OK, this first one scares me a bit, but here goes. How do you feel about ARRANGED MARRIAGE???

Yikes.  Seriously, though, after speaking with Lyle Dohl, the casting director from Magical Elves, this idea didn’t seem too far off. With the high rate of long-term success of arranged marriages in mind, producers of a new show are seeking single men and women for upcoming casting (and marriage!) opportunities. You can contact them at arrangedmarriage@magicalelves.com

Be sure to send them your name, age, a few good photos, phone number, city/state, and a bit about your current dating situation.

OK, second…a couple of former casting and production execs (who created and produced MTV’s FANatic and David Blaine’s “Street Magic”) are now doing some “real life” relationship casting (AKA matchmaking). Check them out at CastYourMate. Using their combined expertise in finding the perfect combination of characters for TV, they are now fitting together men and women for…well, you know. Kissy kissy.

From Molly Sebastian of CastYourMate:

My current client is a single, Catholic man in his early 40’s. He’s a programming guru for a major television network. He’s smart, funny and family-oriented. Below is a bit about the type of woman he would like to date…

Does anyone know a …
Catholic, single woman…ages 33-38
She works in Nonprofit or similar job that has an emphasis on giving back or helping others.
Dog lover.
Smart but not above watching Housewife marathons on Bravo.
From a large, loud and loving family.
She’s the solid, steady, dependable type…the one you call if there’s a problem or if you have an extra ticket.

I know some ladies who read singlestartups who match this pretty perfectly (including me!) So check them out, and let me know what happens!

Latham Thomas, Founder of Tender Shoots Wellness

Single Entrepreneur Spotlight

Latham Thomas

New York, NY

Founder of Tender Shoots Wellness

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1. My business and how I got started:

I founded Tender Shoots Wellness in 2006 to meet the lifestyle needs of busy women in the city that are on a path toward optimal wellness. Offering green culinary services, holistic nutrition counseling, and yoga, I am interested in helping women navigate pregnancy and offer them lifestyle solutions that would be sustainable. I have been in the wellness field for 10 years, but officially doing the work I do now for about 5 years.

2. Why my product/service is better than the competition:

My service is comprehensive, boutique, and result oriented. You can come to one place to learn what to eat, how to cook it, and how to incorporate yoga into your life.

3. A typical day for me:

My days alternate between kitchen/cooking days and yoga/counseling days. The first client of the day is usually a cooking client. I shop for groceries in the morning and prep meals for the week, store and clean up and head to the next client to do the same, until the day is over. Another typical day is a line up of group and private yoga classes that I teach at various locations throughout the city, including: vinyasa yoga, anti-gravity yoga, and prenatal yoga. Sprinkled in between I will see my nutrition clients, who come for counseling sessions.

4. What I love most about my business:

I love that I wake up every day and do work aligned with my principals and I get to help empower people to help themselves. I also love that I get to create a schedule that is conducive to my lifestyle and allows for “me” time.

5. I’m cool because:

I’m vegan

6. If my friends nominated me for an award, it would be “Most Likely to…”

Achieve her Dreams

7. A movie made about my life it would be named:

Hustle Mode or Blissed Out!

8. Strangest thing you’d find in my fridge, wallet or closet:

In my fridge…Lotus flower tea blossoms, in my wallet- a real 4 leaf clover, closet- an ’80s biker chick motorcycle vest.

9. Personal qualities I admire most in others:

Honesty, Follow through, compassion

10. Three things I hope to accomplish in the next five years:

1. Publish 2 books.
2. Expand my business to take on full-time employees
3. Get married

Want to connect with Latham? Find her on Twitter and Facebook!

Andy Theimer, Founder of RecipeBridge.com

Single Entrepreneur Spotlight

Andy Theimer

Milwaukee, WI

Founder of RecipeBridge.com

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1. My business and how I got started:

Sitting at a coffee shop several years ago with a co-worker.  We were thinking of problems to solve and hit upon the fact that most people who use the Internet to find recipes (over 80 million annually) go through multiple websites and Google searches before finding the right one.

2. Why my product/service is better than the competition:

New cooking and recipe websites appear every week but I feel we’ve found something different.  We took something that people are already doing; searching for recipes online, and made the experience much better.

3. A typical day for me:

I get up around 7am and head for the super-automatic coffee machine, best investment ever! Typically I spend the first hour reading up on the technology and online advertising space then it’s replying to emails. The rest of my day is a mix of writing out technical specs for new features, reaching out to potential partners, and setting up meetings.

4. What I love most about my business:

The online cooking market is gigantic and growing faster ever year.   We have the opportunity to shake it up and show people a different approach to finding recipes on the web and on upcoming ‘pad’ devices.

