Westword meets LuvByrd!
Dating can be difficult no matter where you live. But outdoorsy types in Colorado have a special challenge: There's a whole lot of great wide-open out there -- but it's not easy to run into person of your gender/orientation preference who also enjoys the outdoor activities you do. Mike Keshian, owner and chief executive officer of LuvByrd, has a solution: His Colorado-made dating site/social network is outdoor-activity-based. Although it's only been around for about a month, Keshian says that matches have already been made -- and he's confident the future is bright for his start-up. "I was living in Crested Butte and it's kind of a hard place to meet people, living in a small town like that," he says. "So some friends and I were thinking, 'What could we do to meet more people?'" Then Keshian and his friends caught the FarmersOnly.com commercial. "That's really where the idea was born," he says. "We were like, 'Why don't we have SkiBumsOnly.com, or RiverRatsOnly.com, or ClimbersOnly.com?'" But they wanted to unite all of their outdoor interests under one banner, since it would be tedious to manage profiles on different websites for each activity. And so
LuvByrd.com was born. On this site, users create profiles where they list their city and country, age, name, their significant-other gender preference, and a range of outdoor activities that they enjoy, divided into winter and summer. "You click through those lists and select what you like, and that generates your profile," Keshian says. Then, once your profile is generated, you can see lists of everyone who might interest you (and who might be interested in you) who are also into rafting or climbing, for example. And conveniently, you'll have some built-in ideas for a first-date activity. "If you want to try to find a new ski partner or climbing partner, you can do that," Keshian says. Users can set up groups based on interests and could potentially arrange group dates that way, he notes; he's also hoping to set up LuvByrd mixers and adventure dates.
As LuvByrd gets off the ground, Keshian will be raffling off monthly prizes -- like a snowboard, a pair of skis or other equipment -- as an incentive to sign up. Visit
LuvByrd.com to learn more.
Westword meets LuvByrd- http://www.westword.com/arts/luvbyrd-connects-singles-who-love-outdoor-activities-and-could-love-each-other-6050062
