Bruce Franco, Mix’s founder, became suddenly single after 20 years of marriage and later moved to Boston to take a new job. As a result, he had no single friends, virtually no social life, and found online social networking unfulfilling. Boston, like many cities, can be a difficult place to make new friends and as a result he spent countless hours either going out alone or working the online dating sites. Trying to expand his social circle ballooned into what felt like a second job.
Bruce was convinced that there had to be a better and more efficient way to meet people in his age group, improve his social life and develop meaningful relationships. Having been single for over five years he quickly realized that one’s social circles are dynamic and constantly evolving. Even his new found friends would become unavailable as they coupled up, traveled, changed jobs, got married, relocated or had children. Therefore, having a few close friends didn’t solve the problem but made it evident that having a continuous “pipeline” of friends to draw upon as the need arose was the real solution. Looking back at how his single life had progressed, it also became apparent that his biggest break into the dating world began by meeting another guy that he could hang out with, especially when venturing out to meet women. Making friends of both sexes, attending singles events with friends, getting referrals and blind dates set up by friends, and attending parties thrown by friends really drove home the value of having a strong and extended network of friends, which can lead to dating relationships.
The last component of the thought process that evolved into Mix was his desire to cut through all the extra time and effort required by the existing dating services. He wanted to the ability to effortlessly and spontaneously go out and socialize in a low pressure group environment on any night of the week, regardless of whether his friends or dates were available.
Out of this real frustration and need, the Mix concept was born. Bruce did not set out to create an Internet company but rather to find a solution to a problem he knew he shared with so many other people. The result is Mix&Meet, Inc. and MixBoston.com is our first website.
Mix makes it simple, immediate, and convenient for people to meet face-to-face in a comfortable group setting, expand their social network and let their relationships develop naturally rather than from behind a computer monitor. What you see is what you get and Mix lets you experience it in-person, tonight.
