Latino Dating Site Launches

According to the Census, there are about 153 Latino single men for every 100 women in their 20s. In our culture, dating and courtship are much like in any other.  However, some do prefer to marry people with similar cultural backgrounds, interests and even language. For those looking for love, churches, work, family and friends can traditionally be sources for finding a soul mate.  Increasingly, they also turn to the web where Latino-specific dating sites now are offered in the same universe as Match.com or eHarmony.

A few years ago, then University of Pennsylvania students Ariel Oxman and his friend and now business partner Joe Spector had conversations about how difficult it was to meet and date other Latinos.  Forward to this month, the partners have launched QuieroLatino.com -- what they envision to be the equivalent of J-Date for the Latino community.  Their positioning is to offer a serious dating site targeting bilingual bicultural singles.

The dating site became public a few days ago, after beta testing, incubation and support from the prestigious Wharton School of Business.  In fact, Oxman and Spector submitted their idea to a business plan competition and while they did not win, they were selected to participate in the Wharton Venture Initiation program.

During a phone conversation earlier this week, Ariel said the site is trying to capture traffic from the 2 million Latinos using the web for online dating and attract them to the site.  The Latino online dating space seems to have a slew of contenders but no equivalent to the brand recognition of Match.com or even the Jewish-focused J-Date.  Sites such as Univision.com, QuePasa's Corazones.com and others already offer bilingual online dating networks.

But QuieroLatino has a good chance to carve out a niche-- it has the backing and support from counselors and advisors, it's working to grow traffic organically, it's founders seem to have a good feel for good ol' word of mouth marketing and tactical PR.  And they are documenting their experience as a startup through the founders' blog. 

Since today we celebrate Valentine's Day, it is worth noting that for many Hispanics it also is a day to celebrate friendship.  Enjoy the day.