004 – Back to the Beginning (Part 1)

Jude and Clancy were roommates. Friends since college, they had both graduated (or “left college” as the case may be) at the same time. Finding an acceptable post-university job had proven difficult, so they both ended up with more attainable in-university job – just with more time to spend at them.

It had seemed like such a good idea – launching a dating web site. Inspired by the growing need to meet members of the opposite sex, followed closely by the perhaps more urgent need to make some cash. A dating, rather a matchmaking web site was what they came up with.

Problem was, a ton of those kinds of sites already existed. They needed some kind of guarantee. No matter what you were looking for, they would get it for you.

In between bites of organic snack mix, Jude worked on several phrasings of how this guarantee would exactly sound.

Finally he arrived at: “Our guaranteed, patented algorithm ensures complete and utter satisfaction. No matter what that means to you.” He read it aloud to Clancy. Van Halen was playing on the stereo. Jude had to admit, it added something to the drama.

“Can we actually say that?” Clancy asked. He was concerned that Jude had not adequately taken the legal ramifications into account as to what they could guarantee.

“Sure. Why not?”

“Well, how about for starters that we don’t actally have an algorithm.”

“Of course we do,” Jude said, “We’ve got the best algorithm of all: our brains. We’ll scour each questionnaire and personally pick the right people to match up. it’s a win-win situation. Every one gets what they are looking for and we don’t have to do any of the tough programming. Plus, who knows, maybe we’ll run across a profile or two that matches up great with . . . us. In that case it’s a win-win-win situation.” He smiled.

Clancy still looked unconvinced.

“Never underestimate the power of the human brain. Especially two brains like us. It’s old school. In fact, it’s like Fiddler on the Roof old school.”

“Alright, fine. Let’s give it a shot.”

With that DatesOrMates.com was born. Now if they only knew what to do next.