Ask HN: Review my startup, sharedstatus.com
5 comments
I really like the website. There could be a bit more eye-catching elements on the front page, but besides that everything looks really clean.
But I have to agree - you should definately put up a section "What makes us different". When I was browsing around on your webpage all I thought was "What makes this different to Basecamp??"
So you don't necessarily make a comparison page, but highlight what you do better with your product than other project management software.
But I have to agree - you should definately put up a section "What makes us different". When I was browsing around on your webpage all I thought was "What makes this different to Basecamp??"
So you don't necessarily make a comparison page, but highlight what you do better with your product than other project management software.
Looks nice. The first thing I looked for is how your application's PoV is different from Basecamp's. Leading with a comparison would quickly let me know whether I'm interested without having to figure it out myself. I did sign up and it looks solid. Best of luck!
Thanks - really appreciate you taking a look at it. I've always been reluctant to draw direct comparisons with other products. As a consumer when I see that happen it always feels like a completely biased point of view.
Definitely something to think about. Perhaps in a "Why SharedStatus" section.
Definitely something to think about. Perhaps in a "Why SharedStatus" section.
If you do it right, it may not feel like you're making a biased statement or sales pitch, but rather conveying your product's orientation and/or what made you create SharedStatus in the first place. Presumably it was because you thought other proj mgmt apps haven't gotten it quite right yet. THAT's the piece I was looking for...
Same here. Looks nice, but why would I even investigate further or try it out, if you're not strongly selling me on how you're different.
It's a crowded market. For me, you need to tell me on the homepage how you're different.
"Never do another status report" is aimed at people doing status reports. That's not me :)
"Organizing your team" does sound interesting to me, that's what I want.
"SharedStatus is an online tool for helping you collaborate with your team members, assign tasks to people, keep projects focused and up to date and provide on demand status reports that can be presented to your management team or clients." -> that's bad writing. Let's start at the beginning: "SharedStatus is an online tool", yes we know, "for helping you collaborate with your team members", passive voice not good. Replace that entire sentence with "Collaborate with your team". You're saying the same. And now that it's shorter, you may realize that you're not saying much. "Keep projects focused and up to date and ", right, this sentence is really starting to ramble ("and and and"). Etc.
So my first step would be to really rewrite the sales pages and focus on why I would try you out. You have to convince me you're not just another basecamp. And explain me how and why. Lots of writing :)
Good luck!
It's a crowded market. For me, you need to tell me on the homepage how you're different.
"Never do another status report" is aimed at people doing status reports. That's not me :)
"Organizing your team" does sound interesting to me, that's what I want.
"SharedStatus is an online tool for helping you collaborate with your team members, assign tasks to people, keep projects focused and up to date and provide on demand status reports that can be presented to your management team or clients." -> that's bad writing. Let's start at the beginning: "SharedStatus is an online tool", yes we know, "for helping you collaborate with your team members", passive voice not good. Replace that entire sentence with "Collaborate with your team". You're saying the same. And now that it's shorter, you may realize that you're not saying much. "Keep projects focused and up to date and ", right, this sentence is really starting to ramble ("and and and"). Etc.
So my first step would be to really rewrite the sales pages and focus on why I would try you out. You have to convince me you're not just another basecamp. And explain me how and why. Lots of writing :)
Good luck!
Great feedback - thanks!
One of the ways we wanted to approach this space was to address the pain point of status reports; people spend time putting them together, then waste a lot of time sitting in meetings reviewing them. I still feel it's a space, though it may not appeal to everyone. Rather than be one of N "project management" tools, we were hoping to become synonymous with helping eliminate the status report / meeting mindset.
One of the ways we wanted to approach this space was to address the pain point of status reports; people spend time putting them together, then waste a lot of time sitting in meetings reviewing them. I still feel it's a space, though it may not appeal to everyone. Rather than be one of N "project management" tools, we were hoping to become synonymous with helping eliminate the status report / meeting mindset.
ok then you should market to those people. Can't help you there, I don't do status reports, luckily.
Clickable: http://sharedstatus.com
Looks like an interesting PM tool, will have to check it out a little later during my off hours. Thanks for sharing!
Looks like an interesting PM tool, will have to check it out a little later during my off hours. Thanks for sharing!
suggestion: make the mac-photo be clickable. It could end up playing the video itself or take the user to a page with more screenshots of your system.
Update: just noticed that it changes when I mouse over the "share tasks" and such links. Not very intuitive for me that I should put my mouse over them and they are somehow connected to the monitor-section.
suggestion: "Project was successfully created" should auto-close after 5 seconds, since it is that type of message.
Update: just noticed that it changes when I mouse over the "share tasks" and such links. Not very intuitive for me that I should put my mouse over them and they are somehow connected to the monitor-section.
suggestion: "Project was successfully created" should auto-close after 5 seconds, since it is that type of message.
Great suggestions - thanks!
I've received some outstanding feedback, both here, on the IRC #Startups channel and via email. I really appreciate you folks helping us improve our product!
First off, a couple of data points: I originally launched SharedStatus in 2009. The product wasn’t ready, had a complex feature set and a pricing and trial model that got me several hundred users but few paying customers. I acquired a new partner, we rebuilt the application from the ground up and I’ve embraced the freemium model. We just launched it at the beginning of February.
From a funding standpoint we are self-funded and hope to keep it that way. I’ve had success in the past as a startup founder, hit an equity event and have the luxury of pursuing this on my own terms.
I recognize that people look at our product and say “Oh, so you’re like Basecamp / Yammer / etc”—this is just where we landed. There are others doing what we are doing but we all have a slightly different take on it. I suffer no delusions of grandeur of becoming “Facebook for IT” or anything like that; I just want to have a product that solves a defined need that my partner and I are passionate about, acquire as many customers as I can to build a sustainable business and have a valuable service.
Other than general feedback on the site and/or product, I would love to hear some HN feedback on our freemium offering. I really want to encourage people to start out—and in some cases continue to use—the free version. The goal is to market (without being obnoxious) our paid models to them with increased capacities and features.
Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide on SharedStatus.