Show HN: forage - Deals from local restaurants & bars
7 comments
It's not an MVP, I'd call it a non-functional prototype. But it's a good idea. Here's some thoughts:
- Cut the amount of copy, the site is WAY too wordy. Read some blog posts about copywriting
- it doesn't need more features yet. Make the features you are showing work, and then clean up the design on them
- Start a blog and a podcast, interviewing exciting restauranteurs. Use content to build the Forage brand
- new logo
keep rockin
- Cut the amount of copy, the site is WAY too wordy. Read some blog posts about copywriting
- it doesn't need more features yet. Make the features you are showing work, and then clean up the design on them
- Start a blog and a podcast, interviewing exciting restauranteurs. Use content to build the Forage brand
- new logo
keep rockin
First off, thanks for taking the time to give me feedback. Responses below.
>>It's not an MVP, it's just a mockup really.
How so? It's fully functional. I added a setting to disable all filtering (location, timing, tags) because I didn't want to have to schedule a ton of deals to match unforeseeable criteria.
>> Cut the amount of copy, the site is WAY too wordy. Read some blog posts about copywriting
Heh, I'm certainly not a writer. Thank you for the feedback on it, I'll try and trim it back.
>> - it doesn't need more features yet. Make the features you are showing work
What's not working? Did you run into something specific? If you're talking about filtering, I covered that above.
>> and then clean up the design on them
A large part of the design challenge is lack of content. As features are added, the content will fill out, allowing me to fill out the design. I also couldn't spend a horrible amount of time on the design itself. I'd love to hear feedback on what you didn't like specifically though if you have time.
>> Start a blog and a podcast, interviewing exciting restauranteurs. Use content to build the Forage brand
Agreed to an extent. At this stage I'm going to devote my days to door-to-door pitches to get restaurants on board while my nights will be spent developing features based on feedback from restaurateurs. I'm not funded so I have to cram as much as I can in. I realize the value of a blog though, well to an extent.
>> keep rockin
Thanks again :)
>>It's not an MVP, it's just a mockup really.
How so? It's fully functional. I added a setting to disable all filtering (location, timing, tags) because I didn't want to have to schedule a ton of deals to match unforeseeable criteria.
>> Cut the amount of copy, the site is WAY too wordy. Read some blog posts about copywriting
Heh, I'm certainly not a writer. Thank you for the feedback on it, I'll try and trim it back.
>> - it doesn't need more features yet. Make the features you are showing work
What's not working? Did you run into something specific? If you're talking about filtering, I covered that above.
>> and then clean up the design on them
A large part of the design challenge is lack of content. As features are added, the content will fill out, allowing me to fill out the design. I also couldn't spend a horrible amount of time on the design itself. I'd love to hear feedback on what you didn't like specifically though if you have time.
>> Start a blog and a podcast, interviewing exciting restauranteurs. Use content to build the Forage brand
Agreed to an extent. At this stage I'm going to devote my days to door-to-door pitches to get restaurants on board while my nights will be spent developing features based on feedback from restaurateurs. I'm not funded so I have to cram as much as I can in. I realize the value of a blog though, well to an extent.
>> keep rockin
Thanks again :)
Fyi I tweaked my comments some. Here's responses:
"It's fully functional"
You said the deals aren't real. I guess I was confused, I thought this was automatically aggregating all the deals from other services. If you are having to go talk to restaurants and secure deals themselves, this idea won't scale. Just being up front.
"A large part of the design challenge is lack of content"
No, the design is obviously done by a non-designer. That's okay to start off with. Then slowly improve on it by asking feedback from people with design background, and eventually hiring a contractor to add some polish.
"At this stage I'm going to devote my days to door-to-door pitches to get restaurants on board while my nights will be spent developing features based on feedback from restaurateurs"
Marketing 1 feature > Adding more features
I highly recommend the book "Start Small Stay Small" by Rob Walling, it is a great business book for micropreneurs. Also Rob has a great podcast "Startups for the Rest of Us" that I think you would like.
http://startupbook.net
best of luck!
"It's fully functional"
You said the deals aren't real. I guess I was confused, I thought this was automatically aggregating all the deals from other services. If you are having to go talk to restaurants and secure deals themselves, this idea won't scale. Just being up front.
"A large part of the design challenge is lack of content"
No, the design is obviously done by a non-designer. That's okay to start off with. Then slowly improve on it by asking feedback from people with design background, and eventually hiring a contractor to add some polish.
"At this stage I'm going to devote my days to door-to-door pitches to get restaurants on board while my nights will be spent developing features based on feedback from restaurateurs"
Marketing 1 feature > Adding more features
I highly recommend the book "Start Small Stay Small" by Rob Walling, it is a great business book for micropreneurs. Also Rob has a great podcast "Startups for the Rest of Us" that I think you would like.
http://startupbook.net
best of luck!
>> You said the deals aren't real. I guess I was confused, I thought this was automatically aggregating all the deals from other services.
Ah, I see. I just meant the deals are fake, as in please don't show up at the restaurants and ask for a $5 burrito because "you saw it on forage"
>> If you are having to go talk to restaurants and secure deals themselves, this idea won't scale. Just being up front.
Neither. Restaurants & bars manage their own promotions.
>> No, the design is obviously done by a non-designer. That's okay to start off with.
Ouch. Outside of the logo and the specific pages (deal, restaurant) I actually thought the design was decent. I'm horrible at branding so I hired a designer but he came up with something horrible. I'm just using the current logo as a placeholder.
>> Marketing 1 feature > Adding more features
It really depends on the features, product, and audience. Social networking integration would go leaps and bounds above blogging.
>>I highly recommend the book "Start Small Stay Small" by Rob Walling, it is a great business book for micropreneurs. Also Rob has a great podcast "Startups for the Rest of Us" that I think you would like.
Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks again.
Ah, I see. I just meant the deals are fake, as in please don't show up at the restaurants and ask for a $5 burrito because "you saw it on forage"
>> If you are having to go talk to restaurants and secure deals themselves, this idea won't scale. Just being up front.
Neither. Restaurants & bars manage their own promotions.
>> No, the design is obviously done by a non-designer. That's okay to start off with.
Ouch. Outside of the logo and the specific pages (deal, restaurant) I actually thought the design was decent. I'm horrible at branding so I hired a designer but he came up with something horrible. I'm just using the current logo as a placeholder.
>> Marketing 1 feature > Adding more features
It really depends on the features, product, and audience. Social networking integration would go leaps and bounds above blogging.
>>I highly recommend the book "Start Small Stay Small" by Rob Walling, it is a great business book for micropreneurs. Also Rob has a great podcast "Startups for the Rest of Us" that I think you would like.
Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks again.
Did you visit demo.forage.at or just forage.at? If you didn't go to the demo, it would explain the non-functionality.
Clickable: http://demo.forage.at
[deleted]
Filtering is currently turned off and please be aware that while the restaurants are not, the deals are all fake.
demo: http://demo.forage.at
angel list: angel.co/forage