

Ask HN: We built a site but got beaten to the launch by another site. What next? - sw007

Hi guys,<p>10 days ago my friend and I built a site - www.makeusdate.com. We saw the great coverage that breakup notifier had got and were discussing it 10 days ago.<p>I said to my friend that I really liked a girl called Molly, who was one of my Facebook friends, but that I was too scared to ask her for fear of rejection. At this point we had a lightbulb moment and thought we could build a site whereby a person could select the Facebook friends they would like to go on a date with and these people never have to find out. If however they used our site and liked you back then the two of you were sent an email telling each other you liked each other.<p>The idea was simple, the idea was great fun. I told my football team about it who loved it! A group of non techies, understanding and liking the idea meant we had to crack on and do it!<p>We discussed it, designed it, my friend slaved away and coded it and we were ready to launch by Saturday afternoon. However I woke to a text message from my brother 'Bad news, sorry mate - http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/25/crushnotifier/'.<p>We were devastated. We had been beaten to the idea by a matter of hours. Techcrunch had picked it up and so had a load of other sources.<p>We tried in vain to send these sources our site, our idea but we heard nothing back. Our site is different to Dan's in that you don't need to provide the email address of the person you crush, we also were focused on the date and planned on giving people good ideas for dates based on their shared interests.<p>I appreciate the idea is not for everyone and I know it met a pretty tough response on here. However we were proud of turning an idea into a site in 10 days and we really enjoyed doing it. We don't want to give up and we would love for people to use the site. The only way that will happen is if we can get the site and idea out there but in a completely unique way.<p>This is where you guys come in! We were hoping you could suggest untapped sources that we could pitch the site to, people we could tell who could get us some traffic. Basically we are looking for help in trying to get our site out there!<p>Thanks in advance for help you guys give us. Hopefully if we get the site out there and enough people use it, maybe Molly will sign up and like me back!
======
c2
If having a single competitor who happened to get press coverage before you is
enough to deter you from pursuing your idea, you aren't cut out for start ups.

Iphone wasn't the first phone, Kindle wasn't the first ebook reader, google
wasn't the first search engine.

You get the picture. Go fight for your customers.

~~~
c2
Alright, that concludes the motivational part of my speel :)

For actionable ways to increase your visibility, social media is your best
friend. Spread the word on facebook, leverage your friends and family to start
talking about your web site on people's walls. Use twitter if at all possible.
Tweet celebrities that you have a crush on them on your web site. Put that url
every where. Social media is all about shameless self promotion. The idea is
good, people won't think of it as spam.

~~~
sw007
That's great thanks!

------
DevX101
There are 500M+ people on facebook. I doubt even 1% have even heard of crush
notifier. Stop the pity party and get to marketing!

~~~
jasonkester
More to the point, there are 500M+ people on Facebook, even though Facebook
got beaten to launch by _several years_ by Friendster and MySpace.

------
eunomad
I would still pursue your idea and target a younger audience since you are
focusing on crushes and not dealing with internet addresses. I would contact
people on youtube who have demographics in a younger age range who don't have
social skills yet 13-20 and ask them to help promote your site and try using
it. They will think it is funny and will help you out. You might contact the
Hank and John Green and explain that you are trying to help young people find
love....

Also, you don't have to worry if someone got their product out before you. The
initial media coverage will not make the product.

Also share your idea with school and parent groups.. they will like your idea
(I am a parent)

Also, contact teen magazines etc. The would find your application interesting
and applicable cause teen girls are always having crushes on guys...

Hope that helps a bit.

~~~
sw007
This is amazing, thanks so much for this - will definitely follow up on all of
this.

------
qixxiq
The idea isn't original by any count (you can find hundreds of existing
versions of it). The real thing CrushNotifier had going for it was that it
brought with it the attention that BreakupNotifier had.

You're still definitely in the running but you will need a cunning plan to get
to critical mass in such a crowded place. Afaik the reason CrushNotifier asks
for email addresses is to email the crushes you select letting them know they
were selected by someone (viral growth); without that you're going to have a
hard time getting anyone on dates.

If you set it up to email Molly and let her know one of her friends crushed on
her, theres a much, much (much!) higher change she'll sign up and like you
back.

------
dansingerman
50% of it is having a better app. If you believe in your idea, invest your
time to make the best app you possibly can.

50% of it is having better marketing. Just because there is an app with a head
start doesn't mean you can't start marketing in your social networks (both
real and virtual) and online (not necessarily paid for either)

Quality, will often win out, if you have the better app.

If.

