection. Smart business owners hire copy writers to attract prospects to their business. They may well be capable of writing business letters, but writing an effective piece of marketing collateral is generally done professionally.
It’s not easy to express yourself in such a way that it would get noticed by the right person.
These guys are offering a subscription model. I wish them success.
While many guys reading this post are envisioning the stereotypical computer professional as a client, that is actually only one group that would benefit from such representation.
This type of service would be very useful for highly attractive girls for two reasons. First, they receive an unimaginable number of messages. Secondly, dating sites generally have non-existent inbox management tools. Pre-screening the inbox to narrow it down to a short list of candidates would really help them and it takes an awful lot of time.
At a certain point I wonder, if someone is so busy, or so neurotic, that they have to pay someone to professionally manage their online dating profiles and get them dates, whether it might not be more effective for them to just periodically pay prostitutes for their services and have done with it. (For those who don’t want to break the law, throw in the cost of plane tickets to Nevada.)
For the record, I met my current girlfriend through Second Life, and we’re now living together and quite happy.
This is taking Match Platinum one step further. The digital wingman concept has been tried and there are certainly thousands of men who might pay for this, it all comes down how effective the women are who are searching and communicating on your behalf (and who knows if they are all women).
Moderately fascinating, I’d rather see dating sites create better matching systems, thats the big win all around.
So that’s what a pimp makes these days.
@ Marty – June 6th, 2009 at 9:02 am PDT
how is the client supposed to keep track of all the previous online emails/conversation ?
Bu using Google Wave
@ Anti Matter – June 5th, 2009 at 11:41 pm PDT
Only some real losers with fat paychecks and nerds who cannot get laid would use this pimp net site.
I agree …what about doing your own engaging conversation and take advantage of serendipitous encounters.
the dependencies on
These guys will be banned from reputable dating sites.
This will end in a world of pain – intentional misrepresentation of a profile is also another word for scamming – there’s no way reputable online dating sites will allow this and they will likely remove any profiles of someone discovered to be using this service.
Ross
“Tacky” that is the first thing my mind comes up with. Just plain tacky you cant call this a dating site, Dating sites benefits Male and Females this just benefits males.
Why not call it VirtualAssistentFindMeAWife.com
Actually $480 is a decent price for 40 hours of work, especially when compared to matchmakers who tend to charge $5k a year. I like that there’s a service guarantee in place.
However, the assistants should disclose that they are working on behalf of a 3rd party.
Ultimately, internet dating companies should offer matchmakers (of good repute) memberships in a similar fashion to recruiting sites offering headhunters enhanced access to the likes of Monster.
So a matchmaker should be able to sign up with Match.com, for example, and list their clients profiles. They should be able to receive and send notifications to other members, and those communications should be clearly denoted as coming from a matchmaker on behalf of a client. The matchmaker should pay a premium fee for each client they list.
After finding a date with VirtualDatingAssistants you can have a VirtualMarriage with a VirtualCeremonie organized by VirtualMarriageCeremonieAssistant, then after a while you will need a VirtualDivorceAssistant to get divorced.
‘Many people find producing their own profiles and starting to meet other singles online challenging. However, there are far more honest and effective ways of meeting dates other than misleading potential partners by relying on a matchmaker to make the first move or set up dates. Any premium dating service should support its members by offering ‘live’ assistance with profile writing, as well as providing ‘live’ dating and relationship advice and support. Recent research by Mintel indicates that one of the greatest concerns for people who date online is that they often have no independent validation that potential matches are who they claim to be, when they ‘meet’ online. This outsourcing does nothing to improve the honesty and transparency that the industry should promote.’
Surprise… they already here and doing their job. A friend of mine was making a part-time buck doing just that – scouring the geographic/demographic info from dating websites of interest for her clients. As far as I know she was upfront about her being an assistant and even indicated so in the ads posted on her clients’ behalf. If I remember correctly the job was a tremendous success and was shut down because all her clients entered relationships
If singles are serious about finding a meaningful relationship, they shouldn’t have to outsource all of it. . . . but maybe some of it. But it depends on who you outsource it to. E.g., have someone you trust, who knows you, to screen various profiles and emails. This can be a big time-saver. But having someone else write your emails & messages? Who would want to date someone who does that? A qualified relationship coach could teach you how to do a better scanning profiles for the important information you’re looking for. Your money would be better spent on a coach who knows about people and behavior, as opposed to a V.A. whose forte (allegedly) is technology.
I talked to the founder yesterday. The are open to the service evolving, I wouldn’t count them out just yet.
Rick, you should compete with them, don’t give up! There is plenty of room for growth.
This is th early days, mark my words, the service will be free in the future, underwritten by sponsors in return for marketing info.
System should be fully automated, people are broken when it comes to online dating, the machine borg is much more efficient.
There is no romance in this tool and you might find that if your date finds out you used this tool to setup the date they might be offended. There is already enough spam and scammers to deal with on dating sites without the worry that you aren’t even talking to the person you’re about to meet.
This company is first to market, but Done For You Dating (http://www.done...oryoudating.com) is a close second. They’re not a copycat company, though — their domain name was actually registered a few days before the featured company, and they have a different business model, charging per-date and hiring local representatives rather than outsourcing overseas.
There is another website that provides a similiar service for only a $19 fee: http://www.onli...atedelivery.com.
that’s pretty sweet that you can outsource your dating. but how many women would want to date someone who cant time manage himself?