I quit my job to do a startup.(blog.eval.me)
blog.eval.me
I quit my job to do a startup.
http://blog.eval.me/?p=26
37 comments
It's Knockout:
It's also a terrible, terrible mistake, because you're not just abusing the license, you're also publishing HF+J's font.
They should fix this now. Just kill the font declarations.
HTF Knockout (c) 1994-7 The Hoefler Type Foundry, Inc. http://www.typography.com
It's also a terrible, terrible mistake, because you're not just abusing the license, you're also publishing HF+J's font.
They should fix this now. Just kill the font declarations.
This is super important. Use Typekit, or another font that allows embedding (Lost Type Co-Op is great http://losttype.com/browse).
If it's not "Knockout", I'd love to know what it actually is. Always need more good fonts.
If it's not "Knockout", I'd love to know what it actually is. Always need more good fonts.
It is Knockout, the meta data in the font files say so.
Thank you so much for bring this to my attention. I have now changed it to LeagueGothicRegular.
I apologize for any harm I may have caused with the previous font. Please let me know if you are having trouble viewing the font.
I apologize for any harm I may have caused with the previous font. Please let me know if you are having trouble viewing the font.
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We don't care of that, get out :)
I like the idea, but I believe there are some issues.
PRICING 1) 1,25 $ is a lot of money for one (1) completed survey. 2) What prevents a company from doing this themselves (is your added value worth 0.25 $ per survey?)
SAMPLE 1) Charities are arguably not the best motivator for people. 2) In a world focused on the right metrics, your surveys automatically incorporate a bias into the results by only selecting those people who care about charity (to put it very blunt and stereotypical, you will only get tree hugging hippies). Same goes for prizes, but a prize is less about the core identity of your respondent (not a belief).
PITCH VIDEO 1) I felt a world-changing idea when you talked about "in person", was kind of disappointed when I realized it's still a survey with a different incentive 2) Half of the people a survey got mailed to don't respond. That's not a disadvantage, it's an awesome conversion rate. 3) I can't find any information except for that video (maybe a use case). 4) I don't really see a benefit for me as a user. Let's say deliverables: will you give me an SPSS database, a report, an analysis, can I import it in excel?, will it even have forms or is it just a way to give an incentive. Lot's of unanswered questions.
PERSONAL 1) Love the chat box and the 'I'm a real person and founder' part. Not sure how long you will keep it up :). 2) I like that you as a person are part of the brand, something very potent.
PRICING 1) 1,25 $ is a lot of money for one (1) completed survey. 2) What prevents a company from doing this themselves (is your added value worth 0.25 $ per survey?)
SAMPLE 1) Charities are arguably not the best motivator for people. 2) In a world focused on the right metrics, your surveys automatically incorporate a bias into the results by only selecting those people who care about charity (to put it very blunt and stereotypical, you will only get tree hugging hippies). Same goes for prizes, but a prize is less about the core identity of your respondent (not a belief).
PITCH VIDEO 1) I felt a world-changing idea when you talked about "in person", was kind of disappointed when I realized it's still a survey with a different incentive 2) Half of the people a survey got mailed to don't respond. That's not a disadvantage, it's an awesome conversion rate. 3) I can't find any information except for that video (maybe a use case). 4) I don't really see a benefit for me as a user. Let's say deliverables: will you give me an SPSS database, a report, an analysis, can I import it in excel?, will it even have forms or is it just a way to give an incentive. Lot's of unanswered questions.
PERSONAL 1) Love the chat box and the 'I'm a real person and founder' part. Not sure how long you will keep it up :). 2) I like that you as a person are part of the brand, something very potent.
This is great feedback. Thank you.
Pricing: It may be a lot but I think every customer's opinion should be worth at least $1.25. If a company does not value their customer's opinion that much, they shouldn't send the survey.
Sample: I would argue the sample is already skewed towards people who either love or hate your product. I think the charity component skews it less because the act of giving your time and opinion is very similar to the act of giving to charity. Hence, more of your customers can connect with that charitable act than say, entering a drawing for a prize.
Video: I am sorry you were disappointed about it not being an in person survey system. That was not my intent.
Pricing: It may be a lot but I think every customer's opinion should be worth at least $1.25. If a company does not value their customer's opinion that much, they shouldn't send the survey.
Sample: I would argue the sample is already skewed towards people who either love or hate your product. I think the charity component skews it less because the act of giving your time and opinion is very similar to the act of giving to charity. Hence, more of your customers can connect with that charitable act than say, entering a drawing for a prize.
Video: I am sorry you were disappointed about it not being an in person survey system. That was not my intent.
3. There is more information on the About page, but I think you're looking for a feature comparison page. That's a great idea and I will get on it.
4. The results is a webpage report, with the option of downloading it to excel.
You could do 1 survey @ 25c and charge them in 4s? I think $1/ea is a bit steep as well.
I was a market research for a couple of years, and 1,25$ per completed survey is cheap if you don't manage your own panel database.
We paid around 3.50$ per respondent (french speaking adults in Quebec) and it was significantly more for specific attributes. We used GMI for our samples. Phones survey were more expensive, something like 0.25$/question/respondent.
We paid around 3.50$ per respondent (french speaking adults in Quebec) and it was significantly more for specific attributes. We used GMI for our samples. Phones survey were more expensive, something like 0.25$/question/respondent.
