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Ask HN: Feedback on my startup and advice for the big pitch (arkalumen.com)

8 points by lowkey ↗ HN
Our startup is preparing to pitch at StartupCampMontreal3 this Thursday and I am looking to the HN community for some feedback and advice. We are a bit of an odd duck since we are not a web app but I have taken some marketing ideas from the web2.0 world to use to our advantage.

Our company mission is to bring the benefits of LED lighting to mainstream consumers. We have a 5 minute pitch this Thursday in front of an audience of several hundred investors, entrepreneurs, etc.

Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

20 comments

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lowkey
Our startup is preparing to pitch at StartupCampMontreal3 this Thursday and I am looking to the HN community for some feedback and advice. We are a bit of an odd duck since we are not a web app but I have taken some marketing ideas from the web2.0 world to use to our advantage.

Our company mission is to bring the benefits of LED lighting to mainstream consumers. We have a 5 minute pitch this Thursday in front of an audience of several hundred investors, entrepreneurs, etc.

Our closest competitor is a lamp made by Philips called Living Colors http://tinyurl.com/2g8ruv

Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

auntjemima
I couldn't comment on anything specific to lights, but I can comment as a web user. Sometimes it's the little things... I was a bit jarred by your website being so dark. The menu buttons were hard to find (hard being a relative term here, of course) because there was a lack of contrast. And then the news page shocks the system again by being bright white. On the blog page, the menu buttons go away (but they do not on any other page).

Usability things aside, am I guessing correctly that you are intentionally making the site very dark in order to say something about the light industry? I don't quite get it... on a gut level I would have expected something crisp and beautiful maybe, in order to match the product (something maybe like http://www.betterplace.com )

davidw
How are you going to go head to head with Phillips and win? They can push stuff out to stores, grocery markets, and all kinds of channels. What's your strategy?

Your web page is kind of empty looking to me... there's no 'there', there. The news bit is kind of weird; it doesn't feel well integrated. I also agree that the hosting affiliation link is kind of distracting. I would go for something apple-ish... showcase your product, show people how beautiful it is.

cabalamat
Maybe they have a patent they can license to Phillips and other large manufacturers.
markessien
It's unlikely to work. People don't like their light texture to change - because it's what they are used to. LED light has a different texture from normal light, and this is a bit jarring.

So, unless you can make something cheaper, the only way to gain traction in the light market is by massive marketing - and I don't think a startup can afford that type of marketing.

Also, remove the webfaction affiliate link, it makes you look real cheap.

swombat
They can work in certain settings. We're using some white LEDs in our kitchen, for instance, and they work fine (and consume an incredibly small amount of energy). They also pretty much never die, which is nice... you kind of buy them for life.

Wouldn't use them in the living room though, unfortunately, only good old fashioned yellow incandescent light there.

markessien
These guys should look at supplying such bulbs for solar panel powered homes, as there is a clear benefit there compared to standard homes.
wheels
Incandescent lights are being banned in some countries now, and I expect more to follow, there's a gap opening up for new stuff.

The "eco" lights that are starting to catch on in Germany have a pretty harsh spectrum and take a while to reach a useful brightness, so I'd imagine that if there were an instant on LED bulb with a more appealing spectrum at a reasonable price that it'd do well in the market.

markessien
I'm really not convinced that bulbs is a good space for a small startup. It's the type of product that needs a lot of push behind it, and that's exactly what startups don't have.
wheels
I'm not convinced that it's an easy space either, but that's really all about the distribution channels. If you wanted to do this as a startup what you'd need to do is to lure away someone who's specifically connected in the lighting industry. I think access to the distribution channels would be much more important than money -- and I'm not even convinced that if you did have money that you could automagically solve the distribution problem. There are of course fabrication expenses, but I can only assume that the original poster has taken those into account.
markessien
Yes, you're right of course, distribution is another problem. I really don't see how something like this would work - if someone made me head of a light bulb startup and gave me $500 million, I'd still be quite lost as to how to go about doing things. I'd probably burn through a lot of money on consultants and all that.

I think some types of business are better suited to big companies, and some are better suited to smaller companies.

paraschopra
What is it? Am I the only one who cannot see a thing on the homepage?
swombat
Big nono: I've been looking at your page for 5 minutes and I still can't figure out what it is that you make (other than that it's related to LEDs) - I'm not gonna watch a video just to figure that out.
tdoggette
When I click something on the top nav, the top nav goes away, so I can't pick something else. That's bad.
rshao
I agree. This part wouldn't be vital for a pitch (unless showing the site is a part of it), but for anyone going to the site, it would be. If I can't figure out what the site's about, I'm just going to close the tab. It's like what Gladwell says in The Tipping Point about Sesame Street, people lose when it's confusing.
hikari17
I work for the fiber-optics division of a multinational electronic/optical connector firm. We're very interested in solid-state lighting as an area for near-term strategic investment. I'm currently monitoring several startups in this area and will add yours to the list. Good luck with your pitch at StartUpCamp Montreal!
epi0Bauqu
Put a little more on the front page. Either a one sentence (with a link to more) or an actual picture example of what it is.
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noelchurchill
The video was entertaining and if your product is similar to the philips livingcolors then it should be very cool! Good luck with your pitch!
lowkey
Thanks everyone for your feedback. Please keep it coming.

For those who are curious here is a bit more context: The company was founded to commercialize technology developed by our founder, an electrical engineer with 15 years of hardware development experience. His first big project at the age of 15 was a pirate radio station he built from scratch in his bedroom. He has been innovating ever since and has developed multiple novel electronics and radiometric products over the course of his career.

The other two co-founders have equally impressive backgrounds. One co-founder has over a decade of senior operations and intellectual property expertise. The second co-founder has over ten years experience in sales, marketing, and product development with both Fortune 1000 and several startup ventures. We do not have extensive lighting industry experience but instead have taken a hacker's approach to both the engineering and market challenges.

I am looking forward to sharing more about our 'secret sauce' but am limited until our provisionals are filed.

We are currently filing our first patents covering improvements in brightness, color rendering, control, thermal management, and cost - significant problems that have so far prevented widespread deployment of LEDs for mainstream lighting.

Although our technology can be broadly applied we are focusing on launching a standalone consumer floor or desk lamp and have partnered with leading design partners to develop a simple, affordable, and attractive enclosure. We are not developing an LED light bulb but instead are focusing our resources on launching a lamp with breakthrough price performance to be sold over the internet to eco-friendly, design-savvy, gadget-geeks.

It will be as bright as a 100 watt incandescent light bulb but will consume a fraction of the energy, last up to 50x as long and will allow users to control the color temperature of light in addition to brightness. We expect it to sell for under $200US and we will be in Beta by Q1 2009.