Personally I think a FB ad or pitching to friends is a little too impersonal and not a high enough likelihood of many crushes between that group. Instead I'd aim for a small but well interconnected network first, like a single dorm building. The next week, the next one over. Eventually, it could own the campus' attention for a bit, then maybe the next school nearby. Getting a single dorm on board could be as simple as setting up a table in the lobby with a couple laptops and giving out donuts to people who sign up.

This is very good advice. You need to get a community that is intimate enough that there will be crushes found. That's your successful customer. People aren't likely to invite their crush for fear of outing themselves, so they would have to be exceedingly lucky to get their crush there through random invites.

I think I might be able to do this. Its getting the first users on the site that is that hardest part. But in a few hours, I will go out and see if I can start recruiting users. (Coding is far easier than motivating people)

It's been many years since, I've lived in a dorm, but the Austin nightlife is surprisingly structured into groups. I'm going to work on identifying and targeting a small/close connected group and try to get them to start using the site.

I think having a bit of an explanation of what the site is and how it works would be very helpful. Having a video of you using the website to show some features while also explaining how the site can help people will go a long way. Other than that I would recommend starting small and getting everyone you know to talk about it. Perhaps you should also try to market it on a local college campus if there is one near. College kids are always looking for ways to meet people who are interested in them (read: get laid) and I'm sure would be glad to check your stuff out. Or perhaps you could try and get in touch with the guys from like a little and see if you could do something with them.

I think a video is clearly needed. Although it might take me a while to put one together.

All you really need, at least at the beginning, is you using the service with a voiceover explaining what you are doing.

I think you need to add an explanation of the site, the concept, and address how it works. I think most people may be scared away by not having a good understanding of how it works, especially being that it has to do with their personal lives.

...and that it requires giving access to all sorts of Facebook permissions when all the user knows about the site beforehand is "LuckyChat - Connect with someone special"

A general concern that I would have is that there have been various websites over the years that address this problem (the first one I remember was called something like CrushMail back in 1999 or so and the most recent was the pivot made by Breakup Notifier after Facebook shut them down (http://apps.ycombinator.com/item?id=2264660)). But often, they end up being mostly a way for people to spam their friends instead of people getting value out of it. (Typically, they ask you to enter email addresses of who you think has a crush on you. The site then uses that information to notify those people that someone has a crush on them. So when you find a 'match' it could just be that both people entered the others' name on there thinking that they might be the one to have a crush on them.)

Comments like these is why I love HN. Thanks!

Agreed. Would be great to get a different domain name also, not a fan of .biz.

Potential solution: LuckyCh.at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.at

Just purchased. Thanks!

Hey! When I saw your post for luckychat on Hacker News, I thought it was a good idea. A while back, I had an idea for something similar to this, and was glad to see someone finally implementing it. My suggestion for marketing the site would be to have every one of your Facebook friends start using it (if you know them all), and have them post that they are using it. Start small, and then try to grow the app.

The tagline should be a bit more clever and tell you what's unique about the service. I get the abstract sense that this site has some connection to dating, but you haven't given me a reason who I should take the time and sign up with my Facebook ID. Also from a branding point of view the site feels a impersonal a minimal to me.

Doesnt this idea exist.. everywhere? Orkut had this feature.

to advertise though. I would target a specific middle school or highschool.

Make a landing page that explains what the app actually does.

I'm going to work on making a video clearly demoing the site and probably rework the entire landing page somewhere along the way