>> I felt a world-changing idea when you talked about "in person", was kind of disappointed when I realized it's still a survey with a different incentive
I had the same reaction. I got excited to hear what was coming and then felt let down.
I had the same reaction. I got excited to hear what was coming and then felt let down.
It's my social responsibility? Screw you. Make your own choices, don't try to foist them on me.
Indeed. I also took issue with the insinuation that working for other people always results in your job becoming "soul sucking". I can be creative, innovative and be constantly learning new things while working with incredible people at my current employer thank you very much.
It's always a brave decision to start a business, but this entire article reeks of the author trying convince/justify to themselves this risky decision.
It's always a brave decision to start a business, but this entire article reeks of the author trying convince/justify to themselves this risky decision.
Yeah, I agree. I'm really happy for the author to launch his product. It's an amazing feeling. However, I think it's important to stress that quitting your job to do this is not the only way for us to do this (as he says in the article.)
From the article:
> [Staying with your job and working on your idea at nights and weekends] seems to be an option because you always hear about ventures starting out as side-projects built on late nights and weekends. Well, I only have a few hours of focus every day. By midnight, I just blankly stare at my screen. Maybe it works for you, but it took me 2 years to figure out it does not work for me.
You know, some of us make it work for the same reason the author quit his job: We don't feel there is another good option. I have 2 kids, wife stays home, and we have a mortgage. I don't feel I have any choice but to keep my full time job. So we make it work. (Yesterday I worked a solid day at my company, came home, ate dinner, spent some time with both the kids and my wife, then put in a solid 8 hours on my own product trying to touch up the marketing site and get a major new feature up for some new customers. I got to bed a little after 5 AM. It's hard work, but again, I feel it's this or nothing.)
The only recommendation I would make to someone who feels they must quit their job in order to do a project like this: You may want to try and find a better company to work for that is more compatible with this sort of work and your goals. Flexible schedule and an understanding manager, for example, makes a huge difference. That allows you to work all night when you've got the urge, motivation, or potential customer, and still be successful in the job that pays the mortgage. In 4 years at my last job, I was never able to get a product of my own out the door. I had one out the door within about 7 months of joining the consulting company I work for now.
From the article:
> [Staying with your job and working on your idea at nights and weekends] seems to be an option because you always hear about ventures starting out as side-projects built on late nights and weekends. Well, I only have a few hours of focus every day. By midnight, I just blankly stare at my screen. Maybe it works for you, but it took me 2 years to figure out it does not work for me.
You know, some of us make it work for the same reason the author quit his job: We don't feel there is another good option. I have 2 kids, wife stays home, and we have a mortgage. I don't feel I have any choice but to keep my full time job. So we make it work. (Yesterday I worked a solid day at my company, came home, ate dinner, spent some time with both the kids and my wife, then put in a solid 8 hours on my own product trying to touch up the marketing site and get a major new feature up for some new customers. I got to bed a little after 5 AM. It's hard work, but again, I feel it's this or nothing.)
The only recommendation I would make to someone who feels they must quit their job in order to do a project like this: You may want to try and find a better company to work for that is more compatible with this sort of work and your goals. Flexible schedule and an understanding manager, for example, makes a huge difference. That allows you to work all night when you've got the urge, motivation, or potential customer, and still be successful in the job that pays the mortgage. In 4 years at my last job, I was never able to get a product of my own out the door. I had one out the door within about 7 months of joining the consulting company I work for now.
This is a great comment. I definitely missed this in my blog post, and I think you bring up a very important point.
I am definitely not insinuating every job is soul sucking. I think every job that doesn't challenge you is soul sucking.
As for self-justification, I don't think my blog post is any more self-righteousness than your comment.
As for self-justification, I don't think my blog post is any more self-righteousness than your comment.
I think maybe people are reading into it a but. I understood what you meant. I've been there. Jobs just feel that way, every single one I've had felt that way. There's a certain audience that this is probably directed to and we agree. You were pretty general with some of your statements and it was a good post as far as inspiring others to get out and chase that dream by sharing your experience. In terms of who I assume the intended audience was, I think it was a great post. Just not for everyone. Everything is relative.
I'm not. But, as you have the right to voice your opinion, I have a right to voice mine.
It helps some people: http://carlosedp.com/posts/some-people-need-challenges-to-gr...
It helps some people: http://carlosedp.com/posts/some-people-need-challenges-to-gr...
"Social Responsbility" is an inherently universal phrase. You should expect push-back if you use it.
Agreed. Did not even read the linked page. Saw the headline and immediately thought "... and this matters to me how?".
Lot's of people quit their jobs for their startups.
Lot's of people quit their jobs for their startups.
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My feedback with some tough love:
1. evaluate.me or evaluate.it would be easier to remember.
2. I don't see why anyone would pay $1.25 per response. If I have 10,000 customers, you think I'm willing to potentially put up $10,000 for charity and give you $2,500 to have them fill out a short online form? I don't know...
3. This is way too much for something that should basically be free, since it's very trivial, there are tons of free services around, or it's not hard to whip up even for Joe's PHP loving cousin.
4. The fact that $1 of $1.25 goes to a charity is even more in my face annoying. It's sending the message that you don't really want all my money, instead you're giving my money away. Given that you're so small, it sends the message that you will go out of business soon.
5. You could say that the $1 is there to get people to fill out the survey. But wouldn't people just fill it out just to send the $1 to charity with junk answers, as you mention in your video wrt the iPad?
