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August 18, 2003 Vol.74, no. 1F
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| THE “MEET MARKET”:
Recent grads Chris Ling (EECS) and Winston Tseng (math and economics)
have created a Cal-based Web site to help students make love matches.
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EECS grad
launches Web site to help students meet that special someone
For Chris Ling, mixing business
and dating is no problem, as long, of course, as other people are doing
the dating. The spring ’03 EECS graduate spent the last several
months of his Cal engineering career putting up Yachachi, an Internet-based
forum, where Cal students can meet each other.
“It’s not a dating site,” emphasizes Ling. “Dating
sites have the connotation of desperation. This is not for desperate
people.”
In comparison to other age groups, it’s easy for students to meet
potential dates, but Yachachi aims to also make the process “risk-free,”
according to Ling.
Yachachi was born when Ling and longtime friend Winston Tseng brainstormed
ideas for lucrative computer ventures.
The site’s unusual name has no meaning and was simply chosen for
its phonetics.
“We wanted a name you hear by word of mouth and can later go to
your computer and find the site. Hence, Yachachi,” says Tseng.
Ling worked on the site’s programming, while Tseng, a January ‘03
graduate of Cal’s math and economics program and graphic and Web
designer by trade, gave Yachachi its clean lines and hipster look.
The pair, who met through the rowing team four years ago, want to put
Yachachi on the digital dating map as the biggest name in college and
small community networking. They think their site stands out because
they are offering a dating community that’s not populated by total
strangers.
“The idea is to connect with someone you’ve never talked to
but have seen around campus or had a crush on in one of your classes,”
says Ling.
This is how it works. Every user must have an account, which is free
and easy to get. Users scan the database and select anyone they are
interested in meeting. That person or people get an e-mail telling them
that an anonymous Yachachi user wants to meet them. If they go online
and select the person who selected them, a match is made and both parties
are notified by e-mail. If not, then no one feels embarrassed.
“It’s a no-risk system,” says Ling.
The site can also be used as a messenger or intermediary to send private
messages to a crush without disclosing e-mail information.
The pair hopes to build a large user base for their site and expand
it to other colleges. If they become a household name, they can make
their millions by selling Yachachi to a big online player like Yahoo
or Match.com.
In its beginning stages the site has attracted 100 users and already
made some matches.
After spending five to six hours a day for months getting the site up
and running, now comes the hardest part.
“We need to spend our time promoting, which is not our specialty,”
says Ling.
While the site is great for the shy, they hope to create a buzz with
a larger audience.
“The more people that belong the better the system will work,”
says Ling.
Check out Yachachi at www.yachachi.com.
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