Corollary - it's all about the execution, not the idea.

~~~
sw007
Totally agree - we think we have the better product and we have loads of ideas
as to how make the site better. We eventually want to change the way people
date online

------
JadeRobbins
Our AgileTask (<http://agiletask.me/> , shameless plug!) team just had a giant
brainstorming session on how to try and get more traction.

We did the simple rule of "no but's, just and's" (every idea someone has to
say "and" to, no shooting down ideas, saying "but" or debating them at all
until you are done brainstorming) and came up with a giant whiteboard of
possibilities for us to try out.

Our next focus is going to be community engagement. Look at the people using
your app and try to be a genuine member of that community. Things like
commenting on hackernews (weee!), writing blog posts about productivity,
commenting on similar blogs, etc. Just be genuinely helpful, honest, and don't
spam.

Also look at generating content for related projects. Try and find podcasts to
be a guest on, ask a blogger if you could write a guest blog post, etc.

Either way keep your chin up and keep on trying. Don't let one competitor
burst your bubble.

------
mynegation
Excuse me for offtopic. I understand why some would need services like that,
but I think they are actually detrimental, not beneficial to your ability to
get laid.

See, one of the qualities women appreciate in men more than anything else is
self-confidence. If you are not self-confident enough to approach a girl and
ask her out or at least start flirting, you are out of luck, most of the time,
plain and simple.

So, instead of doing that, create some service that allows guys to build self-
confidence. You may use rejection therapy, gamification (points for telling
random girls on the street that they look beautiful or whatever), anonymous
group support... you name it!

Call it "pivoting" if you want.

------
kingsidharth
I think you should launch any ways. Just because TC featured them (or anyone
for that matter) doesn't mean they are better than you.It just means they will
get a spike of traffic early on.

HN is one resource to tap into and next are your non-techie friend. They are
the real-users and they don't read TC. I am just trying to say that TC and all
the "techie" sources put together just equals a SXSW maybe? But there is a
whole wide world out there - try with high school teens? I bet they can get it
viral!

Text one of them!

------
jaysonelliot
If you don't have a competitor, chances are you don't have a good idea.

Just keep working on your site, keep telling people about it, and stop
worrying about what "the other guys" are doing.

------
thekevan
"We built a site but got beaten to the launch by another site."

So what!?!? Get out there and find users anyway. You've mentioned a few
benefits to using your app over CrushNotifier, keep going.

If you are not familiar with the story, Google Mint vs. Webabe and look at
articles from the past year. Yes, the scale is very different but get some
inspiration for yourself.

Good luck!

------
mickeyben
I completely agree with the other comments, spread it around you; The market
is huge ! Try to have article on teenagers blogs and news sources. There's
also that for techcrunch-like coverage : [http://blog.traindom.com/places-
where-to-submit-your-startup...](http://blog.traindom.com/places-where-to-
submit-your-startup-for-coverage/)

------
centdev
Find a different lane to be in with your product. When we launched our app,
the only players in that space were the big ones. Since launching it, we've
been focusing more on the factors which makes us different than the same. But
don't get persuaded by competition as it helps to see what others are doing
wrong, to do it better.

------
kmg
Not to be critical of your idea, but Orkut the social network from Google had
this as an inbuilt feature from start. So my take is that you have done a good
job of turning an idea into a live product. So definitely try marketing it,
but if it doesnt pan out, dont lose heart since this is just the beginning !

------
huuleon
Success of a business depends on how you execute it. Paul Graham has once said
if your idea is a good one, you'll have not just one competitor but hundreds
of them. Don't give up with just one adversary. Plus i just tweeted and
facebook shared your website for my support to your marketing journey.

~~~
sw007
Thanks very much - greatly appreciated

------
icey
There are other search engines than Google, other car manufacturers than Ford,
other operating systems than Windows, other phones than the iPhone.

Just because there is already one of something doesn't mean it has to be the
only thing.

------
edge17
if doing startups, talking with other founders, hearing the stories that are
never published, and reflecting on my own experiences has taught me anything,
it's that you can't predict how the cards fall. Nothing _ever_ goes 100% to
plan, and if it does... something's wrong and you better start worrying.

here's an example, maybe up your alley -
[http://www.inc.com/articles/201102/a-dating-site-thrives-
in-...](http://www.inc.com/articles/201102/a-dating-site-thrives-in-
delhi.html)

------
citricsquid
Target a different set of users, who heard of crushnotifier? The majority of
_tech_ people. Who hasn't heard of crushnotifier? The rest of Facebook!

Aim at those people, be creative.

------
jrussbowman
out execute, and out market the competition. I bet most people on Facebook
don't read techcrunch, so you have plenty of market reach potential.

Get people to talk about it on Facebook, use your circle of friends and people
you just know. Get a youtube video of it in action and get people to share it.
Spend some money and pay for a real marketing team.

The internet is huge, it's not about who has the idea first. It's who can
build the most usable product and make people aware of it.

------
staunch
Until you've been fighting the good fight for years you haven't even tried to
win. Winners are decided over _years_.

------
mvkel
Find a differentiator and dedicate all your resources (marketing, development,
evangelism) to it.

------
sw007
Clickable <http://www.makeusdate.com>

------
codeslush
sw007 - there are hundreds of millions of people on FB - plenty of market
share to work with. The app itself is viral in nature - get your friends using
it. IF it is GOOD, it will spread naturally. No reason to give up.

~~~
DevX101
your comment posted simultaneously with mine. completely agree. looks like
there is a consensus sw007! get to it!

~~~
sw007
Cheers guys. I have been hammering Facebook - I have sent a message to 268
people, including my ex (brave move!) and around 40 of my friends have updated
their status with it. I guess my concern is when they stop updating their
status how do I reach out to the rest of the 500 million on facebook! I will
continue to annoy my friends though and keep hammering them until all of them
are on it

~~~
ydant
I've only looked at the landing page and haven't (and won't due to the
Facebook integration) used the site.

From what I see (and this was mentioned elsewhere in the thread), you're going
to have trouble building that viral aspect without the self-propagating
behavior. If you're not emailing, contacting, or posting on the wall until
there's an actual match, there's no reason why the matchee might end up on
your site.

Apps that have some amazingly useful quality get talked about. Something like
this probably won't be mentioned, even by the users, as much, because it's
more of a short-term fascination than a must-recommend tool. At the very
least, do you ask the person with the interest if they want to post a status
update / wall notification about the site?

~~~
mdoyle
At the moment we allow the user to post hints to their wall that they like
some of their friends. We have a list of approximately 20 other ideas for
improving the viral aspect which we are shortlisting as we speak. I'll take
the opportunity here to thank you all for your input. Greatly appreciated!

------
lightyoruichi
Use crushnotifier. See what it lacks, and include that in your own site.

