Platformed

1) For success to happen, you need an app that people like more than the competition. Which requires building that app. Which requires knowing how to program... and having an idea of what will make it better than the competition. Start from the bottom up.

2) http://platformed.info/

3) Some ideas:

- Have the company confirm the pictures on peoples profile (that way you know that the pictures are accurate, not from 5 years ago or of someone else).

- Have the site compile user data, and recommend 10-20 people for a group date.

- Make it a dating/matchmaking a side outcome. Maybe make it like reddit. User generated content and discussion + reputation. I would think that that would give users a lot more data as to who they'd be compatible with intellectually. This could also make for quite the social news site, because people would be desperate for reputation (because single people are often desperate to be not single), and thus site usage would be very high.

Is your community a one-sided community, two-sided community, or marketplace?

If it is the second or third, you ought to read HBS Professor Andrei Hagiu's case and article about this dynamic: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=24044

Platform Thinking also has a pretty comprehensive article on this: http://platformed.info/seeding-two-sided-businesses-strategy-chicken-and-egg-problem/

My two cents here is that the best place to start in disrupting the chicken and egg problem is to reduce the number of users you need to get off the ground. Scope to as small a group as possible to demonstrate that the app provides the value you are hoping to provide, and then grow from there. If you're making an app for teenagers, start in one high school. If it works, grow to two, then four, then eight, and so on. You can scope geographically or by affiliation or in any of a number of other ways.

Good luck.

Platforms require two important factors - self-marketing and publishing tools. It's important that the published content benefits everyone within the community, which helps build up to true Network Effects.

Github (same-sided platform): publish your repo, users can download and contribute to your code. More code, more branches, repeat.

Youtube (two-sided platform): Published content provides entertainment. Users can respond to others video to provide additional relevant content. Each publisher promotes their own channel for recognition (and in turn, promotes your platform).

I'd recommend reading: http://platformed.info/
The author really dives into Platforms vs Marketplaces and how to increase your chances for success. It's the only blog I've ever subscribed to.

You should look into improving your Single User Utility.

Here are some links to get started:

http://avc.com/2012/12/single-user-utility-in-a-social-system/

http://andrewchen.co/social-products-win-with-utility-not-invites-guest-post/

http://platformed.info/seeding-platform-standalone-square-opentable-delicious/

There are also countless examples of successful two-sided marketplaces who started out by "nurturing" (aka faking) one side of the market until they reached their critical mass.

Interesting read. I've been doing some reading on starting 2-sided marketplaces. Here are some resources you might find useful:

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/09/29/ubiquity-illusions-and-the-chicken-egg-problem/

http://www.quora.com/Chicken-and-Egg-Problem-Social-Startups/How-do-you-solve-the-chicken-and-the-egg-problem?redirected_qid=116120

http://platformed.info/

Good luck!