6. In the video you say that if I just do the survey per email for free myself, less than half will respond? In a pitch, I interpret "less than half" as "about half". That sounds pretty good, I wouldn't think more would respond anyway, and email is free! Anyway, I think you should change the text of the pitch.
Good luck!
1. evaluate.me or evaluate.it would be easier to remember.
2. I don't see why anyone would pay $1.25 per response. If I have 10,000 customers, you think I'm willing to potentially put up $10,000 for charity and give you $2,500 to have them fill out a short online form? I don't know...
3. This is way too much for something that should basically be free, since it's very trivial, there are tons of free services around, or it's not hard to whip up even for Joe's PHP loving cousin.
4. The fact that $1 of $1.25 goes to a charity is even more in my face annoying. It's sending the message that you don't really want all my money, instead you're giving my money away. Given that you're so small, it sends the message that you will go out of business soon.
5. You could say that the $1 is there to get people to fill out the survey. But wouldn't people just fill it out just to send the $1 to charity with junk answers, as you mention in your video wrt the iPad?
6. In the video you say that if I just do the survey per email for free myself, less than half will respond? In a pitch, I interpret "less than half" as "about half". That sounds pretty good, I wouldn't think more would respond anyway, and email is free! Anyway, I think you should change the text of the pitch.
Good luck!
First, thanks for the feedback. It's very helpful.
1. I thought shorter = better in domain names. No?
2. It's an interesting point. Some think it's too much. Some told me it's too little. This covers credit card charges as well. Anything less than $1 donated is not worth it (hence why iPhone apps are .99).
3. By that reasoning any software should be free. But I would like to continue eating and sleeping in a bed at the same time.
4. Interesting point. I hadn't thought about it sending that message.
5. The research I looked at shows that if the company does a selfless act, their customers are more likely to be genuine in their acts. So, while you might give trash answers to get in to an iPad drawing, you're less likely to do that for the Red Cross to get a $1. Basically, people who like giving to charity typically aren't the type to give junk answers to surveys.
6. Response rates vary by industry. The university I worked at had a 80% response rate, whereas a local bank has a 10% response rate. So I tried to use an average response rate.
Thanks again for the feedback.
1. I thought shorter = better in domain names. No?
2. It's an interesting point. Some think it's too much. Some told me it's too little. This covers credit card charges as well. Anything less than $1 donated is not worth it (hence why iPhone apps are .99).
3. By that reasoning any software should be free. But I would like to continue eating and sleeping in a bed at the same time.
4. Interesting point. I hadn't thought about it sending that message.
5. The research I looked at shows that if the company does a selfless act, their customers are more likely to be genuine in their acts. So, while you might give trash answers to get in to an iPad drawing, you're less likely to do that for the Red Cross to get a $1. Basically, people who like giving to charity typically aren't the type to give junk answers to surveys.
6. Response rates vary by industry. The university I worked at had a 80% response rate, whereas a local bank has a 10% response rate. So I tried to use an average response rate.
Thanks again for the feedback.
As a web dev, seeing "eval" in a domain immediately makes me think of malware or javascript exploits.
Re: (hence why iPhone apps are .99)
Note also that Apple batch up purchases to squeeze every last cent out of the charging process.
Have you looked at Dwolla's under $10 is free offer? As a UK guy, I haven't looked into it much yet so it may not be appropriate.
Best of luck with your endeavour.
Note also that Apple batch up purchases to squeeze every last cent out of the charging process.
Have you looked at Dwolla's under $10 is free offer? As a UK guy, I haven't looked into it much yet so it may not be appropriate.
Best of luck with your endeavour.
Congrats on getting your MVP up and running. That's a big accomplishment.
However, you're at a point in your business's life where things might get dicey. I think you'll find that the business grows slower than you might hope, and no amount of coding will change that. For bootstrappers, it's just the way it goes. You're not going to spend $10,000 on ads, so you just have to do things the slow way (talking to bloggers, writing articles, posting on forums, etc, etc).
Your business will still require a lot of work from you, but at this stage it also requires time overall for people to hear about it, find it, leave, and come back later when they hear about it again. You have to give it time to grow and that means providing yourself with income. Maybe think about getting a job or doing freelancing. I know you said jobs require too much mental energy, but once the MVP is launched, you can dial back on the coding. You have to dial up the selling, but I've found this to be possible in parallel with a normal job, especially if selling doesn't involve phone calls and is just you emailing bloggers.
Anyways, I'm sure you'll find your way. Good luck!
However, you're at a point in your business's life where things might get dicey. I think you'll find that the business grows slower than you might hope, and no amount of coding will change that. For bootstrappers, it's just the way it goes. You're not going to spend $10,000 on ads, so you just have to do things the slow way (talking to bloggers, writing articles, posting on forums, etc, etc).
Your business will still require a lot of work from you, but at this stage it also requires time overall for people to hear about it, find it, leave, and come back later when they hear about it again. You have to give it time to grow and that means providing yourself with income. Maybe think about getting a job or doing freelancing. I know you said jobs require too much mental energy, but once the MVP is launched, you can dial back on the coding. You have to dial up the selling, but I've found this to be possible in parallel with a normal job, especially if selling doesn't involve phone calls and is just you emailing bloggers.
Anyways, I'm sure you'll find your way. Good luck!
Your thoughts are spot on. I am a technical guy who is trying to bootstrap my startup.