5. I’m cool because:

I can only assume “geeky intellectual” is the new cool for 2010?  I have a passion for finding and trying new things from mountain climbing to technology.  I like being unpredictable and hearing my mom say “you’re doing what?” when I tell her what I’m up to.

6. If my friends nominated me for an award, it would be “Most Likely to…”:

Haha…. hopefully they wouldn’t be able to predict that J

7. A movie made about my life it would be named:

“Maybe this time…..”

8. Strangest thing you’d find in my fridge, wallet or closet:

My bowtie collection.

9. Personal qualities I admire most in others:

I admire the ability to focus precisely on one thing and becoming excellent at it.  I’ve always been more of the “jack-of-all-trades” type and really admire people who do one thing and do it better than anyone else.

10. Three things I hope to accomplish in the next five years:

1. Travel to Cambodia
2. Move to another state
3. Sell off a company
4. + 5. TBD

Want to connect with Andy? Find him on LinkedIn and his mountain climbing blog!

Adam Jernow, Founder and Principal OGI Property Management

Single Entrepreneur Spotlight

Adam Jernow

New York, NY

CEO and Principal, OGI Property Management

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1. My business and how I got started:

I was a white collar property owner with real estate dreams, frustrated by the help that I got from my management companies. When I bought units in a condo and a co-op building, I believed that the buildings would be managed strategically. I was working as a management consultant, telling a huge global bank how to improve its operations and couldn’t understand why my buildings weren’t getting similar advice. When I looked for a great management company, I couldn’t find one. So I started my own.

2. Why my product/service is better than the competition:

Technology and project management. We pull clients towards integrating technology into their buildings wherever possible. Technology makes people’s lives easier- theirs and ours.
Regarding project management, our clients pay us to get things done. That has required me to learn more about many subjects than I anticipated. For instance, we are carving a niche in gaining certificates of occupancy (C of O) for condos that don’t have them. This is a rewarding challenge.

3. A typical day for me:

Paying bills for clients, managing about 12 different projects at any one time, making sure clients’ needs are met, hiding the bodies.

4. What I love most about my business:

We like solving problems. We like changing people’s opinions about property management and property managers.

5. I’m cool because:

I’m a good boss, heffe, maestro, cheese.

6. If my friends nominated me for an award, it would be “Most Likely to…”:

Meet people. I meet a lot of people.

7. A movie made about my life it would be named:

Someone else would name it.

8. Strangest thing you’d find in my fridge, wallet or closet:

Western clothing

9. Personal qualities I admire most in others:

Confidence, sense of self identity

10. Three things I hope to accomplish in the next five years:

Take my management company from just the best in NYC to one that’s known as the best in NYC.

Want to connect with Adam? Follow him on Twitter!

Dinesh Ravishanker, CEO and co-Founder of CallFire

Three weeks ago, Dinesh Ravishanker, the 29 year-old co-Founder and CEO of tech startup CallFire, spent close to an hour explaining to me the intricate details and benefits of cloud telephony.  Don’t tell him, but, aside from my notes, all I really remember about the conversation was that he was a very sweet, very nice guy with a dog.  One who didn’t bat an eye at a lengthy explanation of a communications service he is obviously passionate about (to someone whose passion is anything but technology).

I do remember that cloud telephony services offered by CallFire can pinpoint which marketing efforts are working and which ones are costing you by providing a near-limitless amount of trackable phone numbers. The no-lag connection created by CallFire’s human answering machine detection is superior to automated detection systems (the ones that cause the dreaded “dead air” sound the second before a telemarketer comes on the line). And since the term “cloud” refers to on-demand technology, you only pay for what you use.

Most importantly, the Jack Russell’s name is Lucky.  See, Dinesh? I was listening, after all

1. Can you give us a quick explanation of cloud telephony and how CallFire works?
CallFire provides creative telephone solutions for nonprofits & businesses on a pay-as-you-go basis.  For example, CallFire was recently used by NoOnProp8 (case study) to enable over 10,000 volunteers to work from home to help increase gay-rights awareness.  We’re also used by businesses to automate collections phone calls and by governments to deploy emergency broadcasts during natural disasters.  Our team developed CallFire’s platform to reliably handle several thousand inbound & outbound telephone calls simultaneously.

2.  How much of your day is spent explaining how CallFire works, and does it ever get tiring?
<lol> Much of my time is spent as a proxy between partners, customers & our development team.  Inevitably, 80-90% of my time is spent explaining CallFire’s value prop!  Thankfully we have a diverse, energetic team that pretty good at explaining CallFire’s services.  This means account managers, developers & support staff talk directly to all of our customers… and when the going gets tough we help each other out by picking up the slack.

