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I can think of a bunch of ways: 1) Make it a one-side market. For example you could let guys set up profiles and then buy Facebook ads to advertise those speci
by ig1 15y ago
I can think of a bunch of ways:
1) Make it a one-side market. For example you could let guys set up profiles and then buy Facebook ads to advertise those specific guys ("Think Brad is cute? - He's single, click to find out more") to single girls in their areas with similar interest.
2) Leverage off of another userbase. Tastebuds.fm is a good example that leverages off Last.fm's userbase. If I wanted to take this approach I'd make a dating service for users of 23andme's genetic analysis service. Newspapers will literally fall over each other to write about a dating service that uses DNA to match couples.
3) Take the primary feature of your competitors and turn it into a weakness. Most dating websites focus on having x million members. Turn around a build an exclusive dating website ("fed up having to search through hundreds of profiles and getting most of your messages ignored?"). Only have 20-30 members of either gender at a time and only give them access for a limited period (say a couple of weeks). Have a wait-list for people who want to get on. People will want to signup even without knowing how many people of the other gender or on the system.
- revorad 15y agoRe 1: why would a (hetero) guy set up his profile on a site which features only other guys?
- ig1 15y agoYou're thinking about it in terms of a traditional dating site too much. I think this comic may be a good way to explain it: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1992-09-09/ http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1992-09-09/ The dating site would let you create a landing page to promote yourself (You could also do things like A/B testing on it) and buy advertising to promote it on places like Facebook. It's absolutely irrelevant who else is using the site to promote themselves.
- revorad 15y agoWell, however you spin it, it's a traditional dating site but without any women! The only unique thing about this idea is that it starts by worsening the chicken and egg problem. Can you tell me why advertising on Facebook for your profile wouldn't work if there already were women on your dating site? Why not just start selling advertising to people who have profiles on OKcupid, eharmony, PoF and other existing dating sites? If it's irrelevant who else is using the site, then how does excluding one side of the marketplace improve my odds to find a partner?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- ig1 15y agoBecause the women on Facebook become the women on your dating site. Selling advertising to people who have profiles on existing sites would also work, but obviously you'll have a lot worse conversion rate as rather than a girl being able to just send you a message immediately after hitting your page they'd have to signup/subscribe to the dating site before doing so. This approach is how airbnb essentially bootstrapped their business, they found people who had rooms they wanted to advertise and then re-advertised those rooms on places like craigslist, etc. so it didn't matter they didn't have both sides of the market. Craigslist, etc. became the other side of the market for them.
- nl 15y agoI think this idea could work - or at least it's not as bad as you are making out. You are thinking too traditionally. Imagine the site was called "BankersLookingForDates.com". You charge $5000 (or more?) to become a member, then go visit other dating sites to find women who might be good matches for your members, contact them, vet them and arrange the date.
- Hisoka 15y agoI was also thinking of #3 - keep it very exclusive.. such as limiting it only to people who are serious about marriage. Make it sorta like a marriage catalog service, but less shady. Make it very very expensive. $10000/year or your money back if you don't find a mate. You get 50% of the money back if you get married though thru the site.
- fleitz 15y agoMarriage stats would suggest that not even married folks are serious about marriage.