Thanks a lot chmac for all the suggestions.

Yes Onista is amalgam of eBay, LendingTree, Priceline and LinkedIn. We are basically trying to close the gap between social network and a marketplace.

We picked the date: November 1st. Will update the website with counter and the launch date

BTW, How do I find out who are the biggest bloggers in our area? I am trying to find on Google, TC, mashable as well.

Will start talking on different forums. Starting to search the forums now.

Thanks again for taking time and providing suggestions.

Thank you so much everybody for taking time and replying to my questions.

To make things clear, yes we are building onista as amalgam of eBay, LendingTree, Priceline and LinkedIn. We are basically trying to close the gap between social network and a marketplace. We are also not as boring as auction or reverse auction.

It is a general marketplace and not specific to any niche.

The key take away from everybody's reply is

1. Pick a date. Sure We are confident that we will launch on November 1st 2007. (139 more bugs to fix) 2. Put a day counter on front page 3. Contact Bloggers that cover social networks and marketplaces and Web 2.0 in general. (Wish I knew where to find these bloggers) 4. Post on http://www.buzzshout.com/ & http://www.launchfeed.com/ 5. Post comments on TechCrunch with a link back to our site 6. Write a personalized emails 7. Though generating lot of pre-launch hype sounds very attractive idea it may not always work. as "ed" mention in the post, "I've never, ever ever ever, seen this work out in a positive way. Once the floodgates open, users are almost invariably disappointed by what's available. The result is that you lose the (critical) attention of early adopters". 8. Use SEO press release from PRWEB.COM for $200. (Any suggestions on services that can help us write a press release? I've never written one and certainly writing is not one of my great skills. Except javascript/css and html) 9. Send a link to the uncov guys. Loved this idea. Would be interesting to read how they will tear us apart.

Now I will post specific replies to each post here.

bls, Thank you very much for all the suggestions. GREAT information.

Thanks for the information. Ae you referring to the form at http://help.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_bulkmail (This link was at bottom of the article that you gave me). I submitted the form. Hope Yahoo will help us.

Yes, Gmail is really a challenge. I am trying to play around our email headers to see if it helps, but so far no luck.

Will test on hotmail and AOL soon.

Thanks again.

Hi Everybody,

We are working on developing Social Marketplace called Onista (http://www.onista.com) and we are in QA cycle right now on our test server. Most of the emails that our application is generating for users (like Invite emails or registration emails) are being delivered to bulk/spam folders on yahoo and gmail. Any idea on how can we fix the issue?

Thanks in advance.

Sure. This is a good idea. I am launching http://www.onista.com in June time-frame and would be nice to have other folks look at it and give valuable feedback.

Our team will also help out others to test their apps.

Exactly. There is no point in expecting cofounder to be competent in same areas. What is more important for cofounder is share same passion as you do. Technical stuff can be learned. Languages and technology comes and goes.

passion is emotional. It is necessary. Unfortunately, brains and talent are also required and are innate.

Thank you very much. You are right. There might be lot of changes after launch and thats when we will find out what users want us to deliver.

Now http://www.socializr.com/ says that they are "gamma". Does that mean, its more crap than "beta" but it is still ok.

Wouldn't it be in YC's interest to take some equity WITHOUT providing any funding in return of advice, Guidance, and a platform and connections.