3.  What is the key to marketing a technology that so few people understand?
We take a very simple approach to marketing by defining our audience for each marketing campaign first.  Then we tailor creative messages that convey our value proposition to that specific audience.  In the SAAS (Software-As-As-Service) world constant product innovation, coupled with easy-to-use interfaces, also helps to keep customers coming back.

4. As someone who has spent his adult life focused on technology, do you find it hard to unplug at the end of the day?
When business took off in 2007, my partners and I learned how to force ourselves to “unplug.”   My recent diversions include mixed-martial-arts and developing explosive marketing models! I also enjoy finding unique places to eat in LA, hiking in Santa Monica, cooking healthy and teaching our mascot new tricks!  (Photo features Lucky, CallFire’s mascot)

5.  Would you rather date someone who shares your understanding of technology, or someone who can distract you from it?
Distractions never hurt, but tech-savvy women are definitely a turn-on.

6. At what age did you decide you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

My partners and I have always been highly entrepreneurial.  Our interest in developing a cloud services company grew while learning Computer Science at UC Irvine.  We were only 19!

7. What do you enjoy most about owning your own business?

I’m fortunate to work with talented friends and that I’m able to help nonprofits like MoveOn.org (case study) & NoOnProp8 achieve their goals.  It’s also very fulfilling to help SMBs succeed (case study) in such challenging economic environments.  Our dev team mans a 24×7 operation, sustaining telephone connectivity for over 14,000 small businesses around the clock.  It’s a huge engineering undertaking, but we enjoy & thrive on delivering ambitious projects that help other businesses grow.

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
My partners and I share a strong interest in education, technology & philanthropy.  I suspect we will venture into related fields, perhaps in fewer than 10 years.  For now our team is focused on building communications tools that businesses love, forging key industry partnerships and acquiring financing to accelerate our growth.   CallFire has sustained over 3 years of profitability, impressive year-over-year growth and revenues into the millions.   The organization can grow even faster with the help of reputable VCs or strategic partners that have significant telecom experience.   It would be great to work with a firm like Khosla Ventures or OpenView Partners.

Dinesh’s Bio:

Dinesh Ravishanker is 29 years old and lives in West Los Angeles, CA.  He serves as the CEO of CallFire, an innovative cloud telephony company comprised of an aggressive team of entrepreneurs and techies.  Dinesh is a recognized authority on creative telephony for nonprofits, call centers & the enterprise.   He earned his B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA from UC Irvine.

Connect with Dinesh on LinkedIn or Facebook HERE!

original publish date 9/15/2009

Marcy Clark, Founder of the Women's Mafia

People like Marcy Clark make me want to move back to New York.  Originally from Northern California, Marcy now enjoys what I imagine to be a fabulous, Carrie Bradshaw existence, but with even more friends.

As Director of Publicity at Yellow Sky Agency, and Founder of the “Women’s Mafia”, Marcy has her finger on the pulse of all things social in NYC.  Started just four years ago, the “Women’s Mafia” social club has caught on quickly, and it is easy to understand why.  Social connections, ever important in New York, can be a hard acquisition, and even more so for newcomers to the city.  The Women’s Mafia offers the perfect solution, facilitating social connections between groups of successful women through the organization of fun, upscale events (Champagne, Shoes, and Chocolate, anyone?).

Thank you Marcy.  For showing me that the real Carrie Bradshaws of New York do exist.  You just have to join the mafia to find them.

1. The “Women’s Mafia” is such an intriguing concept.  What is it all about, and how can others become a part of it?

The Women’s Mafia is a social club that I started nearly four years ago based on the simple premise that gathering a large group of women could be a powerful thing in itself.  Fortunately, I have been right!  Restaurants, stores, clubs and other new venues all want us to be in their space.  We recently had a fashion show that was attended by over 600 people.  The select men that are invited to our events never want to leave – I had one guy friend recently tell me after a party “I want to be kidnapped by the Women’s Mafia every night!”

Most importantly, the women at our events are meeting lifelong friends.  I think the fact that they are social events, with a party atmosphere, rather than networking events, makes the connections our members make much more meaningful.  I have had members meet at one of my events and later be in each other’s weddings, start a business together or get a job through their connection.

We started in New York but we do have members in the UK, San Francisco, LA and other destination cities where we plan to grow.  Women, and men who are intrigued, can join the Women’s Mafia by visiting our website and online news and events site womensmafia.com.

2.  You describe yourself as a “very social person”.  Was this part of the reason you started the group, to help more women develop social ties in the city?