I have an MVP which I have been testing with early users. But scaling up marketing is the really hard bit. It is something which will take time, because its not really in your control. You have to keep showing up in the right places in tasteful ways.
And then people _may_ convert.
But I think it all can be done with a side income. Right now, if you have web-development + mobile skills, getting freelance jobs to pay the bills is not a bad option.
I have an MVP which I have been testing with early users. But scaling up marketing is the really hard bit. It is something which will take time, because its not really in your control. You have to keep showing up in the right places in tasteful ways.
And then people _may_ convert.
But I think it all can be done with a side income. Right now, if you have web-development + mobile skills, getting freelance jobs to pay the bills is not a bad option.
I agree. However, freelancing takes a bunch of time and focus and it's up to you to make sure you still give your startup enough focus. Otherwise, it may be better to take a lax job instead.
More power to you. But can you please make the article more readable? That background texture and drop shadow is causing me considerable eye-strain.
I'm actually surprised so many people read it.
I switched to the tab, said "Ouch, my eyes," and left.
FWIW, I went back and took a screenshot, it currently looks like this for me: http://jlarocco.com/crap/ouch_my_eyes.jpg
I switched to the tab, said "Ouch, my eyes," and left.
FWIW, I went back and took a screenshot, it currently looks like this for me: http://jlarocco.com/crap/ouch_my_eyes.jpg
This is a great point. Do you have any suggestions?
If you send me the CSS code that would help make it more readable, I'll make it live.
If you send me the CSS code that would help make it more readable, I'll make it live.
Drop the drop shadow and the wooden floor background. Don't use 298301pt fonts for the headings.
Not to be disrespectful, just helpful, but I'd start with these three simple things. Right now the page looks tacky and doesn't invite you to read the content.
The piece itself is great by the way.
Not to be disrespectful, just helpful, but I'd start with these three simple things. Right now the page looks tacky and doesn't invite you to read the content.
The piece itself is great by the way.
Don't forget to take a look at your site without your custom font. Firefox, for example, doesn't load it at all in 3.6 or 8, and it looks like crap.
Thank you for telling me this. I will get on it.
This. Definitely.
Laminate flooring as a site background was never a good idea. Dark text (#444444 or darker) and light, non-photo background. That alone will get you 95% of the way there.
Wow, that was a quick and positive response.
Without going into your css, perhaps just create a semi transparent white panel behind the text. It's a lovely site otherwise.
Without going into your css, perhaps just create a semi transparent white panel behind the text. It's a lovely site otherwise.
Thanks. I will try that. Talking to a designer friend right now, since I am not sure what would work best.
If you have any other suggestions, please email me ([email protected])
If you have any other suggestions, please email me ([email protected])
For what it is worth, I liked the design. It shows that you think differently from others.
Congrats on the getting the MVP out!
Criticism: The problem you are trying to solve is the lack of quality in online surveys. The way to improve the quality of the surveys is by enabling users to chose a charity wich will receive 1$. This doesn't really make sense to me. Can you rpove there is any correlation between both of these two elements and how do you mesure quality?
Criticism: The problem you are trying to solve is the lack of quality in online surveys. The way to improve the quality of the surveys is by enabling users to chose a charity wich will receive 1$. This doesn't really make sense to me. Can you rpove there is any correlation between both of these two elements and how do you mesure quality?
Good point. That's not inherently obvious.
The correlation goes more like this:
Scenario 1: Company wants to take 20 minutes to complete their survey so they make more money. You delete it.
Scenario 2: Company wants you to take a 5 question survey, and they will donate $1 to a charity of your choice if you do it. You are more likely to actually take it because the company showed they're willing to do something selfless in return for your selfless act.
The correlation goes more like this:
Scenario 1: Company wants to take 20 minutes to complete their survey so they make more money. You delete it.
Scenario 2: Company wants you to take a 5 question survey, and they will donate $1 to a charity of your choice if you do it. You are more likely to actually take it because the company showed they're willing to do something selfless in return for your selfless act.
First and foremost, congrats on shipping your mvp (even though it went a little late by your original timeline), I hope it sustains well. Like others have said, the video is great and design is consistent and appealing - great work and thanks for sharing your story.
A few thoughts I had while perusing eval.me:
1. There doesn't seem to be information about what charities you partnered with on the anonymous site pages. I suppose this could be contractual, but it was one of the first questions I had.
2. I was confused by the use of "Sign Up" and "Sign In" together; at first glance I thought there was an issue with your site and there were two Sign Up buttons. Maybe "Sign Up" and "Login" or "Register" and "Sign In"?
3. I haven't investigated thoroughly, but wouldn't a charitable incentive inherently skew your survey pool? Although upon consideration, a product-based incentive may do the same thing - just in a different direction.
A few thoughts I had while perusing eval.me:
1. There doesn't seem to be information about what charities you partnered with on the anonymous site pages. I suppose this could be contractual, but it was one of the first questions I had.
2. I was confused by the use of "Sign Up" and "Sign In" together; at first glance I thought there was an issue with your site and there were two Sign Up buttons. Maybe "Sign Up" and "Login" or "Register" and "Sign In"?
3. I haven't investigated thoroughly, but wouldn't a charitable incentive inherently skew your survey pool? Although upon consideration, a product-based incentive may do the same thing - just in a different direction.
This is great feedback. Thank you.
