Ask HN: How to launch a casual dating site (similar to OkCupid)?

The biggest challenge with a dating site is attracting your first few thousand users simply because no-one will be interested in your site if there aren't any members to browse.

Companies such as http://www.whitelabeldating.com/ provide a white label platform that allows you to launch a dating site with a shared user-base so that from day one your site has active members to search.

Even with an established user base, it's incredibly difficult to build a successful dating site due to the amount of competition. It requires a catchy niche and some seriously heavy PR & marketing to make any serious money.

Caveat: I work for the company that owns whitelabeldating.com

Think about the culture you want to create. Who do you want to attract as customers? How will they be able to express themselves? And how will they find others they're interested in?

If you're thinking actual social space startup, that's a HARD row to hoe right now, unless you have a really crystal-clear new idea. It's a mature, saturated market that isn't in terrible need of disruption that I can see. The only really interesting entry in that field that I've heard of lately is Bang With Friends.

There are many dating websites in the market, if you want to create one you have to decide your target audience. Also one of the biggest trend these days is t focus on offline meeting and apps like Grouper, Truffle.io, let's date are filling that void. When I started my dating website, I first went to all my female friends and asked them what is something they really hate in current dating website model and then started building on that.

Concentrate on advertisments for monetizing it rather than Premium membership.

Plenty of Fish recently set their site so you cannot search for an "intimate encounter" unless you pay for Premium, as a result a lot of its userbase moved on.

Have something original and distinctive that is not similar to a well-known competitor.

You could gather emails before launching, then stage a big launch event where everyone starts at the same time.

Attract women first. That's all that matters.

Search for info on "chicken and egg" problems.

Some links here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2126209