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Ask HN: Should I scrap my MVP?

10 points by fjabre ↗ HN
I've just released my MVP at gosharepad.com - contact centered email for Gmail + Google Apps (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2511363)

It's been 3 hours now and I've only receieved 3 upvotes. I find it ironic that the community I've contributed to over the last 2 years (having given feedback to countless Ask HN articles) that I've only received 1 comment on my own Ask HN post that wasn't my own.

Just makes me wonder if I've done something terribly wrong here or just something so uninteresting that nobody cares - even worse IMHO.

At least technically I feel like it's an accomplishment. We essentially built a web-based mail client centered around your contacts using Membase and Flask which should scale nicely.. big deal if you can't get users though right?

And I feel like I did enough market research to determine that there was a gaping hole in the current contact management setup that Google has.

So again I ask. Should I go back to the drawing board? I just don't want to keep putting resources into an idea that is flawed in the first place.

I would really love some honest feedback on this - negative or otherwise.

24 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 49.7 ms ] thread
andrewstuart
Errr, giving up after 3 hours seems a little early. If you really believe in your product it will probably take years to build it up.
fjabre
Thanks Andrew. I agree. However if I can't even garnish more than a few votes from this community I really do want to go back to the drawing board and figure if I did something really wrong or I just need to redesign my landing page - feedback I was hoping for when posting it here in the first place.
code
Bad mentality. This community should not make or break your decision to move forward with an idea. There are good reasons to swing one direction or the other but this is not one of them.
benologist
HN is always going to be very hit and miss and increasingly miss as it gets more popular itself.

Don't let yourself believe that getting a popular submission here or a writeup on TechCrunch or whatever is a requirement for startups - it doesn't mean you've made it and it likely won't give you that precious first group of users. All it is is a nice little bonus that along the way will likely be overshadowed by much, much more important achievements.

darkxanthos
The problem may not be your product but the use of video. I can't quickly skim video. Needless to say I still don't even know what your product is as a result.
fjabre
Thanks for the feedback. Looks like the theme I'm getting here is that my landing page and message need a lot of work.
rhizome
I would recommend not trying to be "aw shucks" and just laying out the info. There's an element in the video of the blog posts that always crop up after a popular AskHN. You know, like "how do I find people to network with?" followed by 3-10 days of "23 ways to make new business contacts" HN submissions (if you peruse /new, that is). The thing that unites most of the blog posts I'm casting aspersions upon is that they purport to be about something, or a list of things, but they wind up weaving those things throughout an ersatz narrative ("Once upon a time in the dark days of CompuServe...") that obscures the clarity you'd think they'd be trying to give to a list of 23 closely related things. I dunno, maybe that's just me.

In short, stop telling me why I'm going to use it, your recommendation engine isn't that good yet. Also, your FAQ doesn't contain any FAQs, so you should rename it "About" or something like that.

phlux
I NEVER get responses to my Ask HN questions -- at least not that many.

I think most people browse the main page - and things shift off the new page far too fast.

I suggest trying to get the sluts over at TechCrunch to do a review.

Try using wording like "Hey TC guys, I'd love to give you free exclusive access to my project to get your feedback" etc...

Entice them with wording that makes them feel exclusive and cool.

pavel_lishin
Try not to refer to them as sluts when you send off the e-mail, though.
phlux
But please try to incorporate the phrase:

"Hey TC, You guys are Social Leaders Understanding Technology Systems more than most people, I'd like your feedback on my app/site..."

brudgers
Are you suggesting they get paid?
tgrass
Uh...I can't even test it and you want my credit card on a site that doesn't look trustworthy???
fjabre
Thanks for the feedback.

Simply use the promo code 'HNFREE' on the signup page and you don't have to enter any CC info.

louislouis
The video is too small on the front page, double the size. Also list all the benefits of sharepad on the front page, what can it do for users etc.
georgieporgie
"email, centered around your contacts," sounds like just regular email to me. I don't really 'get' it.

I thought the video could use work overall. There was some hesitation, some intermittent, rapid-fire talking, and so on.

fjabre
Ok. Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm starting to see a theme here. The landing page in general needs a lot of work. We spent so much time on the app itself we kind of did the landing page last minute. I need to figure out the right message for it and it definitely needs a redesign.
AmberShah
I have to agree here. Personally it is too buzz-wordy for me and I wouldn't really be interested. Can you find like one or two solution statements in regular, even overly-simple, words? Tell me one thing I could do that I can't do now or would be easier. If it's a big enough problem I will do it, but otherwise shifting my email setup is just an annoyance I'd rather avoid.
rhizome
Squeaky-wheel method, sure.

We essentially built a web-based mail client centered around...

So when you talk about mail clients, you aren't including reading email, right? It's mentioned nowhere, including anywhere in your video.

fjabre
Good point. Yes you can definitely read/write emails with it. It is practically a drop in replacement for Gmail.
wehriam
I didn't see your original post - you may need to ask friends and associates to help with an initial bump.

Reading the first few sentences of the original post I learned SharePad integrates with Google apps, allows unlimited contacts, and helps me stay organized.

I don't have a limit on how many people I can contact and am organized. From your description SharePad solves problems that I don't have so I'm not prone to comment on it.

Osiris
It appears you've put a lot of hard work into the site, and the videos certainly make it look nice. I think now you'll need to focus on marketing. People have posted a lot of suggestions here that could help.

I found in my small venture that word-of-mouth is hugely important, so try to find ways to get enough users to get the word out there.

You may try other payment options, like a discount for 1-year over month to month, and a free trial that doesn't require a credit card. You may also want to solicit a "beta testers" group that would get the product for free in return for feedback. Getting real people using the site could generate a lot of ideas you might not have thought of.

Good luck and don't give up yet.

keeptrying
Doing customer development is am art in of it's own.

How many people did you meet with who were willing to buy it?

akavi
While it's slick, I'm don't think you're quite providing enough value to justify 4 bucks a month.

I'd definitely use it if it was free, but I'm not sure what seems to me to be a nicer email client is worth paying for.

djb_hackernews
HN is hit or miss, especially mornings. If you post something, and you are a nobody your submissions quickly fall to page 2, which is game over.

A good way to get upvotes is to ask friends. When I post something I'll usually link to it in #startups or the HN meetup group I am a member of and ask for some upvotes (if worthy, of course)

but you can see from my submission history, I've built several apps, posted them to HN, and gotten nothing. Don't let it stop you.

The other thing to keep in mind is if this is a bootstrapped project, that doesn't have major name brand funding or drama, you'll need to cram it down peoples throats. If you are ready to give up after 3 hours, I'm not sure you are ready for the work it'll take to bootstrap traction...