While their friends and family now approve of the couple’s impulsive relationship, at first they were concerned it was just an adventure and not a serious relationship.
Spencer Koppel, Founder
About seven or eight years after Koppel retired, he was in search of a new project. The former actuary wanted to try something different from his former field, so he ventured into the online world.
More traditional dating websites, such as Match or eHarmony, don’t really work for geeks because they have to scroll through so many profiles to find someone they’re compatible with.
But if a geek found the profile of another geek on a geek-only website, then they know they at least have that in common.
“The easiest criteria is, if you think you’re a geek, you’re a geek,” Koppel said, adding that a geek can be anyone from someone who’s into video games to a sports fanatic who handles all of a team’s statistics.
After he launched the site in 2005, Koppel tried to fund it through ad revenue, but quickly realized that wasn’t a sustainable method. Now, the site makes its money through membership fees.
There are three levels of membership. With the free membership, users can view other people’s profiles but can’t communicate with anyone on the site.
Silver members pay $ per month, which allows them to send messages, but doesn’t let them receive messages from other membership classifications.
A geek-centric dating site seems to have found success. Koppel said he recently heard from a woman about to celebrate her fifth wedding anniversary with a man she met six years ago on Geek2Geek.
Brandon Wade, Founder and CEO
The key to any successful date, according to Wade’s philosophy, is generosity. SeekingArrangement sets up “sugar daddies” or mommas with “sugar babies.” The “sugar daddies” are often wealthy men looking to spend time with, and pamper, a younger, attractive woman.
With What’sYourPrice, one member pays another member to agree to a date. Members of the site aren’t allowed to communicate until a price is set.
“The fact that you’re a gentleman and you’re generous makes it all the more likely that the woman will give you that shot,” Wade said.
If a man finds a woman he wants to date, he offers an amount that he will pay her in order for her to agree to the date. If the woman agrees to the price, the communication tool is unblocked and the duo can begin planning their date.
Wade came up with the idea for the site after noticing the disparity between genders on other dating sites. He would have to send hundreds of emails per day to women in order to find one to date, while his sister was inundated with emails from single men.
“There were obviously a lot more men than the attractive women that they demand than there actually are on those normal sites,” he said.
Both of Wade’s sites rely on membership fees for revenue. With SeekingArrangement, “sugar daddies” pay $50 per month to belong. The site is free for “sugar babies.”
The agreement is fair to both sexes when you take into account the amount of money and time women use when getting ready for a date, according to Wade.
They pay to have their hair and nails done, to buy a dress, and it takes them longer to look ready, so it’s fair they shouldn’t pay for the site or should be compensated, Wade said.
“And I got married, un-freaking-believable, a year and a half later,” she said. “We tell everyone about VeggieDate. I mean, VeggieDate? It’s ridiculous.”
“The positive thing about it was that unlike *real life* where it was based on your looks and body structure, being online forces you to get to know your mate from the inside,” she wrote. “A lot of this is missed due to getting lost in other emotions that centered around physical attributes. We don’t find these things out till much later in a relationship.”
Despite its small presence, Sherman said Alikewise has spawned some successful relationships. One user moved from the East Coast to the West Coast to pursue a match started on the site.
For their second trip together, Dora ventured to America, where she and Jonathan went to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, among other stops. It was during this trip that Jonathan proposed.