Personally, I think Grouper's model is more likely to be successful.
They take a group of three friends and pair them up on a blind group date with another group of three friends. The safety in numbers aspect is, I think, a smart addition.
Issues I have with Grouper (having not gone on any "groupers" yet):
* You must have 2 single friends in the vicinity willing to join you in paying $20 apiece for a single drink on relatively short notice
* The photos they showcase on the site make it look like, as a friend put it, "a six-way sexcapade"
As a startup founder who recently moved to a smaller town, I have vanishingly few friends who are both single, male and fun enough to tag a long to something like that.
And from anecdotal evidence, I've heard of single people bringing non-single friends (from both male and female sides) on Grouper. Those aren't so fun when the match-ups don't go in your own favor.
They take a group of three friends and pair them up on a blind group date with another group of three friends. The safety in numbers aspect is, I think, a smart addition.