Not 1 person after all this work? Is a sick joke being played with me?

I don't have any iOS devices, so I can't download it, but apparently at least one person has downloaded it, as their is a review on the apple store that says the app crashed and never worked on his iOS6 iPhone 4.

As far as getting users, why are you coming to HN looking for users? You clearly read HN, you read about how to do PR and pitch, did you miss everything on how to find product market fit? Did you miss everything on research before building, or building MVP and getting friends to try your app?

I don't think you app is a bad idea, but it isn't something I'm going to jump on until I know other people are using it. If nobody is using it, their are no anon 'broadcasts' to be shared. You have a classic chicken-egg problem. Nobody is using your app, so their (likely) isn't any content their which is making people interested in viewing that content.

This is part of the problem with anon apps, where people can't try before installing. There is no point in me telling a friend, hey download this app because I'm in it, because... if I'm anonymous, they aren't going to see who I am anyway. What is your pitch to your friends as to why they should use this app? What do they say. Get 5 people you know to install and use it, then adjust based on feedback.

Hey KANDARP,

I guess, It must have been an experience to get through all that. You may have gone wrong this time and who knows.....you just have to be right just one time.

Ship early, fail early.

One more: You need a copywriter.

Best of luck.

You need to relax on the analogy. Consider - why does someone look at a box of pizza and decide that it tastes bad? Why does someone looking to buy a watch walk past a jewelry store? From the app preview alone, I can tell you that there is nothing really standing out here. Why do I want to share anonymous pictures of Katy Perry? If I want to share anonymous pictures, I already know of Snapchat. If I want to share anonymous text with a random group of people, I'll use Yik Yak or Secrets. If I want to share photos, I can use Facebook or Flickr. I can make an 'anonymous' account on Flickr to share photos. Why do I want this app on my phone?

You need to work on the pitch a bit more. Just throwing together the words "anonymous" and "pictures" doesn't do it for me. Also, try not to take it so hard. When you said "Jesus Christ man...", I got the impression that you were taking this pretty rough. It's nothing personal, but in a world with so many apps already, why should I add your app to my home screen? Why should I spend another 10 minutes a day with this app?

Startup news sites are not a business plan and relying on them is a mistake. Similarly, tons of material about startups is just advertising, the majority of it should be ignored.

Building something people want is really hard, can take a lot of trying and failing, and is the reason why almost every startup fails. You have to keep trying until you figure it out. Think about who your ideal customer is and how/where you can find them. Then do that until you have many of them.

I think it is unclear what "... sharing your life anonymously" means. For example, if I told my friend that I'm using this app, and he follows my broadcasts, and he pretty much knows that I'm the only one using this app, won't he be able to deduce that it is me that is broadcasting? (You mention a "broadcast map" as well; well, if I live in Timbuktu, and I'm the only person there, won't my friend know it's me?) Also, in the text accompanying the first screenshot, you say, "... sharing it with the entire world." Saying that doesn't match up with the idea of having "followers." Now, I think I know what you mean, but the two groups ("followers" and "the entire world") don't match, and create a dissonance in my mind that gets me close to just rejecting the whole thing outright.

I'm sure you gained a lot of valuable experience programming-wise. To a programmer, that's something tangible. Not only that, but you persevered and got the app into the App Store.

Said gently, but this app isn't interesting. That might be why. This is the hardest thing about software development, building something people want. You have built something people don't want.

I was willing to download it, but the first line "Note: Works only with iPhone and iPad. Does not work with iPod Touch" prevented me. I have a modern iPod touch (same generation as iPhone 5). Why won't your app work on it?

Some comments:

- This looks a bit like Rando, but Rando was more interesting. Even the icon of your app is plain.

- No Android support is a dealbreaker for a huge number of users, including me.

- Your only customer review is rather negative.

Work to make your app more appealing (read more about Rando, if you are not aware of it), port it to Android and try again. I'm sure you'll have better results next time.

Good luck!

I don't have an iphone and so can't install it, but here is a question: if it's anonymous posting and in a social network, maybe there is a lack of incentive since I don't know who will be following me and I can't be identified. but this is just a guess. what is the closest anonymous social network you're trying to emulate?

btw, when you had your initial idea did you run it by people who resembled your target audience or did you go straight into production mode?

btw, you now have comment that says "never ran just crashed. deleting"

When I open the app the only description presented is this line:

> Note: Works only with iPhone and iPad. Does not work with iPod Touch. Not sure why App Store included that. I'm looking into this, thanks for understanding.

So literally the most important single line of the description, the only line which people can see without hitting the "...more" button is there just to avoid technical support enquiries!

That's just utter foolish. Move that junk down further into the description! The first line should be a single line summary of what the app is.

Also sharing your life "anonymously" in a social network, with photographs of all things, is a contradiction. It is pretty mind bending to imagine how those things come together in a usable way.

Even after reading the full description I still don't really "get it." What does this offer me that e.g. Snapchat or Facebook won't? What is the USP?

>Anonymous profiles

You just defeated the purpose of anonymity

Seems similar to unseen. They are doing very well last I heard but they had a very tight niche target of universities.

