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Ask HN: Please review our startup

7 points by mbenjaminsmith ↗ HN
Dear HNers,

We just rolled out the latest version of our recommendation startup and would love to get feedback. It's not a 'recommendation engine' or anything of the ilk but more of a whrrl or eat.ly for recommendations. The recommendations themselves are multiple choice, which is our take on a present-day review site. We originally were working with something more like Yelp but we nor our users really got into it.

We'd love to hear any feedback people might have. We're four months in (one month post funding) and are just about to start iPhone and BlackBerry app development. Any feedback would certainly be appreciated.

www.jukaroo.com

Peace,

Matthew & Onne

9 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 31.1 ms ] thread
spokey
I don't think I understand Jukaroo. (I'm not familiar with whrrl or eat.ly, so maybe that hurts.)

Is this like imgur or twitpic except by posting an image I'm saying I recommend the thing in the image?

I see it in your list at the bottom, but browsing the site I don't see how "tell everyone why you recommend it" enters into the equation. (Edit: Actually, I see now, in the heading under the picture. Might be nice to browse by those categories--ie. show me things that are recommended for "Fun" or whatever.)

mbenjaminsmith
I think you pretty much got it. I recommend _ for _ is all it is. We came at it from a different direction than twitpic but we wanted the same level of simplicity.

We're going to soon add in search and most likely some type of category browser like you suggest. This is just our staring point.

Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate it.

needadvice
The concept has some value to it -- although I would suggest focusing on a niche first. Then, evolving from there.
faramarz
x2

Break it down into clusters even. have a collection for coffee lovers, home made cookies, pho etc. and let people explore within those niches.

mbenjaminsmith
spokey just commented that we should have some type of browse by category. I'm wondering if highlighting some categories (by type of recommendation or what's being recommended) would fill in for a specific niche(s).

Thanks for the feedback.

chegra84
It might have legs, but here are my sticking points: 1)The instructions arent clear. "3. have a snack"? I get that it might be a joke, but I dont get it. So, try to make that clear.

2)The value of this is lost unless you are familiar with its competitors. I am left thinking how is this useful to me? That is a problem; I don't want to be thinking. One possible way of solving this is to give examples of people using your site and the value they gain. For instance, a rotating banners with testimonials with stuff like "Took a lead from jukaroo and this cake is great"(but not so corny as me)

mbenjaminsmith
I agree that 1) was a little flippant, I think I should put in something else.

2) I might be wrong about this but I think that would apply to a lot of the newer sites, especially the ones with a focus on mobile use. Do any of the 'check-in' sites have any use? The action -> reward loop is closer to a game. Eat.ly has a use (diet tracker), but I believe it's quickly becoming a place for foodie porn (which is its main strength regardless). I totally agree that you can't make people think too much (too much like work) but how important defined utility is is a big question for us still.

Thanks for the feedback.

EGF
Seems very similar to our basic design and usability at Eat.ly, but I think I understand the use case. Would love to connect if you are interested in speaking further - couldn't find your contact info via profile, so throwing this out there publicly.
mbenjaminsmith
Hey EGF, yeah would love to chat sometime. You can reach me at matthew [at] jukaroo [.] com.