1. Somebody else had mentioned this and I am working on it. Currently, the list of charities will show up when you create the survey and you have to select 5 of 20 charities.
2. This is a great suggestion. I wil A/B test whether Register or Sign Up gets more sign ups to be able to decide which is better.
3. Product based incentives are a great idea. I am not entirely sure how I would implement that though.
As for skewing the survey pool, I would argue the pool is already skewed towards people who either love or hate your product.
I think the charity component skews it less because the act of giving your time and opinion is very similar to the act of giving to charity. Hence, more of your customers can connect with that charitable act than say, entering a drawing for a prize.
1. Somebody else had mentioned this and I am working on it. Currently, the list of charities will show up when you create the survey and you have to select 5 of 20 charities.
2. This is a great suggestion. I wil A/B test whether Register or Sign Up gets more sign ups to be able to decide which is better.
3. Product based incentives are a great idea. I am not entirely sure how I would implement that though.
As for skewing the survey pool, I would argue the pool is already skewed towards people who either love or hate your product.
I think the charity component skews it less because the act of giving your time and opinion is very similar to the act of giving to charity. Hence, more of your customers can connect with that charitable act than say, entering a drawing for a prize.
This is ancillary to the effort, but I think it's interesting. So here goes, I am not certain about skewing the pool less than more prize-based incentives -- as opposed to somewhat evenly. However, I definitely agree with the implied concept that the resulting pool will yield more carefully completed (and hence more useful/accurate) survey results.
And before we deviate too far from the core point of the thread, I'll simply echo my earlier sentiment regarding the act of quitting for a startup: great job so far, and good luck moving forward.
And before we deviate too far from the core point of the thread, I'll simply echo my earlier sentiment regarding the act of quitting for a startup: great job so far, and good luck moving forward.
Here are my thoughts from someone who has been in the market research industry for 10 years:
1. First off, congrats on quitting and going full-steam ahead on something you're clearly passionate about. That's a huge accomplishment on its own. The "having no regrets" part of it is especially important.
2. The charity element is a differentiator, but you're going to have to work hard to beat some existing initiatives in the industry (Op4g - www.op4g.com - is the one that comes to mind first). The MR industry has a bit of an "old boys club" feel to it, and there is a flood of DIY survey tools coming out each day that make it harder and harder to break through the noise.
3. I would spend some time on your site explaining why compelling people to participate through charities is better than direct cash incentives. There is a ton of great research on intrinsic motivation out there that supports this idea, with the book "Drive" by Dan Pink being one of the best summaries of why this concept works. However, your potential customers are not going to understand why that works to generate higher quality responses (as evidenced by some of the comments here on HN).
4. If you're truly in this for the long-haul, I would try hard to build your own panel of respondents underneath this. That is going to take you a lot of time to do, but it's going to be the only thing that separates you in the long-term from all the other DIY survey tools. Plus, if you ever try to sell the business the value of it will be substantially higher to a potential acquirer.
Just my two cents... You're off to a great start!
1. First off, congrats on quitting and going full-steam ahead on something you're clearly passionate about. That's a huge accomplishment on its own. The "having no regrets" part of it is especially important.
2. The charity element is a differentiator, but you're going to have to work hard to beat some existing initiatives in the industry (Op4g - www.op4g.com - is the one that comes to mind first). The MR industry has a bit of an "old boys club" feel to it, and there is a flood of DIY survey tools coming out each day that make it harder and harder to break through the noise.
3. I would spend some time on your site explaining why compelling people to participate through charities is better than direct cash incentives. There is a ton of great research on intrinsic motivation out there that supports this idea, with the book "Drive" by Dan Pink being one of the best summaries of why this concept works. However, your potential customers are not going to understand why that works to generate higher quality responses (as evidenced by some of the comments here on HN).
4. If you're truly in this for the long-haul, I would try hard to build your own panel of respondents underneath this. That is going to take you a lot of time to do, but it's going to be the only thing that separates you in the long-term from all the other DIY survey tools. Plus, if you ever try to sell the business the value of it will be substantially higher to a potential acquirer.
Just my two cents... You're off to a great start!
Thanks so much for the feedback. I appreciate it a lot.
3. I will do that. Maybe a feature comparison page. Good suggestion.
4. What do you mean by a "panel of respondents" ? Do you mean that I would have people of different demographic areas taking public surveys?
3. I will do that. Maybe a feature comparison page. Good suggestion.
4. What do you mean by a "panel of respondents" ? Do you mean that I would have people of different demographic areas taking public surveys?
That's exactly what I mean... If you can have the tools you have already built sitting on top of a large panel of people who are willing to participate in these surveys for charity then you have the recipe for longer-term success in the industry, as well as a competitive differentiator over the next guy who comes along and builds a low-cost survey tool. Check out SurveyBuilder (www.surveybuilder.com) for an example of what I'm talking about.
tchock23: I am working on something tangential to the MR industry, and would love to hear some thoughts from you on what I am building. How do I contact you?
Happy to help... My email address is in my HN profile (it's just my HN username @gmail.com)
[email protected] I definitely would love to give you some feedback.
Why do you firmly believe that your first startup should be on your own dime? I have two issues with this. First, if you can't convince investors to give you money, it might be a sign that it will be hard to convince users to use your product. Also, it's a bad risk management strategy. You seem to be already investing over $10,000 of your time in this project, so if it fails, you will feel it regardless. An upside would be that you have more control and might worry less about dilution, but at this stage I would be more concerned about having the best resources to create a great product.