That is exactly the reason.  When I first moved to New York I knew two people, and those people already had a life and a network of friends.  It wasn’t especially difficult for me as I had moved to new cities by myself before, but I did have to make some effort to make new friends and that was a strange experience for me.  New Yorker’s are very friendly, but they can be insular once they have established a core group of friends.  To this day, when I meet someone new to New York I always invite them to join the Women’s Mafia and I make sure to introduce them to people in their field or with similar interests at our events.

3. To what degree do you feel being well connected in New York matters?

It makes a HUGE difference – both for your career and personal goals, but also for enriching your life with shared experiences.  And not just being connected to very powerful or successful people.  People at all levels of their careers can help you get a meeting with a television production company to pitch your idea, or get you a killer deal in a Hampton’s share, or even recommend you for a hair straightening commercial (thanks Elisha – that was strange, but fun).

4. What has helped to bring the WM from being just another great idea to becoming a successful business?

Two main things have set us apart.  The name, which was actually given to us by a bartender at Minetta Tavern in 2005, because it completely encapsulates what we are about – power and fun in numbers, and the fact that a lot of our events are more covert and only open to members.

The other key component is our members.  I am very fortunate to have amazing women in the Women’s Mafia who truly take on ownership with the club.  They let me know about new venues, they bring their friends in, they write articles for womensmafia.com and they recommend designers or individuals we should profile.  Our members are our best ambassadors of our brand and they know that I will always be receptive to their ideas.

5. As a PR professional, you must attend events many nights a week.  Do you ever just want to stay home?

Yes!  And I do make sure to stay home at least one or two nights a week.  It’s important to cook yourself a nice meal and catch up on LOST, right?

6.  Describe the ideal person who would complement both your life and your business.

Someone who knows how to go at two speeds.  I love being out at several events, dressed-up and socializing one night and then staying in all day on Sunday with movies and brunch delivered.  I don’t need to be with someone as outgoing as me, but a gentleman who enjoys the odd social event could be quite nice.

Also, I love open-minded people.  I’m quite involved in non-profits that protect civil liberties.

7.  Has being a single entrepreneur helped you or hurt you in business and why?

It definitely can help.  I think that single people can sometimes seem more approachable, and we have freer schedules.  Being in a relationship can also be quite motivating.  I’ve put in a lot of hours when I had a boyfriend in the UK and I wanted to buy plane tickets!

8.  Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I can see the Women’s Mafia helping launch several designers’ careers, being a retail and branding force in the fashion and art worlds, having a presence in politics and, most importantly, staying true to our mission of connecting great women.

Personally, I’d love to have a beautiful home with an ocean view.  I’m also an actress and a television presenter on the side of everything else that I do, so I would love to have a lot more television and film experiences under my belt.

Oh, and balancing all of these things while spending time with my family – that would be a nice trick!

Soooo… anyone want to go in on a beach house?!

Marcy’s Bio:

In addition to running the Women’s Mafia, Marcy is also a partner in Yellow Sky Agency, a boutique PR and Branding firm run out of the West Village of Manhattan.  Her areas of expertise include publicizing fashion and jewelry designers, artists, interior designers and luxury products and services.  She has secured placements in top outlets such as The New York Times, Reuters, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC News, Business Talk Radio, Lucky, Glamour and more.  Marcy serves as a chair on various non-profit event councils and committees, including being the co-chair for GLAAD’s Annual Art Auction and the Young Professionals Council for Choice.

Want to connect with Marcy?  Follow her on Facebook!

original publish date Jun 25, 2009

Serial Entrepreneur Lesley Mattos

Video Interview with Lesley Mattos, founder of Adesso Albums, Inc. and Bottoms-up Inc. (including a crazy, special question from Melinda Massie!).

(scroll down to see the full interview)

Want to connect with Lesley? Follow her…

At Addesso Albums:

Facebook, Twitter, and email

At Bottoms-up:

Facebook, Twitter, and email

***Use the code SingleCEO2010 for a 10% discount at either site***

Thanks, Lesley!!!

Serial Entrepeneur Brad Peterson

Do you ever wonder how some people come up with one great business idea after another? For Denver based serial entrepreneur Brad Peterson, new ideas don’t just come easy. They come right on time.

With jobless rates soaring across the country, Brad rode the recession’s silver lining to launch the brand new (and perfectly timed) iPhone application Audio Job Interview. With one download and a few good answers, potential employees get noticed by self-recording answers to common interview questions and then attaching the corresponding urls to their resumes. Confused? Scroll down and play the quick video below before reading on as Brad explains putting good ideas to use through even better execution.

