Ask HN: We have an app. Now what's our niche?
Many web apps are heavily dependant on network effects, and are completely useless without a decent user base already in place. When faced with this issue, the common wisdom is to target a small niche at first. Over time, you can branch out to other users. There are many examples of this, such as Facebook starting with just Harvard students for example.
The strategy makes a lot of sense, but the question is what niche should one choose? In our particular case, we need to sign up people who browse many of the same web pages. This is necessary because our app, Jellly, is meant to suggest related links as users browse the web, so there better be other users who saw some of the same web pages earlier and already suggested related links.
The “hacker” niche, as represented by this community, may be a good choice here, but I’m not sure. We had thought about targeting bloggers, as they are often all looking at the same blog posts and articles; they provide free marketing and they could get into an app like this (it’s much better than using track-backs for sure), and they’d be happy to get some traffic out of it too by linking their own posts to other relevant stuff on Jellly. But the overall blogosphere is huge; the target needs to be more focused than that at first. Hacker-bloggers?
To better understand Jellly and our problem, you could take a peek at our FAQ. It may be more instructive though to see the crappy demo app I threw together in a few hours for our (failed) YC application, as long as you don't consider it to be characteristic of the actual app. It really just demonstrates how it might work for finding content: http://prettyobscure.jellly.com/
22 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 62.3 ms ] threadDemo App - http://prettyobscure.jellly.com/
clicky clickable links
I'm just one data point... But, while I think I grok what you're doing, I'm not sure I grok why I should want it. When I read articles, maybe 1 out of 10 makes me want to explore further. When I do want to explore further, there's usually a pretty natural way to do it-- the google search box in my browser. Google uses the link graph to find stuff related to the keyword. You're proposing to have users do it, right? The Google path doesn't seem to be broken to me... Other than the rare time that I can't think up the right search phrase to get good results.
Google uses the link graph to find stuff related to the keyword. You're proposing to have users do it, right?
I'm proposing to have users create a new link-graph, separate from the web's own inherent link graph. Keywords have nothing to do with it. :) - Looks like my home page isn't as clear as I thought.
There is probably going to be more than one way to use it, but the main way would be a browser extension. A web toolbar is also going to be there for people who don't like installing extensions, to get them started fast. You can see the demo of that (only shows you how you might browse through, had no functionality to add links): http://prettyobscure.jellly.com/
Let me know if it makes any more sense after trying the demo :)
Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting app, but I don't see a demand for it (people are more than happy with Google mostly), and I'm curious exactly how you'd expect to turn a profit with it as well? Adverts and mass adoption?
I actually intentionally worded it backwards from the usual as a minor form of headline bait, which failed. The app really should have broad appeal among people who frequent the web in general. That group of people is just too varied and spread out to help each other find links through Jellly. Hence the need to focus on a smaller, more closely knit group.
Not all apps fit the "solve a pain point" model that paid web applications go through. While pain killers are great money makers for sure, sometimes you don't know you'd want to use an app till you've tried it and see why it would be useful. These apps have a lower chance to succeed I guess, but they can be great when they do.
I know there's nobody dying to have this service. But Twitter comes to mind as another application that people thought was mostly useless. That is, until some of them used it (I know most people still think it's useless, but many obviously don't).
Advertising fits perfectly here, since the service is there for relevant links. The advertising would consist of relevant text links, similar to search ads. Mass adoption would be necessary for large profits, but I believe it's possible to break even much earlier, using advertising networks to start advertising early on.
Hacker bloggers is not a bad place to start if you are already active on HN and other places. The only thing I would caution is that hackers tend to be much more critical than the average person. Like some are willing to be early adopters but others expect everything to be perfect. Expect to hear a lot of "You should fix this bug/implement that feature - it should be EASY!" I think that tech-savvy but non-hacker people might be more open to "Is this useful?" discussions.
As a side note I find your logo to be really unclear. Honestly I think you should change it if you want it to really catch on, but if you're not willing to do that, then you might put "jellli.com" text underneath it.
I think your comments about hackers are on target mostly, but I don't mind the criticism. It's really better than having friends tell you how great what you made is.
The logo was not worked on too much, and I'm not exactly good with graphic design. I'm definitely going to get a professional to redo it in the future. I'm not sure it would make a huge difference to whether people sign up for beta, but I can see how it might.
- UrbEx (Urban Exploration) - Board Game Enthusiasts - Cooking (This could be a big one. Food blogs are really popular, but disconnected.)
There are a lot of people out there, and if you can focus on long-term user acquisition (which rules out the 'try every new thing and then drop it a month later' tech crowd), you'll be a lot happier.
By "niche", I had really meant a group of like-minded people. There may be a more appropriate word. I don't want to stick to a particular niche forever, but expand to all possible topics eventually. The "niche" is just required to make sure there are network effects. People who try a new thing every other month are ok with me, as long as they help bring in others who are more likely to stay. Besides, some tools are rarely dropped by the tech crowd if they are truly useful, and I would hope that my application fell into that category.
The demo was great, but I much prefer that it's a bookmarklet instead of an inline frame. "Related sites" is not something that I need to see all the time, and it takes away vertical screen real estate, which can be annoying to some users. If you're set on using a widget, use the side of the screen to maybe house a button, expandable on click.
Yeah, I'm planning to have a bookmarklet, iframe and browser extension UIs all available. The final UI is in no way set, and probably won't look exactly like the demo. Lots of people don't know how bookmarklets work, but they'd know how to use the toolbar. And many people are wary of installing extensions still, so a web-only version is good to have. Only problem is the confusion having multiple interfaces may cause some people. Will have to A/B test and see.
BTW, do make sure you sign up, haven't gotten any more signups since a while back :-)