Because it's a lot easier to spend other people's money. Instead of hiring people when you need something done, you learn it and do it. That way, when you do hire someone you are more knowledgeable and careful with your decisions.
I think it's a good way to teach yourself to be "lean" (in the parlance of our times)
I think it's a good way to teach yourself to be "lean" (in the parlance of our times)
Very similar experience here.
> Finishing the MVP is Priority #1. At all times. Anything else is a distraction: hackernews, twitter, food, sleep, gmail, friends. Saying no is hard (...)
I quit my day job in 2010 to work on my first web startup and to help fellow startuppers (and would-be ones) overcoming procrastination:
<on-topic-shameless-plug>
asaclock, an anti-procrastination web community for startup single founders and people working on side projects.
</on-topic-shameless-plug>
> Finishing the MVP is Priority #1. At all times. Anything else is a distraction: hackernews, twitter, food, sleep, gmail, friends. Saying no is hard (...)
I quit my day job in 2010 to work on my first web startup and to help fellow startuppers (and would-be ones) overcoming procrastination:
<on-topic-shameless-plug>
asaclock, an anti-procrastination web community for startup single founders and people working on side projects.
</on-topic-shameless-plug>
You should show people exactly what they can do with the money they raise.
- Answer this survey, feed a child for a week
- Answer this survey, a village can buy a goat
etc
- Answer this survey, feed a child for a week
- Answer this survey, a village can buy a goat
etc
I second this idea... I've come across a few studies that say pinpointing exactly where/to whom the money will go goes a long way to increasing donations.
Startups are about making difficult choices. Quitting your job is easy, especially if it's "soul-sucking". Be sure you're quitting because you need to build something that can't be built any other way. If you have a fantasy of walking out the door and hitting it big, this is a warning sign. If the idea doesn't keep you focused for more than a few hours a day, and doesn't keep you up past midnight, that's another warning sign.
I agree. That is a good metric. Some say you should only build products that you would use yourself. While I use surveys, I don't think I'm the target market. So, your metric of building something that can keep you focused is much better.
The design of this blog reminds me why I rely so heavily on Instapaper to read blog posts. It's as though someone etched a blog post into the surface of an IKEA desk.
I'm sure that you put a lot of time into this post, so you shouldn't distract from the content by having a design that makes it harder to read.
I'm sure that you put a lot of time into this post, so you shouldn't distract from the content by having a design that makes it harder to read.
Steven, I'm sorry about that. I'm working on making it more readable. Thanks for understanding.
I am going to pitch for you. Let me know if I can help in any manner. I will surely spread the word etc. But if anything extra is needed, feel free.
And if you are wondering why I am ready to help, I have a personal selfish motive, Learning, Working with smart ass guys like you. So we have a fair deal.
And if you are wondering why I am ready to help, I have a personal selfish motive, Learning, Working with smart ass guys like you. So we have a fair deal.
haha, it's a deal. I definitely need customers right now. So, if you get a survey, email the company and tell them about eval.me
I am somewhat skeptical of charities so I use http://www.givewell.org to find the one that most effectively uses the money. I would suggest you research thoroughly the charities you work with so the money is actually put to good use.
It's a nice idea, but it seems to already have been somewhat done: http://www.websurveysformoney.com/exchange-your-points-for-c...
It doesn't matter if it's already been done.
Can't up-vote you enough. If we quit doing anything, because it's been done already... I don't event want to start imagining where we'd be right now.
It's always the response I get whenever I talk about a side-project I'm working on. "Oh, that's been done before." It immediately takes the wind out of my sail. It seems like schadenfreude to me. Don't tell me about other similar apps unless you know something about them. And if you know something about them, be helpful and tell me what you don't like about those solutions. Otherwise I'd prefer you just keep to yourself about it.
It's good that it's already been done. It shows that you aren't insane for thinking that this is a good idea.
Good UI. I'd say, however (from a business model standpoint), with prices out there in the in-between 'almost free' (see: Amazon's Mechanical Turk; http://aws.amazon.com/pricing/mturk/) and the 'great value' range (see: Survey Monkey; http://www.surveymonkey.com/pricing/details), your per-customer costs might be a touch overly-ambitious.
The charity niche is pretty rad tho. You may increase your chances of capturing a piece of the market if you exploit that benefit.
The charity niche is pretty rad tho. You may increase your chances of capturing a piece of the market if you exploit that benefit.
Great feedback. Thank you.
I think most of the comments so far are missing the mark. This article is about leaving the working world and building something on your own.
It's quite impressive that the author has completed their first project in just 4 months. The article provides a good dose of motivation to anyone teetering on the edge of pursuing the start up life.
It's great to hear about these stories on HN, everyone started somewhere and it's great to see the process.
It's quite impressive that the author has completed their first project in just 4 months. The article provides a good dose of motivation to anyone teetering on the edge of pursuing the start up life.
It's great to hear about these stories on HN, everyone started somewhere and it's great to see the process.
Interesting idea... I actually quite like the concept. I'm seeing this as more of an activist site than a sustainable business, though. What's to stop companies from just counting the respondents in their existing survey systems and just making their own donations?
I'm really glad you're propagating an idea that will raise a lot of money for charity, but I don't fully see how this can become a profit making business.
