In Conversation with Violet Lim, Eteract and Lunch Actually
February 13, 2009 by SGE
Hi Violet, thank you for accepting the interview. Tell us the story about Eteract and how it started.
Violet: Having been an offline lunch dating agency for a few years, we have always been on the trying out new concepts and looking out for interesting new ideas. We have also always been fascinated with the online dating model and keeping track of what was happening in the dating industry. We felt that online dating would have many synergies with our offline lunch dating model but for a long time, we were not content to start just another online dating site without a differentiating point from the existing sites out there. One afternoon, we simply had an eureka moment and wondered was it possible to bring the popular speed dating offline event and transform it to become an online platform instead. Hence the idea of Eteract started to take shape.
Eteract is a online dating site for singles. How does it distinguish itself from dating portals we have seen elsewhere?
Violet: Eteract has a blend of features and activities that most online dating sites lack. While most online dating sites focus on just sending out messages and winks, we allow singles to do activities together to increase the amount of interaction they have with one another and meet someone immediately in real time. For example, singles can do online video speed dating and join a group chat. Besides just uploading photos, we allow them to use members to avatars to represent themselves during the speed dating sessions and groups chat and send each other virtual gifts to break the ice between them.
How does Eteract help to translate dating for singles from offline to online?
Violet: We allow them to take part in the above mentioned online activities which allows them to meet new people immediately rather than simply sending out 30 messages and hopefully getting replies in 5 of those. We also structured the site to be more of a social networking based theme in which you add friends, join clubs, get updates on what your friends which makes it an easier premise to meet new people rather than just adding a person to your favorite list of people to communicate with in the hope of starting a relationship which is what most online dating sites do.
What are the three most interesting features of Eteract?
Violet: They are:
- Online Speed Dating –Singles can speed date with each other via video, or via chat using their avatar for 3 minutes. After each “date”, there is a simple yes or no to know if there is mutual interest to explore further. Due to its accessibility and convenience, a person can go for multiple dates every night without needing to leave his house.
- Group Chat – We have revamped the popular old school IRC. In our chat room, singles meet in a place e.g. Raffles Place, Times Square, Magic Forest etc. and they are represented by their avatars. When they ‘speak’, their words appear in speech bubbles. And can also send each other e-gifts, that would appear right next to the recipient’s avatar.
- Clubs – Users can also join clubs which they are interested in e.g. Travelling Club, Dating Club etc. These users managed clubs organize numerous offline events and this is where the users can get to know each other in an offline setting.
One of the main challenges for dating sites is the issue of authenticity, particularly the danger where a user does not know who he or she is talking to. How does Eteract assure that people are not using fake identities to date?
Violet: In Singapore, we are accredited by the government which means we do marital status checks, NRIC verifications to ensure that this person did not lie about his age and is a real person as well.
For all the countries, we will conduct regular checks on the members that create an account so we can remove the people that have set up a dubious profile or photo.
We also allow the our members to report abuse to us which we will then investigate and if necessary send warnings or ban the account. With all these checks, people who have bad intentions will have a harder time on our site due to these screenings and checks.
Looking at other successful dating sites out there such as Match.com and eHarmony, which monetization strategies for these portals you think are particular successful?
Violet: These are currently the 2 most successfully monetized dating sites in the world and they rely on the humble “Pay to communicate” subscription model. There has been a lot of talk on how this subscription model is out-dated and how free dating sites are getting more market share and eventually will take over the world. Being in the dating service for 5 years and running both an online and offline dating service, we know that this is simply not true.
It is true that the free dating sites will definitely get more traffic and even grow faster in their database sizes, however these sites will also inherit a lot of problems as well, especially from many frivolous people who just want to try it out for fun and have nothing to lose. A paid subscription sites sends a signal to the public that its members are willing to invest money to communicate. This gives the perception that these members are more serious and sincerely looking for a relationship which is the subtle end goal of most people who join an online dating service in the first place.
