Show HN: Built a web-based competitor to Grindr. Would love tips and advice

http://www.fantsy.me

10 12 14 years ago

Our goal is to cause some disruption in how people date online/offline. we service all regardless of sexual orientation. Any feedback is appreciated for a crazy budding entrepreneur :) P.S Phone app coming soon as well

trickmonkey• 14 years ago

Grindr got traction because it removed all the friction by being a sleek iPhone app. How's this different from other web-based hook up sites?

frantzdy_romain6• 14 years ago

Well picture this as our storefront (Mobile app in works). We decided to build a website first, flesh out our API for a mobile app, and give user access to his/her account via web and mobile(soon). Our main difference to Grindr or any other app in our market is that we are open to anyone regardless of sexual orientation. But I do appreciate your question :)

ebiester• 14 years ago

Yeah, I don't know anyone who got grindr for this.*

Grindr solves the problem of "I want to find someone nearby for sex." Now, I know people who have found friends and relationships through it, but that's not why they downloaded grindr.

Does this get anyone to fucking any sooner? If no, then it's not grindr. (or scruff...)

NOW... if you want to infiltrate this space, make it HTML5 only, and allow X-rated pictures on it. Make it seamless for android and iphone to install (particularly iphone) and you have a market.

But you need to look deeper into the market (particularly adult friend finder!) to understand the problems attracting women. Also check the okcupid blogs about their experiences and data. Women, in general, don't respond. I think an interesting experiment would be to have a service where only women could initiate, because otherwise they're bombarded and men rarely see return emails.

(* I say this as a gay man who has played with grindr and who has many friends with it, but is in a happy relationship.)

alaskamiller• 14 years ago

1. Doesn't look finished, just bad hack of Bootstrap.

2. Makes me login without a good explanation of value prop.

3. Grindr is a mobile app, this isn't even close.

4. You're playing the game of network effect with no network.

frantzdy_romain6• 14 years ago

Love your honest feedback. Well appreciated, This is what I was looking for.

tallanvor• 14 years ago

This looks more like an attempt to compete in the normal online dating area. Grindr is a phone app - period. You only ever see people who were logged in recently and who are close to you, which is much harder to do from a website.

frantzdy_romain6• 14 years ago

First and foremost thanks for the feedback. We are working on a mobile app, and I do agree that it is a bit hard to find who is close to you via web. I thought it would be a great start to start web-based, gain a bit of interest, build API for our mobile app

jbelich2• 14 years ago

Grindr solves three problems:

1. Gay men want to fuck.

2. Someone close by.

3. NOW.

No one will successfully clone Grindr outside of the gay hookup space (nor will Grindr be successful with their non-gay-sex app) because there are no other potential applications with the same imprimatur, except sexual hookups in other scenes (i.e. plentyoffish, or justlunch).

Unless you're horny, proximity and timeliness simply do not matter so much, and any application outside that scene is simply a gimmick, unless you have an application truly unique and compelling.

frantzdy_romain6• 14 years ago

Love your take on it. You do hit on some key points, Thanks for taking time out of your day to provide your feedback :)

jbelich2• 14 years ago

The model equation is: "_NEED_ to do `X` with someone close by, sometime very close to now" solve for X. Sex is the most obvious, but there may be others.

Solve for X

Show HN: Built a web-based competitor to Grindr. Would love tips and advice

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