This week Kizmeet launched a Toronto chapter of their missed-connections site. One of the founders, Mark Jaffe, happens to be my brother's old college roomate. It was tempting to ask him to tell stories about the good old days - you know, anthing I could use as dirt at the next family dinner. But inevitably I cut to the chase and went with the standard Q&A below in which he fills us in on details about the site and his plans for global domination.

What is Kizmeet?

Mark - Kizmeet.com is all about helping people find their "missed connections," someone they've seen or met around town but never got their name, email, or anything. Postings are sorted by categories and specific locations, such as your local Second Cup, Loblaws, GoodLife or U of T.

Why did you start Kizmeet?

Two friends and I were talking about the dating scene and the frustration of flirting and not knowing how to find that person again. We realized this doesn't just happen at bars, but throughout the day: grabbing your morning coffee, on the subway, wherever. Since these moments are often lost, we wanted to create a site that made it easy for people to reconnect.

Is Kizmeet just another dating site?

Not at all. Unlike typical personals sites based on compatibility tests and profiles of people you've never met, with Kizmeet you've already felt the in-person "spark" - you just need a little help finding the other person again. And Kizmeet is completely free, anonymous and requires no registration forms.

In what cities is it most popular? How many users?

We launched a couple months ago, and cities like LA and NYC are getting a lot of traction. As for users, we have thousands of postings already, not including all the people who visit the site to read them.

Are there any other sites in Toronto that do something similar?

Missed connections have been around for a while (eg. back page of local papers, Madonna's "Desperately Seeking Susan"), but Kizmeet takes the concept to an entirely new level. Craigslist, which is a general community board, has a missed connections section (they also sell furniture, job listings, etc). Kizmeet, however, ups the odds of finding the other person since users post to specific locations and postings can be viewed by the date of the encounter, so you can simply check the particular day someone caught your eye.

Are you going to expand to any other Canadian cities?

We have plans to expand throughout Canada, including Montreal and Vancouver. We constantly get emails from people around the world asking us to launch in their city, and there's no reason Kizmeet shouldn't be in places like London, Paris and Hong Kong.

Do women find the idea of Kizmeet appealing?

That's the feedback we've been getting. And for the record, one of the founders is a woman. We know many women feel creeped out if someone approaches them at, say, the gym, the market or a bar, even if the woman happens to be attracted to the other person. Kizmeet creates a "buffer" for women to flirt with someone they may have had a connection with, but at their own pace.

Does the site really work?

Yes. We already have success stories and users telling us they've (re)connected through the site.