I don't get it. I don't know what your app does. The app may be interesting and compelling. But there's nothing on the iTunes page that explains what the app does. Why is Katy Perry on the app page? What does she have to do with it? How does a well-known celebrity jive with an anonymous app? Did you get permission to use her likeness? I'm so confused.

Okay? So, just by looking at the box of pizza, you're going to judge that the pizza tastes bad? Jesus Christ man...

Actually, yes, people judge pizza all the time based on factors unrelated to the quality of the product. Why do you think Papa John's, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, etc. spend so much money on advertising?

To extend the analogy, I don't even know what's in the box. Your app could be pizza. Or it could be tuna fish. I have no idea what I'm getting.

On the app's first screenshot, I'd put pictures that tell someone's story instead of sunsets and clouds (and definitely not any stock photos). If people are to download the app to peek into one's life, that life should be worth peeking into.

Kind of like Secret. Most people download it to read someone else's secrets, not to share their own.

According to the app site, the product is in Beta and you're only "allowing" Mashable readers to use it. I'm not a Mashable reader, so punt. Also, how is this at version 2.0.3 already with no version history?

Not every app 'clicks' instantly with users. Sending them directly to itunes might not be the best way to convert them. Have you tried sending folks to a landing page first (so can prime them on the idea, show them a cool video, etc)?

The other advantage of this method is that once users are on your site (instead of the itunes store), you can get better analytics and behavior tracking (to understand when/why/where users are exiting the conversion funnel). Additionally, once your landing page is setup you can run more traditional marketing campaigns (adwords etc) to that site, and try all kinds of different ways to pitch the product to the potential users.

Don't give up man, marketing isn't easy.

During all the months of work on this, at what point did someone tell you, "I've been looking for something exactly like this."

At the risk of straining the analogy, the pizza might be tasty, and the box might be attractive and functional, but if a pizza delivery guy showed up at your door unexpected and unannounced, would you just pay him, or would you be more likely to say, "I didn't order this."

Boring icon, stock-photo screenshots, bad description, bad review => nobody will download your app like this.

First, you need to talk to people and have them try out your app. Email your friends. Get them to use the app, at least try it. Get feedback. It's not marketing you're missing, it's product. Good luck!

How many users said they wanted this before you started building it?

So here's what "they" don't tell you: building a successful startup -- even by moderate definitions of "successful," such as, "reaching a point that lets you only work 4 hours/week" -- is what economists call a "superstar economy." Kinda like being a musician or a basketball player: 99.99% of the starving artists or guys in the neighborhood playing hoops make $0.00 from it, but one-in-a-million make a killing. There's a small "middle class" in the ecosystem (people who don't strike the goldmind but do just fine) but, for all practical purposes, it's really, really tiny, too.

So, therefore: building your own app and putting it into the app store is helluva lot like trying to make your garage band a big hit. You must remember these three things to start your own band (or your own startup):

1.) Expect your band will never make a dollar. (Similarly, expect the startup to never make a dollar.)

2.) You must love creating music and feel such a deep calling to create that music, that you will obsessively create that music with the band, even remember #1, that your band will never make a dollar. (Yup, you must be so obsessed with your company's mission and vision that you'll do it even expecting it to fail.)

3.) You must be emotionally ready to play the lottery. If you're not emotionally ready for the lottery, stay home.

4.) Similarly, you must instinctively feel like you are blessed by Fortuna, because luck needs to be on your side not just tonight but for the whole journey.

5.) It's a f---load of hardwork to get people to notice what you do, and to get them excited about it. Are you prepared for that overwhelming, intense, nonstop amount of hardwork?

6.) You know what's even harder about the hard work? There's no one to tell you what to do. You don't even know if what you're doing is the right thing or not. There is a way to change what you're doing and create something that will get people peeing in their pants with excitement. But you need to figure it out. No one will tell you, ever. In other words, more painful then 24 hours/day of work is 24 hours/day of work and not even knowing if you're doing the right work....

7.) Unless you happen to have a very strong mentor or model, it makes the incredible amount of hard work still even harder. Jimmy Page was the highest paid studio musician in England before he went to start his own band. He had a series of great mentors to teach him the path. A good mentor will teach you what to listen to and what to ignore. You probably want to ignore this rambling post here.

Okay, 3 minute break over, back to work.... :)

morgan

Okay, I am just going to say what's in my mind. It may sound harsh, but it's what I think of it.

Maybe this pizza tastes good, maybe this pizza tastes bad. But what if I don't really want pizza at all?

I don't see one reason for using this app. Even if I wanted to build up an anonymous online profile which people could follow, I'd probably use one of the other networks out there which have a greater reach. You are really not offering anything different which makes me want to use your app.

Golden advice: What a user says, is very VERY different to what a user does.

Good, USEFUL, apps do not require a pitch by the founder to get someone to sign up. The product needs to sell itself.

Just from looking at your app on iTunes, the biggest flag for me is: Why would I want to use THIS when I have Instagram? What problem does THIS app solve that others don't (if any)?

Someone else mentioned it here, but I've gotta ask: At what point did you hear someone say that they really needed something like this in their lives vs something like this 'has a place'?