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Ask HN: We launched our startup (GroupieGuide) today. What do you think?

25 points by fixie ↗ HN
We requested feedback on HN when we first launched our private alpha. We launched publicly today with a new interactive theme designer, group subscription with integrated e-mail, and a bunch of usability fixes. What do you think?

21 comments

[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 65.0 ms ] thread
fortes
Quick feedback / pet peeve: You've done a great job of making it easy and quick to see how to create a group, but I'm curious about what the groups look like & do. Screenshots or a link to an existing group would do just fine.
suhail
Some might ask how is this different from Ning.com or Tangler.com?

What are you going to say? How are you going to win? How will you overcome the customer lock in at established competitors?

carlosrr
We think that there are many users that want a web page for their group but don't want to interact online. GroupieGuide is a gets out of the way solution where most of the interaction can be done over e-mail. Visitors don't need to navigate to get the information that they need.

Both ning and tangler focus on building online social interactions through the website. We are trying to cater to the users that have been ignored by social networks.

babyshake
First of all, the picture on the homepage is hilarious.

But I would need to be convinced why I should use these groups instead of Facebook Groups, when my friends and I are already all on Facebook.

fixie
Good point, we probably need to emphasize this a bit more. We are trying to convince people that GroupieGuide offers groups a fully-functional customized website that they can call their own. On Facebook, Meetup, Google/Yahoo Groups, groups aren't able to express themselves with their own design and branding. GroupieGuide only has a single link back at the bottom of the group page.
jlees
Does a book club or happy hour group need, or want, custom design and branding?
Frocer
May be you can use Facebook Connect to take down the sign up barriers, and this way, you will also get promoted in your new user's newsfeed when they join / create a group.

But the value prop of what features I would need that Facebook Group doesn't have isn't prominent enough.

vaksel
The background pic is a little confusing to me
tonyd138
How does this make money? You were compared to Ning.com or Tangler.com, asked how will you get their customers. I think calling them customers is a stretch, none of them make money.
fixie
Currently we don't make any money :) We have some thoughts on how to monetize it in the future, but at this point we are just focusing on building an awesome application that people would actually find useful.
JimmyL
I clicked on the five thumbnails located below the main image with the expectation that something would happen - maybe a larger image of whatever it's a thumbnail of, or some more description of what integrate email, for example, means.

Likewise with the six sample uses under create a website to - if recruit readers for a book club is listed as a suggested use, and it's visually presented as a button-shaped thing, I expect to be able to click on it and see a demo (either live example site or screenshot) of what it would look like if I chose to use your site for that purpose.

Having a GetSatisfaction link on individual group pages is unclear - is the user being invited to give feedback on the individual page, the group, or the service in general.

When editing a group's page, have some easy way to see what the thing will look like when viewed by a normal, non-logged in user - the same idea as Facebook's feature to see what your profile looks like when viewed by someone else.

Also, maybe some more explaining what the service is. Until I got to the screen below the fold, I thought the site would be a way for a band's groupies to organize themselves, or for the best strategies to become a groupie.

joevandyk
Good point, we will be making adjustments to the front page shortly.
physcab
The site is very well designed and put together. I was pretty confused by the landing page though. I should be able to understand your product in 5 seconds and that didn't exactly happen.

Also I'm curious to know what problem this solves or how much demand is really out there for this product. Need a site? Google Sites does the job well. Need a discussion group? Facebook Groups has that covered. Need to collaborate? Google Docs, Google Calendar, E-mail, all fit the bill fine.

If you're main pull is to provide custom design/branding, then why are users held to the GroupieGuide domain? Doesn't it defeat the purpose?

I interact with a research group on a day to day basis, but I simply did not see enough value for me to create a presence on your site. Maybe I missed the point--in which case you need to make it more clear why your product is not for me.

carlosrr
I think you hit the nail right in the head when you mention all these different services. There are many products out there that expand our features, however using and mashing these products together ends up with a complicated and difficult to setup service.

We picked features that are useful for non-techies and made them accessible through a single interface.

joevandyk
You will be able to use your own domain shortly.
cool-RR
And I thought it would be a guide on getting groupies.
alexitosrv
I really like the visual design of the whole thing. Good job!

It looks very polished and professionally designed.