I'm really glad you're propagating an idea that will raise a lot of money for charity, but I don't fully see how this can become a profit making business.
Nothing stops companies from doing their own survey system, and then counting responses and making charity donations.
However, this is a service already built to do that and it may save them the time and money to build their own.
Moreover, customer feedback often needs to be anonymous. So, if the company runs it, the customer may not feel as comfortable sharing their true opinion. A third party would be more desirable in those cases.
However, this is a service already built to do that and it may save them the time and money to build their own.
Moreover, customer feedback often needs to be anonymous. So, if the company runs it, the customer may not feel as comfortable sharing their true opinion. A third party would be more desirable in those cases.
Why would more money go to te charity than to your service??? Wouldn't they rather pay less and give you the same amount??
Because some research shows that people are more motivated by a donated dollar than being entered into a drawing for an iPad. What do you think?
There is a fine line and in my experience with a venture revolving around "portion to charity" model, it all comes down to one thing, your demographic users. I co-founded a startup (handled the tech) for an auction site where we promised HALF of every dollar we made would make to to charity. It was a risk to start and we knew that, but seeing as it hadn't been done, I can now say that at least I tried. It cost us so [insert frustrating word] much more to run the company, handle support, produce the product, market, mitigate fraud and deal with people trying to game the system than was worth it to even the charities involvement. We even took the steps to become a Commercial Fundraiser and be bonded in the states we operated to instill confidence in our users which ended up being a stark realization of why more companies dont do charitable acts, because theres so much in the way of doing good in this world when it comes to proper legal way of doing things.
All that said, about 8 months into the venture (and at the end of what we had left in the bank) I sent out this survey with the responses highlighted: http://9mtr.co/2v0S2X1C3G093t06273Y
As you can see, people responded with the best intention, but in the end, could care less. My point here is know your audience before you bank it all. We did our homework and found similar research that showed it might just work as well, but finding those people may be harder than you think, so don't underestimate the work involved. Regardless I wish you all the good luck and karma in the world to make this planet a better place.
All that said, about 8 months into the venture (and at the end of what we had left in the bank) I sent out this survey with the responses highlighted: http://9mtr.co/2v0S2X1C3G093t06273Y
As you can see, people responded with the best intention, but in the end, could care less. My point here is know your audience before you bank it all. We did our homework and found similar research that showed it might just work as well, but finding those people may be harder than you think, so don't underestimate the work involved. Regardless I wish you all the good luck and karma in the world to make this planet a better place.
Thanks man. This is very helpful feedback from someone who has done it.
This is hard to test before having a product because most companies will say they would donate to charity, but then do not when it comes down to it.
I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again.
This is hard to test before having a product because most companies will say they would donate to charity, but then do not when it comes down to it.
I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again.
absolutely. my email is in my profile, if you ever need any advice on all the charitable red tape.
The majority of survey takers do so for personal monetary gain, not for charity. That's why practically all survey sites give points which can be converted into cash and gift cards. Now I'm not saying that eval.me will be unable to find users and companies to use its service (I'm positive it will), but my guess is that it will pale in comparison to traditional survey operations. But I do hope that I'm wrong and that eval.me becomes a great success.
I visited the site and after a couple minutes Flaviu had started a little chart with me. I up voted because of this. Great way to show a product on a personal level which goes right along side his idea that surveys would have better results if the participants cared about the survey.
I, for one, think that your idea is great. Good luck!
Suddenly, an idea - what if you let charities request to be included in your service? Once a charity is on-board, they have a great incentive to tell people about you, link to you and so on.
Suddenly, an idea - what if you let charities request to be included in your service? Once a charity is on-board, they have a great incentive to tell people about you, link to you and so on.
Thanks. That's a great idea.
I want to keep it manageable for my users. If you give a user infinite options, they will be overwhelmed. So, I am not entirely sure how to strike that balance.
Currently a company chooses 5 of 20 charities, and their customers choose 1 of those 5.
I want to keep it manageable for my users. If you give a user infinite options, they will be overwhelmed. So, I am not entirely sure how to strike that balance.
Currently a company chooses 5 of 20 charities, and their customers choose 1 of those 5.
I wonder how effective donating to charity is on improving the survey quality.
I have some measurements for that and as I get more customers, I will be able to answer that question for you.
Very neat UI and I like the video very much. How did u make the video?
Thanks. I used http://www.revolution-productions.com/ and @lukedupont helped me a bunch with the design.
Lesson Learned: I thought you just pay and a video gets made. But there's a bunch more work I had to put in, like write the exact script, and make sure the story boards matched that script.
Same goes for design. You want the designer to have some creative freedom, but also enough guidelines to make what you want. I had already designed the site and logo and most of the functionality myself, so the designer had an easier time improving upon the ugly design I had made :)
Lesson Learned: I thought you just pay and a video gets made. But there's a bunch more work I had to put in, like write the exact script, and make sure the story boards matched that script.
Same goes for design. You want the designer to have some creative freedom, but also enough guidelines to make what you want. I had already designed the site and logo and most of the functionality myself, so the designer had an easier time improving upon the ugly design I had made :)
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If I pay you to donate, do I get to write off my taxes? Why not just pay you 25 cents per respondent with a commitment I'll donate to charity and let me decide if I want to do good or not.
Thanks for the feedback. I am working on the $1 to be processed separately from the 25 cents so that you can write the amount off.
