I did. I've also coded 90% of my app and I'm trying to find out whether I'm even going about marketing it the right way. I actually have another Internet business but since its aimed at a decidedly non-tech audience I'm new to the business of launching a web app aimed at a more tech savvy market.
I see from your comment threads you'd rather people didn't post till their apps were finished. I think asking for feedback from HN about how you're marketing your app is as valid as asking for feedback about the app itself.
DESIGN:
It's cool and awesome for minimalist design nerds like myself, but I'm not sure if it will convert well. That's speculation, so you might want to get a more authoritative view point on that.
COPY:
I think you need to get a little more niche on your target and add one more layer of benefits to your copy.
1.) Working in a small team? -- Of what? Of programmers? Of elephant trainers? Of baristas?
You'd be surprise how good people feel when you call them out specifically.
2.) Use Xau to stay connected and task-focused. So what? I don't think anyone cares about staying task-focused. They want to stay task-focused so they can make money, or build a great product but staying task-focused for the sake of staying task-focused doesn't sound very compelling. I would personally change it to: Use Xau to stay connected and task-focused so you can...[insert benefit your clients care about most]
Your point about listing benefits rather than features is excellent - I will definitely be amending the copy.
The app's theme is one of being sufficiently simple that it's sector agnostic and I was thinking of people who would appreciate this as its market - but I think you're actually more correct: its better to have a specific group feel the app is for them.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 18.2 ms ] threadI see from your comment threads you'd rather people didn't post till their apps were finished. I think asking for feedback from HN about how you're marketing your app is as valid as asking for feedback about the app itself.
COPY: I think you need to get a little more niche on your target and add one more layer of benefits to your copy.
1.) Working in a small team? -- Of what? Of programmers? Of elephant trainers? Of baristas? You'd be surprise how good people feel when you call them out specifically.
2.) Use Xau to stay connected and task-focused. So what? I don't think anyone cares about staying task-focused. They want to stay task-focused so they can make money, or build a great product but staying task-focused for the sake of staying task-focused doesn't sound very compelling. I would personally change it to: Use Xau to stay connected and task-focused so you can...[insert benefit your clients care about most]
Hope that helped!
Your point about listing benefits rather than features is excellent - I will definitely be amending the copy.
The app's theme is one of being sufficiently simple that it's sector agnostic and I was thinking of people who would appreciate this as its market - but I think you're actually more correct: its better to have a specific group feel the app is for them.