Waiting to her Brad’s newest idea? Don’t worry, his next launch is only weeks away.

1. Your timing couldn’t be better. Which came first, the idea for Audio Job Interview or the recession?

Audio Job Interview, the timing was mostly fortuitous. Contrary to what one might believe the recession is not necessarily all good news for our product though. Sadly, we have found that a lot of job seekers have given up and are waiting on the sidelines to hopefully ride the recession out. We anticipate an upswing in the user downloads side once a recovery starts to feels tangible for beleaguered job seekers.

2. Who is the competition and what makes your application better?

Video interviewing is becoming more used and it’s just a matter of time before we see the technology niche-embraced in the mobile device realm. One of the shortcomings of video is that it’s not very candidate friendly. People are not always comfortable “on camera” and the effort required to make a video of acceptable quality is challenging. An Audio Interview is far easier to record, far more candidate friendly, and there is no chance for a “looks” bias to factor into the hiring equation, which HR departments must be very sensitive to.

3. What tips would you offer job seekers looking to make the most of Audio Job Interview? Any success stories?

Be confident, believe in the product and do not give up! One candidate re-applied to the same jobs she had been rejected for just weeks prior to trying Audio Job Interview. She re-applied but this time attached to her resume the URL link of her interview created on her iPhone. It got her two face to face interviews and both employers mentioned that they had never seen this technological platform used before. They were impressed and they appreciated the effort and originality.

4. What kind of feedback have you received post-launch?

Several venture capitalists have approached us to buy the technology and three rather large firms specializing in the staffing and hiring industry are interested in white labeling the product post-haste.

5. Audio Job Interview wasn’t your first entrepreneurial venture. Tell us about Wediting and any lessons learned.

Wediting, which I later sold to one of the editing artists who ran the company, specialized in outsourcing photography work flow and retouching for wedding photographers nationally. I learned that no matter how good an “idea” was or how marketable it appeared to be, at the end of the day it’s not what your business does but the people that run it that determine success. It’s best to think of businesses as people not ideas. I believe that any viable business can succeed so long as the right people are chosen to run it. Luckily, I was blessed to have such great people involved in this project.

6. Have you ever had a “real” job?

I was a construction laborer while I was in college. I enjoyed the physical labor but realized that no matter how hard I worked I was not in charge of my own destiny- I was simply earning a fair wage, not earning a living. Earning a living to me means balancing your life with work and enjoying what it is that puts bread on your table.

7. Describe the person who would best complement both your life and your business.

At times I have this naïve notion that I can’t fail so long as I try my hardest and surround myself with good people…which of course is a bit reckless and perhaps cocky. Any person who would ground me and remind that I can, and have many times, failed, would be both helpful and complementary. Luckily I have had girlfriends who were happy to do so!

10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I hope that my life’s path allows me to continue pursuing creative entrepreneurial projects that inspire me to get out of bed in the morning and still pay my mortgages!

Brad’s Bio:

Bradford Peterson was once told by a business professor that all business idea’s had been thought of already- nothing is truly original. The professor said, “The difference, as to whether or not those idea’s came to be a success, had to do with people, not so much the ideas.” This resonated in Brad’s mind and became a cornerstone of belief in his pursuit of business endeavors. Rather than focusing on the idea behind a business concept, he chooses to place more emphasis on the people element. Business ideas are a dime a dozen, personnel who run the idea are not, he believes. To date Bradford has owned Forthright Auto Net, a classic car sales and marketing business, Wediting, an outsource workflow solution for wedding photographers, Imagetek, a youth sports photography company and two iPhone applications, Audio Job interview and iGiveway his latest app, which will hit the iTunes store within the month. When not surrounding himself with projects and people he considers to be smarter and more creative than himself, he enjoys kayaking, photography, fly-fishing, classic muscle cars, dating and yard work.

Want to connect with Brad? Follow him on Facebook!

Jennifer Goodwin, CEO of Internet Girl Friday

Jennifer Goodwin, CEO of Internet Girl Friday talks about personal branding, her army of virtual assistants, and living an organic lifestyle (most of the time).

Want to connect with Jennifer? Find her on ThatJenGirl.com!

Jonathan Swanson, co-Founder of Thumbtack

Listen in as Jonathan Swanson of internet startup Thumbtack talks to Nina Beckhardt about extreme rock climbing and shirtless co-founders. (scroll down to watch the video)

And, yes, you may have already guessed this lucky boy just came back from the Olympics!

Check out the Thumbtack website, blog, or follow them on Twitter!

Thank you to Nina Beckhardt for being this week’s video correspondent:)