What are you going to do with it? I mean, I understand the tie-in with plenty offish, but aside from being a platform to serve their ads, are you going to do something else with it? Maybe do a 12seconds.tv thing where you have people submit their video pickup line or something?
I like it. Reminds me a little bit of go2web20.net and usefultools.com but it's different enough. I've been looking for sites like this so I can add a listing for my company when we officially launch.
The one question I have deals with how much data you'll have at launch. Right now, when I search for anything in MA, there's nothing there. Are you planning on either:
a) just focusing on CA for launch
b) preloading some data so there's at least something there
c) connecting to an API or other service like Yelp, etc. to display some local listings, allowing users to select those businesses to add to the feedbackjar listing
My other question: Are you purposely staying vague with your categories? When I go to add a business, there are no category selectors, though it feels like there should be (could just be me).
I've noticed some startups that are killing their free versions and going pay-only (notably jott and sprout builder lately). I had a couple of questions about that, and for anyone that would rather talk here than on my post itself, here are the q's:
1. What percentage of free users convert to paid users?
Looking at a TechCrunch article that covered Jott, they say:
In August voice-to-text service Jott moved out of beta and added a premium feature for $4/month. Since then, the company says, about 30% of Jott’s active users have opted for the premium, no-ads version of the service.
30% seems really, really high to me, but I could be way off. But even if 30% of the free users upgraded, that leaves 70% that are gone completely. That’s 70% of the people that have heard about you, come to your site, and actually signed up to use your service.
2. What is the cost of keeping free members?
Like I mentioned above, most startups would kill to keep their users, especially when they have a premium version to offer. With such a captive audience already using the product, there are great opportunities to plug the full version in every communication.
3. Are there competitors ready to take your free users?
When you get rid of your free users (especially if they are frequent users of your service), they’re likely to look for another service to replace you. What if there are other services that would welcome your subscribers?
4. How will startups attract new users without a free version?
Without a free version to hook new users, how do you sell users on paying for the service? A 30 or 60 day trial? If that’s the case, what’s the point of getting rid of the free users? Is it solely the ability to charge them after 30 or 60 days? Is it the simple shift from
a) users that are freely using the service without offering up their credit cards
to
b) users that are using the service, but have their credit card on file, so if they forget to cancel, or think the service is ok, you can charge them
I’m not knocking the strategy. It certainly has a higher probability of making some cash, but free trial vs. freemium upgrade certainly feel like very different animals. One motivates me to check it out and bail immediately, looking for flaws and reasons to stop payment. The other makes me actually try something out at no cost, and if I feel that the service is useful, I’ll pay for it by making the choice myself.
5. Will the cost of your service be enough to be profitable?
Finally, the big question: even with a high conversion rate, is the subscription charge enough to make sufficient profit without some ad component?
Has anyone worked from another coworking environment in a different city? I wrote about betahouse, as it's the only one I know here in the Boston area, but if there are others, I'd love to hear about what people have thought of them. Thanks.
You're right, these are pretty obvious and appealing to a mass audience is much harder than just marketing to the tech crowd. I'd suggest checking out Andrew Chen's blog: http://andrewchenblog.com/
This guy is THE guy to read when it comes to user acquisition.
Please let me know if this post is useful or if you have any questions. I know that a lot of these points are of the "duh" variety, but if you have any questions specific to your startup, I'm happy to help.
Just submitted my post, 10 Tips On Attacking The Chicken and Egg Problem: New Users Won’t Sign Up Because No One Is There. If you have any specific questions, let me know. Happy to give feedback.
I just wrote a blog post about attacking the chicken and egg problem: when users won't sign up because no one is there. Hopefully there will be some usable advice:
I knew some people would think this is a list of "duh" things to do, but I put it together after seeing posts asking how to get noticed. Sure, a lot of it is basic stuff, but I thought it could be helpful for someone just starting out.
Saw a bunch of Hackernews posts from startup entrepreneurs asking how to get their product noticed, so I thought I'd throw this list together. Sure, it's a lot of "duh" stuff, but if you go through the list and submit your site and use each of the items, I guarantee you'll be off to a good start. Also, am I missing a "forgot password" link? I tried to login but my password was wrong, so I had to create a new account.
Thanks so much. Can't wait to check it out!