Key Idea #4: Galen Buckwalter and Steve Carter are academics with plenty of expertise and experience. Greg Steiner is a systems and information technology guru. All were recruited by Dr. Neil Clark Warren and Greg Fogatch.

Topic for Discussion: Why and how did Neil/ Greg bring Dr. Buckwalter, Dr. Carter and Greg Steiner into the business?

Answer: Like many entrepreneurs, they simply didn't know what they needed to know to go forward. Their idea was bigger than their ability to execute on it. They had to recruit the scientists who could help create the product they have today. The great thing about this story is that Neil/Greg are not egomaniacs and were not arrogant enough to think that they could take what they had in the book and build an automated match system. They had plenty of research but not enough.

To refine and build the models they are using now, they started by inviting Galen to join them. He said he was happy to help because he was a former student of Dr. Warren's and had great admiration for him. Galen then recruited Steve. This is one of those, "hire who you know" success stories.

Dr. Warren's long-term commitment to the problem of helping people have happy marriages is core to Dr. Buckwalter's willingness to leave other research to work for eHarmony.