Ask HN: Would businesses pay to identify "Connector" or "Maven" users?
We've seen tremendous success, one sorority girl will sign up and the algorithm will accurately list ~150+ girls in her sorority given just her friend data.
Though we're now considering a pivot to offer a B2B service in which we'd identify "Connector" or "Maven" users. Connectors/Mavens are the special types of users that help spread the word for your product and the users you want to provide special attention to, e.g. customer service, special offers, etc.
We'd also help you identify the key people to invite to your site. So if John is friends with a Connector, we provide you the code to put on your site to invite this Connector.
---> The burning question:
Would businesses want this? Would they be willing to pay? Is this a clever application of a powerful algorithm?
Our algorithms run in real time essentially so we're convinced we're opening some new doors. I apologize for being intentionally vague :)
13 comments
[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 41.6 ms ] threadYes, it is potentially worth a lot to businesses. But not by itself. Think of all the cool things a company could do with this information - those are the things you should be providing to the company. Otherwise you're limiting yourselves to businesses that both have the vision to see the potential AND have the available resources to implement it into their workflow.
If you aim for the marketing potential in identifying connectors/mavens, you should add a layer of services that help businesses to communicate effectively with those individuals, and track how the message spreads through the network.
If you aim for the customer service aspect, you should add a layer that helps connect your information with their CRM systems.
Or you could find strategic partners in those fields, and enable them to integrate your services in their existing product portfolio.
"Otherwise you're limiting yourselves to businesses that both have the vision to see the potential AND have the available resources to implement it into their workflow."
I don't quite follow what you mean.
It's the difference between selling 16 oz. tubs of Paracetamol, and packaged Tylenol pills.
Both gives you access to pain-relief, but Tylenol is a product, whereas Paracetamol is a chemical.
The savvy buyer will recognize the benefits of buying a tub of Paracetamol; very low price & high flexibility. But Tylenol will always outsell it due to convenience and packaging.
I'm just saying it's better for you to sell Tylenol.
*edit: Ok, I just realized I didn't really answer your question. My point with that specific sentence, was that you're raising the bar for customers, unless you provide something that instantly enables them to benefit from your algorithm.
Thanks for the response by the way!
It just wasn't clear from your description if you're "just" providing the information, or actually enabling the businesses to make use of the information.
One thing we could do is provide "invite code" that a company can put on their website to encourage their users to invite these people.
I'm not saying businesses are stupid, but they haven't spent as much time thinking about the value and opportunities a connector represents - as you obviously have. And that becomes a barrier in front of closing the deal. After the initial positive response, they need to think through all the good and bad ways they can use the connectors, and then plan it, assign resources - and only then are they ready to use your product.
I strongly urge you to sit down and in detail define "What is the absolute smartest thing a business can do with our information", and then see how you can provide THAT as a service to businesses. Maybe in a partnership with a company that specializes in delivering products and services based on the social graph.
If I seem adamant about making my point, it is because I have a failed start-up on my resume due to a failure of recognizing this fact in due time. It was a B2B product, that provided the exact same results as the main players in the marketplace, but smarter, faster and way more cost-efficient. My service could deliver in 3 days, what the main competitors did in 3 weeks, and at half the cost. But I couldn't seem to penetrate the market - and I was absolutely sure it was a marketing issue - and kept pouring money into new and arguably better ways of marketing the service, with only limited betterment as a result. In the end it turned out to be a product issue, and I had spent all my money on re-inventing marketing at that point (self-funded). My hubris was "It's self-evident that my way of doing things is better than what you're doing now. You should do it my way!". And it was an easy hubris to fall into - all the smart people in the business I talked to, agreed that my product was "amazing" and "the new and better way to do things", but those responses come from a different context than closing a deal. I expected businesses to make a very small change in their way of doing things, in return for a much faster, better and cost-efficient product. I should have understood that it is my task to make a product that fits into their way of business.
Sorry about the rant :) I paid a shitload of money to learn this one lesson, so it hits a few buttons when it comes up.
Great!
Then again, I don't belong to a fraternity or a sorority.
Identifying folks with interesting link patterns is nice, but the question is whether those link patterns are valuable. Yes, connectors may have those link patterns, but that doesn't tell us that folks with those link patterns are connectors, let alone what and who can do something with that information.
For example, the most obvious candidate for "connector" in my facebook list is a woman who is obsessed with autism. What value is that? Or rather, who can take advantage of that?
This is related to the "what kind of connectors?" question. I'd imagine that connectors found on linkedin are different from connectors found on facebook in terms of what biz want to find them.
BTW - this is particularly important wrt mavens. I won't consult a car maven on some other subject.