Mediabistro Startups Takes a Tour of Moonit.com with Co-founder Dana Kanze

Dana Kanze is the co-founder and CEO of Moonit.com, a relationship compatibility site based in New York that combines astrology with social networking. New to the site is the "Matchmaker," an online introduction tool that's integrated with Facebook. Kanze and co-founder Mason Sexton met as undergrads at the University of Pennsylvania, but didn't become romantically involved until years later. Sexton's father, Mason Sexton Sr., was an avid astrologist who according to Kanze had accurately predicted the stock market crash of '87, earning him the moniker, "Moon Man." Sexton Sr. not only approved of the match romantically, but also predicted that the couple would fare well as business partners. Kanze had been a director for the Winterberry Group, where she worked with digital media and private equity clients, while Sexton was a buy side equity analyst at Tocqueville Asset Management. Sexton had just started an MBA program at Columbia when he and Kanze decided to go into business together. "Luckily we were both able to do it," Kanze said. Backed by a handful of individual investors, Kanze and Sexton worked with leading astrology software provider Astrolabe to create a proprietary predictive algorithm that determines compatibility between two people based on their birth dates. But the matchmaking tool isn't just for romance. Users can also set friends up with other potential friends and business partners. "Relationships are definitely multi-layered," Dana Kanze said. "We created this site so you can understand your relationships from multiple angles." Each type of relationship has its own icon, which users select when making a match. Matchmakers can either upload their friends' information directly from Facebook or enter them manually. One sticking point seems to be the birthday, which some Facebook users keep private. "We target the GenY audience, and most of them do put in their birthdays," Kanze said, noting the drop-off in age reporting, especially among women, after the age of 30. "Even then, they'll usually include the month and day." Once the match has been made, the matchmaker sends an e-mail invitation to both parties to see if they are interested in meeting. In the future, Kanze says users will be able to send these messages through Facebook. Users can also track their relationships with e-mail updates containing a new astrological reading based on both parties' signs, a feature that Kanze feels is especially unique. The service is mostly free, but users purchase their matches with Moon Coins, a virtual currency that they can either earn through successful matchmaking or by purchasing them directly. Every user gets 15 coins to start. Other features include a celebrity page that uses the algorithm on celebrity couples and a "couch" where members can ask a question about their love lives and get feedback from other users. The articles on celebrity couples are "a good way to syndicate our content" with gossip magazines like US Weekly, Kanze said, while giving potential users a way to see how the tool works before they sign up. So far, Kanze said there are 10,000 registered users and nearly 100,000 visits to the site. The company has plans to launch a more aggressive advertising campaign next week and will begin a round of Series A funding later this year. In July Moonit will launch its iPhone application, with a "virtual wingman" radar feature not far behind. Kanze looks forward to the company's future. "It's a lot more fun than banking," she said.

Fishbowl

Mediabistro Startups Takes a Tour of Moonit.com with Co-founder Dana Kanze

Devon Glenn

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Devon Glenn