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Ask HN: Please review our UI - Feedback is greatly appreciated!

6 points by yoseph ↗ HN
Hi Guys,

I'm currently working on my first startup. We're bootstrapped and prepping to launch into private beta.

Our web application generates simple, easy-to-read reports on stocks by applying value investing formulas & benchmarks. It provides the equivalent of two hours worth of analysis in the time it takes to load your page.

The report focuses on three key aspects: How much a stock is worth, Management performance & Key performance indicators.

This is the first phase of our product plan. We've also built a tool that provides an overview of your portfolio, from a value investing perspective.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: The current design of our site isn't the greatest.

I've come up with a new look and feel and would really appreciate it if the HN community could give me some feedback.

Page users see when they first sign up: http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/9710/vuruanalysispagesignupf.png

Sample Analysis (Please note this is just a mock-up not an actual report generated by our tool): http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/9440/vuruanalysispage.png

Portfolio Page: http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/803/vuruhomepagev1small.png

So, what do you think? Where can they be improved?

I'll provide clickable links below and if you're interested, sign up to be notified when we launch into private beta (www.vuru.co).

8 comments

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dolphin
The front page could have some more sample data to help the user understand what they are getting into. Maybe a recent gainers/losers of stocks that are defined as "value". Or, since there is a good amount of research/literature/blogs that focus solely on value investing, it might be useful to add these as a supplement to the statistics you are planning on showing. I feel like people want to have as much information at there disposal when making investment decisions, and the mockups seem a little sparse to me as an individual investor.
tgriesser
i like how clean the site is, but it could use a little more content... i think you could probably do something better with the links at the top, they feel too spaced apart and the arrow box thing feels really disconnected. maybe if you added a little color to accent certain parts of the information... here is an example of what i mean.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1529856/vuruanalysispage.jpg

yoseph
Thanks for the great ideas! We're definitely going to implement them.

Did you get a chance to look at the Portfolio page?

If you'd like to help us make this product awesome as we move forward, please shoot me an email - yoseph dot west at gmail . We're big believers in the idea that the key to a startup's success is listening to its users.

kevinburke
Have you tested the page with actual users? You'd probably only need 3 or 4 to get a good feel for how people are using the pages and what users want to know.

On the Analysis page I'd put some interesting example stocks below the ticker so people that don't know ticker symbols can just click on one. Or just put that box on the frontpage so people don't have to use the extra click to find a box. Or ask people to import OFX data from Google Finance, Yahoo Finance etc.

On the Sample Analysis how about some charts? How's the formula performed over time? What do all of the ratios and analysis mean?

Generally when I'm thinking about a page/design I try to make a list of everything users would want to do from that page, group like items and work backwards.

Yoseph I'm working on a (somewhat) similar project for my senior thesis - usability testing balance sheets. Get in touch with me - my email's kev@inburke.com.

yoseph
Ah, interesting. I just shot you an email. Let's talk about this further.
dprice1
I think the spin of applying a specific investment philosophy to stock portfolios is pretty neat.

In the portfolio view (last link): (1) Every company name is elided (ends in ...). That says to me that the column is too small, or needs to be presented differently. (2) Why tempt us with "Show Performance Graph"? Just show it, in miniature, on the page. (3) "Overall" column seems to be useless, it's always "-".

Analysis View: I buy and sell stocks and funds but not too often. So I took up your challenge of "easy to read reports". What does a grade of "A" mean in your system? How many stocks get this grade compared to the total population? I'm not a financial analyst, so some of the jargon on this page was indecipherable to me. DCF, etc. I like the explanation "For every $100 spent, $137.50 of cash is created" (except for the word "create": they are not creating money, only the Fed can do that). When you say: "No earnings power value margin of safety"... I have no idea what that means. Maybe you need to have callouts which explain these things in greater depth, and "show the math". That would be cool. Finally, the stock is "Grade A" but you've given me only 3 reasons to like it, and 4 reasons to dislike it.

yoseph
Dude, great feedback!

We'll work on the portfolio view. I think we'll probably just get rid of the Overall column to fix the elided issue. Also, we'll definitely show the graph, just in miniature, as you suggested.

Re the analysis view, a grade of "A" means that you should buy it.. not Apple tho, it's overvalued. This was just a mockup, not an actual report.

But yeah, we should clarify this sort of information. I was thinking of putting in a "Glossary" link and then explain all that info there. Would that do the trick?

We'll work on the wording.

What's a callout? I really like the idea of "show the math". That's solid. It really fits with our philosophy of transparency for individual investors.

And to the last point, it's a mock-up. Apple is actually hugely overvalued. Don't buy it.

Again, thanks for the feedback! If you'd like to help us make this product awesome as we move forward, please shoot me an email - yoseph dot west at gmail . We're big believers in the idea that the key to a startup's success is listening to its users.