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"The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.\nName: LetsLunch\nQuick Pitch: LetsLunch is a new networking service that introduces you to the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley. \nGenius Idea: Social climbing is an art form often perfected over the business lunch. For entrepreneurs, these lunches could help them network their way to crucial industry partnerships or funding deals.\nNewly launched startup LetsLunch facilitates these potentially serendipitous lunch dates by matching passionate professionals, based on their social reputation scores, for lunches. With enough positive feedback from lunch dates, regular Joes and Janes can score their way to lunch with a dream business date. \nAfter signing up with LetsLunch, users add their Twitter, LinkedIn, Hacker News and Stack Overflow accounts. The startup will then churn that data to spit out a reputation level from one to 10, and that score will be used to match the user with other would-be lunchers. \nThe LetsLunch user then defines a personal radius for lunch get-togethers and ticks off days and times that he or she is free for meeting up. LetsLunch e-mails the user on the day of the lunch with information on the who, what, where and when details of their lunch. Afterwards, the lunchers are invited to share feedback on each other, which in turn affects their reputation levels.\nLetsLunch's ultimate reward is a lunch meeting with a vetted VIP user \u2014 industry veterans and investors. The site selects users with the highest ratings \u2014 having participated in a minimum of four lunches \u2014 each month to have lunch with one of the coveted VIPs on their wish lists.\nThe list of VIPs is still quite small and some names are likely to strike your fancy more than others. Lunch with SoftTechVC's Jeff Clavier or August Capital's David Hornik, for instance, could pay off quite nicely for the first-time founder.\nRight now, the invitation-only startup is currently focused on the entrepreneurial Silicon Valley crowd, but it hopes to expand to Los Angeles and serve the showbiz types soon enough.\nThe LetsLunch service is free \u2014 and each user pays for his or her lunch \u2014 but eventually the startup may introduce premium accounts at a monthly subscription rate.\nThe startup offers industry professionals a unique way to climb the professional ladder, but it's not without its quirks. Not everyone will love the service's matching technique or reputation scoring method \u2014 there are no bonus points for Facebook friends here. The site could also use a facelift and introduce ways to help users pick places for lunch that meet their dietary needs.\nLetsLunch has roughly 1,000 users, with thousands more clamoring for access. Mashable readers in the San Francisco Bay Area can cut the line and sign up for LetsLunch using the invitation code MASH495435 during sign up. Those that miss this small window of opportunity may be able to gain entry without an invitation code if they have a high enough reputation level.\nSeries Supported by Microsoft BizSpark\n\n\n\n\nThe Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/02/09/letslunch/>