The Dating Game Start your own matchmaking service.

There must be a better way of meeting people than hanging out ina bar, thought Jose de Lasa, now 32, while attending Tulane LawSchool in New Orleans and doing just that. The idea stayed in theback of his mind even after becoming a lawyer in 1996. So much sothat he quit his $86,000-a-year job after a few months to startGroup Encounters, a social organization, using the $10,000 hisfather had given him to pay off school loans.

While de Lasa went to Barnes and Noble to research how to writea business plan, Graham McAden, 28, a public relations accountexecutive for consumer products such as Burger King, languished athis job and told friends about the "socializing service"he dreamed of opening. Then one day a friend told him someone hadalready done his idea.

Rather than giving up, McAden called De Lasa to"brainstorm" about the industry. A lunch powwow turnedinto a partnership, and by 1997, McAden had matched de Lasa'sinitial investment and the twosome headed a revamped activitiesservice dubbed Social Circles. The service, which organizes outingssuch as rock climbing and swing dancing for singles, sends itsmembers a monthly calendar detailing upcoming events. Interestedparties then contact Social Circles to sign up. The New York Citycompany gears all activities toward beginners and keeps the groupssmall, gender-balanced and segregated from outsiders. "When wesend people to a wine tasting, it's a wine tasting for ourgroup and those 20 people are just from Social Circles,"emphasizes McAden.