LikeBright is part of the 2011 TechStars Seattle class -- see our Demo Day coverage.

WHAT: A social reputation layer on Facebook that lets women vouch for great guys and see guys other women vouch for. Women can post anonymous questions and contact people through LikeBright's integration with Facebook. Men can opt-out of LikeBright.

LAUNCHERS: Nick Soman, formerly a senior product manager for the Amazon Kindle; siblings Sonya Lai and Ron Lai, both were researchers at Harvard Business School.

WHY: Women trust what other women think of men. Women don't feel safe on popular dating sites, which do not allow women to vouch for men. Easy to find/vouch for men by basing a service on Facebook.

WHEN/WHERE: Nov. 3, 2011 / Seattle.

BACKSTORY: Each founder has experienced the dating problem. As Nick explains, Sonya wanted a site where her friends would feel comfortable meeting new people, and Ron wanted an online identity that reflects his dateability (frequent travel makes dating difficult). Nick knows from experience that vouching works: a female friend introduced him to his girlfriend, a woman he describes as "way out of his league."

BUSINESS MODEL: Subscriptions. Says Nick, "We plan to let users interact with their friends onsite for free, or pay a subscription fee to engage with people outside of their networks."

COMPETITION: Match.com, OKCupid, eHarmony, PlentyOfFish, Zoosk.

ON COMPETITION: "Traditional online dating sites are well equipped for marketing and SEO with deep pockets, but women have told us they don't feel simple, social and safe," Nick says. "Social networks can be simple, social and safe, but they don't have the tools we're building to make dating easier for women."

CUSTOMERS/GROWTH: A recent contest to find great guys in Seattle brought 150 guys into the system; just 10 opted out. "Since the contest ended, we've kept our momentum in signing up new users," Nick notes. "We also have some very engaged users -- guys getting many vouches from women, and women who are coming in and vouching for many great guys."

GOAL: "Our goal is to disrupt the dating market using the powerful social signal of women vouching for men," says Nick.

WHO BACKED IT: TechStars, unnamed investors.

RAISING: $600K, with one-third raised already.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 3

SCREEN SHOTS

After a woman signs in with Facebook and manually adds guys she knows, she gets a page that shows only male friends . She clicks on men she wants to vouch for.

The next step is to vouch for the guys chosen -- doing so puts the (customizable) phrase "I vouched for you on LikeBright" on their respective walls.

CONTACT INFO

Website:http://www.likebright.com
Twitter: @golikebright
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/likebright
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/likebright
Blog: http://blog.likebright.com/

Nick Soman
Twitter: @nicksoman
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicksoman
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116970718987946195444/posts

Sonya Lai
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sonya-lai/6/b10/b35
Google+: https://plus.google.com/117165610895797755650/about

Ron Lai
Twitter: @laironald
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldlai

LAUNCH Blog