Ask YC:Sleep.FM (my startup) seeks UI designer
I see that I can not post in the job section not being a part of Y. Forgive me If I have formatted this post incorrectly.
My name is Ryan Spahn and I am seeking a UI designer/consultant for my startup ( http://Sleep.FM ).
If UI design (HTML, CSS and Photoshop expert) is your specialty it would be great to hear from you!
This would be a work for hire. If interested in learning more please contact me at ryanspahn@comcast.net (links to your work are appreciated).
Thanks, Ryan
45 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 109 ms ] threadI dunno-- just brainstorming.
Well! I take back what I said. Obviously "making a bunch of money playing poker" qualifies one as an expert in rapidly assigning probabilities of success to ventures undertaken in an increasingly complex world where the law of unintended consequences seems to be trumping everything else.
>> and his current startup has obvious money making potential
And is worth $0. Contrasted with, say, Google ... which until year 3 had no clue as to what their business model would be and therefore had, using your logic, no "obvious money making potential" ... but is now worth ... like, a lot - or so I hear.
If ideas are a dime a dozen then "potential" must be the stuff they use for shipping filler to make sure the ideas don't get damaged during transport.
In other words, he is no more proven than the people whose startups he belittles ...
Who knows though, maybe Ryan will be able to repurpose it into something cool with just a little bit of effort, and come out ahead. I hope so.
What I think I would say to Ryan if I were talking about it over a beer, and trying to be a bit humorous about it, is that it really reminds me of something Kramer from Seinfeld would be trying to sell Jerry and Elaine on. "But Jerry, it's great, it's an alarm clock and it's social!". Later in the episode Kramer would be walking around in an obviously sleep deprived state.
Maybe I need to be more direct, as it looks like readers get the impression that your friends have the power to randomly wake you up with their messages? That is not the case and I dont want to use an alarm clock that allowed people to wake me up to messages when they want to. Uggh, that would stink, I want to sleep until the time on my alarm clock goes off!
What's different here is the sound of your alarm clock. INstead of just hearing only a buzzer you hear some sorta of buzzer and then audio messages left from those you allow. THis is only heard after the alarm time you set passes... same principle as a normal alarm clock.
If this is clear to you cool ... though I dont understand your statement, "Kramer would be sleep deprived"
Maybe you should aim higher or broader...take the ability to leave messages for people and do something with that? I just don't find the idea very compelling - it's too narrow feeling. If I want to hear a friend, I want to hear from them whenever it is, not just in the morning. And if I want a fancy alarm clock thing, I simply want one that I can load ogg or mp3 files in. Messages from people might be loaded or automatically pulled in, but for me that's just not a central feature. Another thing that sort of limits its appeal is that you have to have your computer in your room with you, and on. Mine has an option to automatically wake up, but it's a fiddly bios thing that most people aren't going to want to use, and most people don't like sleeping with the things on, either - they're noisy.
So, beyond what I don't like, I wonder how you could take what you've created and tweak it to appeal to other audiences, or be useful in other ways? If you've got good tech behind it, perhaps it's just a matter of trying out a few other niches - maybe something else is what it's really destined to be.
LoL
I was politely asking if any UI designers are available and interested.
If not cool.. I just thought I'd reach out to fellow entreprenuers/designers & coders.
http://tinyurl.com/3xk392 http://krisabel.ctv.ca/blog/CoolLinks/_archives/2007/12/12/3... http://tinyurl.com/3yzeo9 (translated from French)
Also, Sleep.FM was chosen as a TechCrunch40 semi-finalist, chosen to present alongside Google, Microsoft and Facebook at NY Tech MeetUp, landing on Engadget.com (the readers comments do not all mirror comments here) and other encouraging things!
Again, i was just politely posting for a UI designer who maybe available and interested.
Was sincerely looking for a UI designer/consultant...
I suggest you close the browser and chill out a bit. No flame war is ever worth sounding that crazy.
(PS. I still didn't mod you down, but only because I stick by my '-1 is enough bad karma' rule.)
Or when a "non-hacker" is looking for someone to help out or a hacker who doesn't know a particular technical aspect looks for help, the lashing is severe. There's a difference between constructive criticism, designed to challenge but inspire the recipient, and just being a jerk who gets off trying to look the bigshot by making others feel like losers for sharing private aspects of their personal entrepreneurial struggles.
We all have more in common than differences; for example we're all surrounded by cubicle drones in this life who secretly rejoice at the prospect of us failing miserably because they're too scared to try going out on their own to do their things ... shouldn't we generally be supporting each other and keeping our morales up as much as possible?
If you don't like someone's idea and genuinely think it should be improved, say so. But what good does it do anyone to tell them, "wow your idea sucks ... it's the stupidest idea of all stupid ideas ever!"
Hear the positive , rather then all the static and noise. It is good to hear feedback that maybe negative, yet it helps render a better product! That's not noise that is feedback!
But for all of those that hate this concept, notice that Seth Godin posted the same idea on his blog, twice.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/09/alarm-clocks... http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2003/10/todays_free_...
Sleep.fm is an alarm clock where your friends can send you wake-ups with messages at any time they choose.
The only difference from a regular boring alarm clock to Sleep.FM's Social Alarm Clock, is the tone that wakes you. You set the clock and when it goes off your alarm message(s) is the tone that wakes you. Whether it's Happy Birthday, wake up old lady dont forget to take your medicine, the meeting has moved to a different location, good morning girlfriend/boyfriend/best friend i wanted to share this new song with you( you hear it), hey X i'll meet you for breakfast at denny's before work, im sorry i wont be in the carpool today, dont take i95 huge traffic jam, it's snowing go back to bed, etc, etc....
I wonder rms did you happen to view a promo vid of ours? Knowing that is helpful...
It's like having... a spouse! THE HORROR. (Seriously, I can imagine the use for people that specifically need to get someone else out of bed--it's like a pager that's really, really loud. But again, that's all it is--an Internet-to-audio-pager gateway.)
For those who want to continue to wake up to just some meaningless noise can continue to do so... But, hey it's the 21st century and now through Sleep.FM we can wake up to personal pieces of communication from those closet to us or those we allow!
stuff I made: webdevelopersfieldguide.com (currently the top story ;-P) poptakeout.com <--mobile safari web-app. stanleymusic.com
contact me through wademeredith.com if you'd like.
Ryan's post: "I am seeking a UI designer/consultant for my startup" that no one wanted to answer.