LikeBright founders Ron Lai, Sonya Lai and Nick Soman.

As anyone who has dated in this century knows, online dating sites can be full of deceptive daters and wildly inaccurate information, a model that a new Seattle startup called LikeBright wants to shake up.

Founders Nick Soman, Sonya Lai and Ron Lai (Sonya and Ron are siblings) say they want to make dating simple, social and safe for women, by letting them vouch for -- and ask questions about -- guys on Facebook.

Soman, a former product manager for the Amazon Kindle, said the trio met at Harvard, but founded the startup this year as part of the TechStars Seattle program.

We caught up with LikeBright in this latest installment of Startup of the Week.

What is your elevator pitch? LikeBright is a TechStars Seattle startup working to make dating simple, social and safe for women. Women have told us that they don’t like the lack of trust and transparency on existing dating sites, and that they prefer to meet people through friends. We’re building a dating layer on Facebook to help women meet people through the people they trust.

We came up with the idea… From our own experiences. Sonya wants to focus the dating conversation on what women care about. She is building a site for her female friends. Ron traveled so frequently that dating became difficult, so he is building LikeBright to create an online identity that reflects his dateability. And Nick met his girlfriend through a female friend.

Early on, we did 50 live interviews with women who wanted to talk about their online dating experiences. Here are some of the real quotes that inspired LikeBright to make dating simple, social and safe for women:

“Everything seemed good. And then he asked me if I smoked meth.”

“He was 11 and I had to drive him home. He had walked all the way across town.”

“He told me he was a race car driver. But he wouldn’t have fit in the car!”

“Online you already know all the good things before you meet someone, and afterwards you just learn the bad things.”

The word that describes our company culture is… Fun. Fun is what we strive for at LikeBright. We're playful people in a fascinating space, so even when things get intense we can usually find something to laugh about.

We are different from the competition because… We put women first. And we make dating simple (it takes 30 seconds to sign up via Facebook Connect), social (women have social context for the people they see and can interact with their friends onsite, including friends in relationships) and safe (women can use LikeBright anonymously, and the guys on our site are vouched for).

The biggest challenge we face is… Large competitors well equipped for marketing and SEO with deep pockets. And turning the vision in our heads into a delightful product that helps great people of all kinds find each other. We’re just getting started, but we’ll get there!

We’ve raised… We got seed funding from TechStars and are currently raising a small round, with about $150,000 committed from smart investors who can help us realize our vision.

If we had $3 million, we’d invest in... Software developers, designers, and marketing to make our imprint in major markets around the world.

The oddest thing about our company is… Our pirate bird. PirateBird was a considered-and-rejected name for our company, which has since transformed into our unofficial cartoon mascot.

The one thing missing from the business is… Users! We want to make the dating experience simple, social and safe for all women, and we're initially working with women and groups that help women like New Beginnings to surface great guys they know in Seattle. We'd like to build momentum in Seattle first, and then in other cities where we can help.

We're running a contest through October 30th to find Seattle’s best guys according to women, with over $4,000 in prizes from The Triple Door and Gilt City. Great Seattle guys and the women who vouch for them can win prizes worth at least $250. If you know a great single guy in Seattle, or if you are one, enter to win here. And if you want to party with us, RSVP here to celebrate the contest winners on Saturday, November 12th at The Triple Door. Event proceeds will go to New Beginnings, a Seattle charity working to end domestic violence.

We won’t fail because… Developing relationships is a core part of who we are, and we're inspired to deliver a great dating solution for women.

Editor’s note: Have an interesting Seattle area startup that you’d like featured on TechFlash? Answer the 10 questions above with some flair and personality and submit them, along with a headshot, to greglamm@bizjournals.com. Please, only founders of startup companies should apply.