That's a good idea to give customers the option to do it on their own. However, in that case I cannot guarantee to their respondents that the company will make good on their promise.
That's a good idea to give customers the option to do it on their own. However, in that case I cannot guarantee to their respondents that the company will make good on their promise.
My only feedback to that is I'm not sure it's your place as survey company to guarantee anything to my customers. I'm just hiring you to get the form filled out, you should let me handle the rest.
Kudos to separate processing however.
Kudos to separate processing however.
> What doesn’t make you stronger, kills you
Beer doesn't fit, sorry :)
Seriously, the expression is the other way around - What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
Beer doesn't fit, sorry :)
Seriously, the expression is the other way around - What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
Fails in IE8 - mandated by Uni on Windows machines... I agree with not supporting IE7-, but IE8 probably still needs some support.
I don't know if I agree that MVP's need to work well or even at all on IE8-
Or, rather "I don't know if I agree that MVP's need to work well or even at all for over half the people using it."
That's what you're saying if you decide not to support the current most popular web browser. Like it or not, you need to build things for the platform your users are on. If I were building a product, I'd make sure it works in IE first and foremost before worrying about niche browsers like FF and Chrome.
Just because 100% of the people here use one of those two "niche" browsers as their main browser, don't assume your users will.
That's what you're saying if you decide not to support the current most popular web browser. Like it or not, you need to build things for the platform your users are on. If I were building a product, I'd make sure it works in IE first and foremost before worrying about niche browsers like FF and Chrome.
Just because 100% of the people here use one of those two "niche" browsers as their main browser, don't assume your users will.
First, over half of people do not use IE8, so not sure where that stat is coming from. Second, not sure I'd call FF or Chrome niche.
Not paying too much attention to IE (IE8 specifically) is a strategy worth doing. It's a pain in the ass to support IE8 and not worth the extra development time in the short term. Plus, not sure if this applies to this startup (I'd say it does), users like those in HN (the majority of whom use FF or Chrome) are the users you want initially to use and support your startup. If they like it, they become quite the dedicated user, which really helps to get your startup off the ground initially. So targeting FF and Chrome users is hardly a bad strategy for release 1. Adding IE8 in the mix is way more frustration than it's worth.
Not paying too much attention to IE (IE8 specifically) is a strategy worth doing. It's a pain in the ass to support IE8 and not worth the extra development time in the short term. Plus, not sure if this applies to this startup (I'd say it does), users like those in HN (the majority of whom use FF or Chrome) are the users you want initially to use and support your startup. If they like it, they become quite the dedicated user, which really helps to get your startup off the ground initially. So targeting FF and Chrome users is hardly a bad strategy for release 1. Adding IE8 in the mix is way more frustration than it's worth.
Would it make you happier if I said 1/3? Is that a reasonable fraction of your potential userbase to leave with a bad impression of your business?
You make it sound like supporting Internet Explorer is difficult. If it's 2003, then yes, I'll agree with you. But today it's not.
Supporting IE in 2011 is a matter of building your site against Chrome while not going out of your way to use non-standard things like Object.keys, localStorage or Canvas when you can avoid them. Then you test on IE7, notice your corners aren't rounded, and decide you can live with that.
If, on the other hand, you go out of your way to cram in as much HTML5 nonsense as you can fit, or refuse to spend a few minutes getting IE to render, you need to realize that you're not taking a stand. You're just being lazy.
But then at the end of the day it's your business, so you're well within your rights to be lazy. You may or may not make less money as a result, but then again that's nobody's business but your own.
All the best.
You make it sound like supporting Internet Explorer is difficult. If it's 2003, then yes, I'll agree with you. But today it's not.
Supporting IE in 2011 is a matter of building your site against Chrome while not going out of your way to use non-standard things like Object.keys, localStorage or Canvas when you can avoid them. Then you test on IE7, notice your corners aren't rounded, and decide you can live with that.
If, on the other hand, you go out of your way to cram in as much HTML5 nonsense as you can fit, or refuse to spend a few minutes getting IE to render, you need to realize that you're not taking a stand. You're just being lazy.
But then at the end of the day it's your business, so you're well within your rights to be lazy. You may or may not make less money as a result, but then again that's nobody's business but your own.
All the best.
I'd just like to add that Chrome and Firefox are far from niche - Lynx is niche.
I would go as far to say that I would place a badge on my website to encourage users not to use IE, but use Chrome instead.
I would go as far to say that I would place a badge on my website to encourage users not to use IE, but use Chrome instead.
[deleted]
Congrats on making it happen!
There's a typo on your about page: anually -> annually.
There's a typo on your about page: anually -> annually.
Thanks man. I changed that and will push the change tonight. Let me know if you find any other bugs.
Isn't there a fourth option, being, going to work part time?
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It is so inspiring to see MVP! Great job!
Congratulations!
What is a MVP?
Minimum Viable Product. Defined in the book The Lean Startup.
nice to see a startup from a romanian on the first page of YC
Thanks man. There were quite a few Romanians that messaged me, so I think there is a startup spirit in Romania.
For anyone interested, I am organizing a Startup Meetup in Cluj on Dec. 20: http://www.meetup.com/cluj-rb/events/43578682/
For anyone interested, I am organizing a Startup Meetup in Cluj on Dec. 20: http://www.meetup.com/cluj-rb/events/43578682/
[1] http://www.typography.com/ask/faq.php#Ft_10 - choose #20