Ask HN: My app is shared on Twitter every day. What should I do?
My problem is it's shared on Twitter, but it has bugs and it's not good enough to begin marketing yet. I'm learning Swift to build the 2nd version, but I'm not an iOS coder, so the build is slow going. I've had a ton of feedback and I have the design and features of the next version planned.
Should I pursue seed funding? Should I apply to an accelerator? Should I look for a partner to help with coding? I don't have much money, but should I hire someone? I've looked at the analytics and the market segment is pretty clear. It makes me a little nervous to see the social sharing without much real ability to capitalize on it. I'm not sure how long Buffer will keep it in the suggested articles rotation (although it seems like it's been 6 months now). It's shared on Twitter and LinkedIn almost everyday for at least 3 months. I feel like the opportunity is slipping away.
I may be overreacting, but hopefully you can understand my anxiety. You can see the shares by searching Twitter for "rememberwinapp.com".
54 comments
[ 5.2 ms ] story [ 112 ms ] threadThe other questions are harder and really something you have to figure out for yourself. I can say a partner can help and turning a side project into a business is a ton of work. At the same time don't let fear of missing out force a rash choice and only work with someone you trust and have a track record with.
You have built something people seem to want and that's a great first step.
This is a moot argument. Of course s/he has to have a plan if s/he wants to be in business. What was asked was suggestions, not detailed strategy deliverables.
(this involves releasing under GPL)
The GPL license do not allow additional license requirement to be added, so apple would need addtional permission from the author before distributing the software.
Keep up the momentum!
Btw: just bought a copy of your app.
More to the point, is there a business entity that owns the app? If so (or if you can create one), giving some equity to someone in exchange for helping you complete the app (either the current version or the next) is a way to pay without any cash outlay.
Since you're already finding some success in the marketing department I'd think finding someone who'd "invest" in your business in that way would be a possibility.
Last... definitely not accusing you of anything, but I was just musing on the fact that this would make a good marketing campaign: young upstart with too much success and not enough capital -- it's like a cinderella story ;)
I'm in a similar situation with http://petithacks.com Launched it last september while learning Rails, and got some traffic peaks that bring among 2-3k users/month (but only 100 active - liking, saving stuff).
I'm pretty sure Buffer suggested stories and LinkedIn Pulse have been a some part in the growth. It's largely being shared within a niche on Twitter. It's a very simple app at moment. I don't have much for in-app analytics.
drop me a line if I can help somehow javier@petithacks.com
You don't have to optimize every part of the project for it to be successful. You're not going to miss out on anything if you don't perfectly execute right now, just focus on getting better a little at a time.
I would be excited if you saw people spontaneously praising it on Twitter, not Buffering it. When i search on Twitter, I only see the automated Buffers, not tweets like "Just found out this app.. love it!" or "Has anyone else used this app?".
I know conversions are only a small percentage. Some people are excited and I still receive emails from people. Eyeballs first, conversions second right? My page visits have been growing, and Twitter is a percentage of it.
It's something to build on. My honest take is that people are interested in the idea, but I need to continue working on the product. Execution is important.
It's useful to several different groups: business teams, coaches, people in the employment space and normal people. I only need to cover rent and other expenses.
There are a few options (in-app purchases, ads, pro account for business teams).
This is a good problem to have and there's not much you have to do to 'fix' it, just capture interest, improve product, and tell interested parties.
Is your app free?
They also suggest tweets for you when your queue runs empty.
n.b., rememberwinapp.com is a pretty cool idea. You can definitely spin it along at least two angles: "life hack" approaches and "better mental health" approaches (work with a professional counselor on this one).
I found an awesome developer overseas, but I'm at a point where I'm not sure how much money I want to put into it. I've decided to slowly keep improving based on customer feedback (I'm self-funding this). It's a great learning experience at the very least.
Here's what I suggest:
1) Fix the bugs and 2.) Consider charging more (I'd probably triple the price if I was you)
It seems like you're delivering quite a bit of value. Don't be afraid to charge more.
Have you spent any time working out the total market size for your app? Doing some basic modeling might help you make your decision!
The fact that you already have market validation is huge! Many startups burn ask their energy and money just getting there.
Also, if you need someone to port it to Android, feel free to give me a yell :P
Measure and prioritize the bugs. If you don't know how many people are dealing with them you can't figure out how many you need to fix.
> I'm learning Swift to build the 2nd version
I won't tell you what to do, but software history is full of 2nd versions the morphed into death marches.
tl;dr Figure out the fewest amount of bugs you need to fix to make it work for 80% of your users and then market aggressively. Do not rewrite right now.
That being said, I highly recommend against it if your primary goal is one of the following:
- revenues
- features
- installs
- bugfixes
It will take you longer than expected to accomplish very little in terms of meaningful improvements which can be relayed to your customers.
This is tangential and not really an answer to your question, but you should probably work on your icon a little bit. At the moment, it reads to me like "sketchy website companion app". It'll be miles better just by removing the white/azure background and having the goblet a little bigger and by itself. (IMO.)
In terms of advice -- everyone's already said it: don't rewrite now, just fix the important bugs and give it a push.
Good luck!