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any good news?

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I’m gonna crack a big secret to you guys. I myself am a member of Coffee Meets Bagel and have been enjoying my daily Bagels. I do not have access to any of our members’ information and am just contributing to this blog, so no worries, there aren’t any unfairness going on ;)

Many of my friends are using Coffee Meets Bagel and I want to share some stories with all of you. One of my friends immediately went on a first date with her Bagel after exchanging some text messages. Her Bagel was a total opposite from her usual type, but she “LIKED” him and went on a date with an open mind. Guess where they are just a 6 weeks later? They’re still dating and both say they can see it develop into something more serious.

Some other friends of mine went out on the date with the Bagel but didn’t find any romantic chemistry with the Bagel. BUT! they remain as friends hang out time to time. Some others found good networking through CMB.

CMB was made for singles to find love, but hey it doesn’t always have to be that way! We’re all people in New York trying to meet new and interesting people. So either it be romantic or not just try it out- go out and date!

We're not your ordinary "Online Dating Site"

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The dating service industry is worth more than $2 billion and is constantly growing. Yet the stigma attached to the word “online dating” never seems to diminish.

There are some good points made by those who disapprove online dating. Here is an article that lays out why online dating is a mis in providing people with chances for true romance, mainly based off an interview with Eli Finkel, an associate professor of psychology at Northwestern University.

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1. Online dating sites pours out TOO MANY profiles of people that lack information, and you end up “shopping” for a future lover
2. Questions the accuracy and reliability of the algorithm online dating sites are using, and believes the algorithm does not produce any better results than meeting someone in random. 

I think Finkel has a point here. Coming through endless lists of profiles that may or may not come with long essays about their lives and personalities (self-reflected…i really question how accurate that is in some cases) can get nauseating and time consuming. It’s already off to a bad start when you feel drained even in the process of getting started before the actual date.

That’s why we pride so much in what we are and what we do. Coffee Meets Bagel cuts down the time and work our members have to do. We too strongly disapprove the idea of “shopping” for your potential romantic interest and even more so of being drained out and discouraged during the process of meeting someone.

As for the algorithm aspect, yes people may say they want one thing and indicate that on their profiles but when they are matched with the person with all the points they may not have chemistry and have nothing to do with each other. Yet we added something more to just what people put on their profiles. CMB connects people through their mutual friends, helping them to have a better judgement on what the person is like and automatically gets rid of that fear factor, “what is this dude is creeper..I don’t even know him.”

That is why we would rather be called as an online social gaming platform where people meet, build their network, and hopefully find love on the way. We’re not an “online dating site” where people shop for love. We make it happen by connecting people quickly as possible and allowing them to SPEAK  and COMMUNICATE with each other to find out who they really are. No lingering behind profiles and guessing.

So at the end of the day I guess Finkel and CMB do come to the same conclusion. “There’s no better way to figure out whether you’re compatible with somebody than talking to them over a cup of coffee,” said Finkel and we absolutely agree. Hence our name, Coffee Meets Bagel :) 

It's a Race to the lucky 1000

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Coffee Meets Bagel launched only 41 days ago, and we’re not too far away from having 1000 members! We got to this point so quickly thanks to all of you. All the invitations to your friends and spreading the words truly helped us and we want to thank you for this.

Instead of just saying “thank you”, we have some goodies for you- but here’s the fun part.

If you invite your friends and one of them end up being the 1000th member to sign up for Coffee Meets Bagel, you both will get STARBUCKS GIFT CARDS. Since we put great weight in people inviting their friends to join CMB we will give you a $50 Starbucks gift card. The actual 1000th member will also get a $25 Starbucks gift card.

So get started, invite your friends and maybe you’ll be the lucky one to win Starbucks coffees!

Referrals: The best product validation?

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It’s been 3 weeks since our launch on Valentine’s day! I’m so thrilled to see this community grow over time. I’ve gotten to know some of them personally and though I have never really met anyone in person, I already feel as though I know some of them. This is a great platform for US to meet new people too!
I wanted to make sure that I keep our community updated on our progress. One important metric that we have been following is the number of referrals we’re getting from our existing members. Because we are still in private beta, our community has been growing  organically through word-of-mouth. It’s been extraordinary to see how many referrals we have been getting!
About 40% of our members (both approved and those waiting to be approved) have referred us to at least one of their friends. On average, they invited 5.7 friends! Honestly, I don’t have other benchmarks to understand where this stands. Is it off the chart? or standard among online products? I can bet that it’s pretty darn high for any social dating services. I tend to be very picky with products I recommend to my friends, so I appreciate deeply that our members have been so proactively sharing and talking about us with their friends.
I am following up to see how these numbers differ by gender. I have a sneaky suspicion that our female users have been much more active in referring us than our male members but that is a yet to be proven! Guys, please prove me wrong!
I want to take this opportunity to thank our members again for being our early users, fans, and advocates! We will do our best to keep up with our promise to bring fun and ease back to your social life.
Best,
CMB team