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eharmony.com - A QUIET DOTCOM SUCCESS STORY
Pasadena, California (October 17, 2001) - More than 250,000 matches, 25 engagements, 14 married couples and five straight months of profitability proves that there are dotcoms that are quietly succeeding despite all the buzz to the contrary.
eharmony is an online relationship matching service unlike any other. Members complete an in-depth questionnaire designed to help them get a better understanding of themselves as well as identifying the characteristics that are essential for them to have in a spouse. Based on this psychodemographic data, eharmony then matches its users with highly compatible, like-minded people. Bottom line, eharmony provides a safe environment for controlled, guided, 1-on-1 communication that helps couples get to know each other from the inside out.
"So many members have expressed their gratitude for the eharmony delivery model because, without it, they feel as though they never would have found their current boyfriend, girlfriend, fiancé, or spouse," said Dr. Neil Clark Warren, co-founder of eharmony. "The models we use have been developed based on detailed studies of 5,000 married individuals and years of research. This is a serious tool for members who are marriage-minded singles and who take the search for a lifetime companion seriously."
Because of the unique aspects to their patent pending approach, eharmony has been able to command a premium in the marketplace. At the same time, eharmony has focused on being a successful business first. "eharmony has kept operating costs low and the costs remain fairly constant relative to the number of subscribers served," said Greg Forgatch, CEO of eharmony. "We have been able to prove out the business model in a controlled way, and now are a very nice, profitable service, that can scale in a profitable way." Under Forgatch's guidance, eharmony achieved profitability within eight months of going live and has been profitable every month since the beginning of Q2. And this is without any special accounting rules being applied as has been the case in some notable companies.
A big part of eharmony's success can be attributed to their control of marketing and development costs. Unlike other dotcoms, Forgatch has effectively focused on targeted marketing opportunities and has leveraged Dr. Warren's notoriety. "But our secret weapon has been TechEmpower, our development partner," said Forgatch. "They've contributed tremendously to our thinking. They built the system out quickly and effectively, and we've been able to scale up and back and to call on them when we have new growth opportunities. Without them, I'm not sure we would have reached this point."
"The complex eharmony matching models represented an interesting technical challenge and the people involved were great people to work with," said Dr. Tony Karrer, CEO of TechEmpower. "We were excited to work closely with eharmony from the very start to figure out ways to deliver a highly effective, scalable system within their time and budget parameters. It came out great and has operated exactly as we designed it. Better yet, this complex system has been able to expand with the growth of eharmony."
Because of TechEmpower's experience building solutions for dotcom clients, Dr. Karrer has seen his share of successes and failures among his clients. "The clients that have succeeded have all kept their eye on making the business simple. eharmony definitely took the right steps at the right time to become a dotcom success. We're very proud to have been a part of their story."
Amidst the hype of the bubble and the cry of the dotcom crashes, it's easy to forget that there are many of these quiet success stories. The common thread for these successes is what it's always been in business: find a need and service it efficiently and effectively. These kinds of smart business practices have led to eharmony's quiet success.
About eharmony.com:
eharmony.com is the only online relationship matching service based on an innovative matching engine created from empirical research, three decades of clinical practice and interviews with 5,000 married people. Under the direction of founder Dr. Neil Clark Warren and a team of experts in psychology and the behavioral sciences, eharmony provides single men and women, chiefly those seeking long-term committed relationships or marriage, the opportunity to engage in a unique online process to find and form the right relationships. Participants must qualify for membership via psychological profiling based on 250 characteristics identified as key to a successful relationship. Once accepted into eharmony, singles enjoy a paced process of relationship guidance, introductions to highly compatible people and continuing counseling in pursuing their ultimate match.
eharmony is headquartered in Pasadena, California. For more information, please visit its web-site at www.eharmony.com.
About TechEmpower:
Founded in 1997 and based in El Segundo, California near Los Angeles International Airport, TechEmpower has built a team of topflight software developers and database architects who build wide ranging applications for clients that include Hewlett Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Xerox, Digital Insight, and, of course, eharmony.com. TechEmpower holds a unique position in e-Services -- they are the friend you wish you had -- a technical genius who gets your business needs and is someone you know you can call on to join your team and help you achieve success.
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