Is it better to have 10 million users who are simply creating profiles for fun, are not active i.e. they do not bother to reply to messages or deal with countless of messages that are spammed out OR is it better to have 1 million members that are serious about finding someone while also having less worry about being spammed from the non-serious members? For a dating service, the latter is better.
At the end of the day for a dating service to be successful, it is not just about having the biggest database and enjoying a lot of traffic but we feel that it is more important to have have the best quality database can be monetized. Match.com with its “shrinking” market share has been growing its revenues year by year and which now stands at US$420 million. Plenty of Fish which is one of the biggest free dating sites, in comparison earns US$10 million from Google Adsense. And ironically most of the adverts on the site link to the very paid dating sites it is purported to be replacing.
What are the future features you like to implement on Eteract?
Violet: We have just moved out of development stage and our key challenge now is to build the critical mass for our database for the concept of online activities to be successful. Our concept requires a lot of people to be online at the same time for them to do activities with each other which is a challenge especially during certain times of the day when most people are at work. Hence we are looking at projects and developments that can address this challenge.
What do you see as the three most important attributes for an entrepreneur?
Violet: These are the three important attributes in our opinion, and we are striving to apply these in our own entrepreneurial journey.
(1) An entrepreneur must have drive and passion to succeed. From this drive arises his/her willingness to put in the necessary hours, find solutions faster and learn from necessary people to ensure his business achieves the kind of success it deserves.
(2) An entrepreneur must be willing to take intelligent risks. Many businesses get stalled in this as they are so against risk taking or incurring new costs so as to maintain that security blanket against failure. While many of them may not fail, many also do not get much tractions and leverage to grow much as well. However taking risks have to tempered with sound judgment to know which risks have a higher chances of success versus which risk is simple fallacy. It is however difficult to differentiate these risks and sometimes you just have to learn from failure and mistakes. It is just part of the journey.
(3) An entrepreneur must be able to nurture talent. No person can afford to be an island and seriously expect to succeed in today’s world. All the top entrepreneur formed powerful teams around them to reach where they are. An entrepreneur must learn how to manage, motivate and inspire their team to do their best.
Given the current financial climate, what advice do you give to budding entrepreneurs out there?
Violet: In the most “interesting” of times lies the opportunities that may be lacking in the “good” times. Many successful startups are actually founded during economic downturns. Get creative, and try to see things from perspective that people do not see. And of course, do not give up. If you first entrepreneurial idea falls flat, keep searching and keep looking. Many successful entrepreneurs succeed not because they are the smartest but because they are the most tenacious.
Profile of Founders from Eteract and Lunch Actually:
Violet Lim is the co-founder of Lunch Actually, a premier modern dating company which organizes discreet, personal and confidential Lunch Dates for busy executives. The company currently operates out of Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. She is also the co-founder of Eteract.com, Asia’s first online speed dating portal. Violet is the first Asian to be certified by Matchmaking Institute, New York and is also the Charter President of the Association of Dating Agencies and Matchmakers (Singapore). Violet also keeps a personal blog at www.violetlim.com where she shares her musings on love, dating and matchmaking.
Jamie Lee is the co-founder of Lunch Actually & Eteract.com. He is very passionate about the dating industry and is always on the lookout for new systems and methodologies to improve on the businesses so that he can bring even greater value to the singles out there. His brainchild “Soulseek” has catapulted the operations of Lunch Actually from 30 matches to 300 matches a month. When not busy with his businesses, Jamie loves playing board games and strategy games.
Zam Ong is the co-founder of Eteract.com. He is IT trained and has had many years of experiences working in various MNCs. He is the person we report all our bugs to, and he is constantly working on the site to improve the features as well as enhance our users’ experience. When he’s not on his desk banging away at the keyboard, Zam is passionate about windsurfing, cycling and wakeboarding.
Related Review:
Grey Review, A Walled Garden for Singles-Only Named Eteract.
Editor’s Note: BL and Gwen has invested in Eteract via Thymos Capital LLP.
Photo courtesy of mozzercork.
About The Author
SGE - (SGE)
Covering the Singapore and Southeast Asia startup and entrepreneurship scene since 2005.
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