cheek'd: Ground Up Designers » Lori Cheek, a $100K Lady

Lori Cheek, a $100K Lady

Filed under: $100k Ladies — Lana @ 1:39 PM 02/14/2011

It’s Valentines Day and who better to kickstart our $100K Ladies series than Lori Cheek, founder of Cheek’d, an online dating service that is far from conventional. So, for all our single friends out there, reading this on V-Day, it’s time you went out there and Cheek’d someone with your very own deck of sexy black cards.

We were extremely excited to hear about this clever business, and were even more excited to meet Lori for the Interview, especially after she Cheek’d me with a card saying “i’ll be your $100K lady”

I went to the website, punched in the code, and there she was!

After studying architecture and working with big name furniture designers such as Vitra, Lori Cheek took her creative background and put it to good use in establishing Cheek’d. Cheek’d is an online dating service that allows people to connect briefly offline, and then more in depth online (and then ideally, offline again). As the press release states:

“Whether it’s in a bar, at the gym or at the dog park, Cheek’d users can express their interest in someone by coyly handing them a small black card that contains a cheeky phrase such as “act natural. we can get awkward later.” or “i just put all my drinks on your tab.” The recipient is invited to go online to check out your profile and decide whether he or she would like to make contact with you through the Cheek’d internal messaging service (personal information and privacy are protected).”

So, you get the advantages of shopping for a date in the real world. (i.e. knowing what they look like) as well as the advantages of starting the conversation over the internet (i.e. being able to stop the conversation if it’s getting weird). You can just drop your card, run away if you want! But once you drop them a card, it is completely up to them to make the next move, so you might want to follow up with a wink and a smile. As one of the cards very poetically and truthfully states “our fate is in your hands”.

With a big smile and an amazing purple hat, Lori, the vibrant and spunky blond responsible for this avant-garde dating service, greeted Tayef and I at the SoHo House’s 6^th floor Drawing Room/Restaurant & Bar area, which she has adopted as her workspace. Here’s what Lori had to say about being a successful & creative entrepreneur:

G-Up: When and how was Cheek’d first conceptualized?

Lori Cheek: A few years ago, I was at Kelley & Ping in SoHo with an architecture friend of mine. We finished our dinner and as we were leaving he slipped his business card to this woman who had been sitting next to us. He had written on the back “Wanna have dinner?” I remember thinking “Wow that was pretty cool!” and imaging all the places it would come in handy to just be giving out this card, and all the different things it can say.

That weekend, I ended up coming here, to Soho House, with fifteen other friends. We had just finished a cooking class, walked in here, got a few bottles of wine, and spent the whole day coming up with pick-up lines.

G-Up: How did you go about turning the idea into a business?

Lori Cheek: I was hard core into making this come to life. I spent a whole year going around and telling millions of people about it: “I know this is stupid to talk about, because no one has done it yet, but I think it’s a genius idea.” Everyone kept saying back to me “This IS a genius idea.” Almost a year later, at a Mardi Gras party, I was still talking about Cheek’d, until my friend, now business partner, told me “Why don’t we sit down Monday morning and make this come to life?” So we did. Monday morning we had a business plan in place.

G-Up: Who comes up with the pick-up lines?

Lori Cheek: Mostly I do. Occasionally, a few really funny guy friends would text me some good ones that make it into the decks. I’m living & breathing this. Everything I do turns into a line for these cards, or gives me inspiration for a new deck. I think of lines when I’m sleeping, listening to music, reading magazines.

G-Up: How did you market Cheek’d in the beginning? Has the marketing strategy changed now that you are more established?

Lori Cheek: We don’t have a big marketing budget but we have been able to come up with fun and creative way to publicize. We are tagging on to other singles events that are happening around the city, in addition to organizing our own monthly meet-ups over happy hour type events. Mostly though it’s guerilla style marketing – for example, on the subway I’ll slip cards into people’s back pockets and shopping bags, at parties I’ll secretly place them on top of their drink. It’s poetic to think that everyone is traveling somewhere, taking this card with them and in turn spreading Cheek’d all around.

We’re currently building a Facebook app where you can Cheek other members and send them cards. Also, right now I am trying to get involved with existing communities by teaming up with other businesses that I think might make for a good partnership – like gyms, hotels, liquor brands and air lines.

G-Up: At this point, how large is the business in terms of staff?

Lori Cheek: I have two business partners, three interns that come in on different days, a web developer, and a graphic designer. We work from the Soho House’s 6^th floor. It’s wonderful here – There are so many start ups and entrepreneurs working here, plus we get free cookies and brownies every day at 3:30PM.

G-Up: Do you think your design background has helped in your success with Cheek’d? If so, how?

Lori Cheek: Absolutely. I came up with the whole creative look. I knew what I wanted everything to look like. The overall look and feel of our website and cards is very simple, subtle, and clean. There’s nothing corporate about it. Despite this simplicity in branding we’ve been written up in all these fashion magazines, which means that this company is not only a dating site but has also taken over a fashion thing.

G-Up: Has it been hard balancing your private life with your work?

Lori Cheek: The way I like to think about it is: you’re at your computer all day at work, and then you go home and get back on your computer to start shopping for the man you’re looking for. With the Cheek’d cards, you can leave work and start living like you’re shopping in real life. I feel like the social aspect of this is kind of what I’m doing, where I am out all the time working, while having fun.

This is the main difference between other online dating sites versus what I am trying to do through Cheek’d.

G-Up: Has your gender played a roll in your success?

Lori Cheek: I think being a woman has definitely helped my business grow. However, it’s interesting that the stats of our website say users are 45% men. Another thing about being a woman and doing this, is meeting other women entrepreneurs and people that have come into my life that I would never have met otherwise. They’re so welcoming and ready to help. I think there’s this appreciation for women that are starting their own business.

G-Up: What is your favorite part of owning your own business?

Lori Cheek: I’ve always worked at very creative firms, and I have always gotten in trouble for the way I dress. You can see how it’s a little bizarre and out there. Now I’m tempted to dress even crazier. Also, I am not afraid of getting in trouble for being one minute late in the morning, and I like everyone I work with so there’s none of that office drama.

Comments (1)

1 Comment »

This a charming interview.. Lori Cheek is one cool gal.. cj

Comment by catherine johnson — 02/16/2011 @ 6:37 PM

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment