Ignighter Archive

We’ve written previously about companies and their internal policies and practices. Today I found a video from NY-based Ignighter where the two founders provide some details about how the company works from the inside. What will you learn from watching this short video? Hotness counts, Thursdays are work days, beer is good, massages are provided 3x a week, surfing Facebook for pokes is fine and multi-hour lunch breaks are fine. Also they spend three days a week just looking to hire people off the street in Union Square. Sadly they don’t seem to have a $3,000 coffee machine or a $30,000 video studio like other startups have.

Here’s the video featuring Ignighter founders Daniel Osit and Adam Sachs:

Note: This was a video the team put together as a joke for a TechStars presentation. You can check out my video interview with Daniel and Adam to see the serious side of the Ignighter business.

Here are some of the latest startup and event updates from companies based in NYC.

Ignighter

Ignighter has relaunched their group dating website today. The company is calling the updates "version 2" which includes an update to functionality and site design. It also looks like they have redesigned their logo. Co-founder Adam Sachs noted regarding the update, "One new feature that Ignighter is excited to unveil is the world’s first group matching engine. The site has developed an algorithm that determines compatibility between groups of friends rather than just individuals. This will help Ignighter suggest groups for you and your friends to go out with."

Ignighter has also updated their groups function to allow users to follow updates for groups they subscribe to. Adam tells me that their groups function is similar to following someone on Twitter.

Their other update regards their blog and I think it’s a smart move. They are adding more industry-related content to the blog in addition to site updates. This will help keep readers coming back and over time Ignighter might be able to convert them into trial users of the Ignighter dating service.

Check out my video interview with the Ignighter founders to learn more about the service.

Buddy Media

Buddy Media has announced the launch of Builder today. Buddy Media describes Builder as, "a proprietary Social Media Development Platform—the industry’s only such platform to standardize and enable rapid deployment of branded social media applications across all social networks."

Buddy Media builds "app-vertisements" which are basically applications build on social networks including Facebook and MySpace. Builder allows customers to build app-vertisements that can be updated easily when the networks make changes to their platforms.

Check out my video interview with Buddy Media CEO Mike Lazerow.

BootUp NYC

Another event has been added during Entrepreneur’s Week this month. BootUp NYC will be held on April 22 at Webster Hall. Tickets are $5 and it seems to be a very long program running from 6:30pm to the wee hours of the night. Speakers include David S. Rose and Sanford Dickert. There will also be a variety of DJs and drink specials throughout the night.

(note: we are a media sponsor of Entrepreneur’s Week although not for this event)

This morning I met with Daniel Osit and Adam Sachs, founders of NY-based Ignighter. Ignighter is a group dating service we covered when they first launched back in December of 2007.

Check out our interview below where we discuss a variety of topics including: what is Ignighter, what type of people use the service, how does group dating work and any success stories. Apparently some people have reported "getting lucky" after going on a group date. Lastly we discuss what the Ignighter team learned by being part of the TechStars program.

Ignighter was first up and has a fun Facebook application. It’s a social group dating application – which basically means that you get 5 of your peeps and hook up with 5 other peeps that are looking for what you are. And presenter Peter Kamali explains that even if you are first hooked up with some skeezer, since it’s a group date, you can find another person who might be tastier.

Someone in the crowd asked why they built it in Facebook and the reply was "Facebook has easy access to lots of people". They worked on the app for 8 weeks and it’s live for 2 weeks so far.

Here is the Ignighter video demo: