Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#1

Post by kunle » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

Please state the problem you're solving, the team you have, the stage you're in (bootstrapped, pre-seed, seed, series A, B, etc), and whether you're pre or post revenue.

Please only post if you are one of the founding team. Only one post per company

Also include some detail on anything you need help with (finding customers, finding cofounders, technology, legal, operations, sales, investors etc).

Commenters: please don't reply to posts to complain about something. It's off topic here.

Readers: please only email if you are personally interested in helping

*This is a new monthly post that I've wanted to see for a while. Starting it now to see what happens. Feedback is welcome

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#2

Post by kunle » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 2:20 PM UTC

I'll go first:

Building: easytts.com

Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue

We make: easy text to speech / text to voice conversion tools. Started with a basic web based conversion tool, and want to make something deeper that helps bloggers turn their blogs into podcasts, read by human-like voices, for cheap.

Team: 2

We need help with: Finding customers. To date we've relied heavily on SEO. Would love to figure out inbound marketing or something similar.

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#3

Post by verdverm » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 3:06 PM UTC

kunle wrote: post #2

I'll go first: Building: easytts.com Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue We make: easy text to speech / text to voice conversion tools. Started with a basic web based conversion tool, and want to make something deeper that helps bloggers turn their blogs into podcasts, read by human-like voices, for cheap. Team: 2 We need help with: Finding customers. To date we've relied heavily on SEO. Would love to figure out inbound…

Try some cold outreach for conversations. I'm doing that before spending anything on marketing. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#4

Post by carlotapia » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 3:13 PM UTC

Building: Vested Yeti - app.vestedyeti.com

Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue, Public Beta

We make: A new home for your web pages. We help people organize and share web pages. We also have a Chrome extension to bookmark and comment from the sidebar of any web page. Very useful for people with too many tabs.

Team: 1 + contract developer

We need help with: Users and feedback. We started with the solution instead of the problem (three years ago), and are now working backwards to find product market fit.

Thanks for creating this forum OP. I'll make sure to check out easytts.com.

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#5

Post by carlotapia » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 3:42 PM UTC

kunle wrote: post #2

I'll go first: Building: easytts.com Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue We make: easy text to speech / text to voice conversion tools. Started with a basic web based conversion tool, and want to make something deeper that helps bloggers turn their blogs into podcasts, read by human-like voices, for cheap. Team: 2 We need help with: Finding customers. To date we've relied heavily on SEO. Would love to figure out inbound…

Some unsolicited feedback:

1) I typed "Hello" and pressed play, and was expecting it to play "Hello". Instead, it played, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." What happened? Either the product didn't work as it was supposed to, or there wasn't enough guidance from the UI (i.e., I clicked the wrong play button). I think your app could really benefit from progressive disclosure, which is all about minimizing clutter and focusing the user on fewer, logically connected actions. For example => Type > Play > Export. Here's an article on Medium that covers this, with examples on how companies do it: https://medium.muz.li/design-technique-progressive-disclosur...

2) As a founder that regrets not deeply understanding their market's problem first - What is the problem you solve? Who do you solve it for? Is that problem painful enough and is your solution good enough that someone will pay for it? Are there enough people experiencing this problem to sustain your business? It sounds like you're targeting a very specific audience: Bloggers that do not want to put the effort into podcasting or do not have the ability to podcast, but have enough readership and pent-up demand for a podcast that they would pay to have a text-to-speech tool do it for them. Have you made sure that market exists and is profitable? What are they currently doing to solve this problem?

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#6

Post by billconan » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 6:56 PM UTC

Epiphany - https://epiphany.pub

Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue, Public Beta

A new blogging experience allowing interactive content in js or python. Think of it as a mixture of Medium.com + Jupyter notebook.

Team: myself

Needs: Users and feedback.

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#7

Post by billconan » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 7:06 PM UTC

carlotapia wrote: post #5

kunle wrote: post #2

I'll go first: Building: easytts.com Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue We make: easy text to speech / text to voice conversion tools. Started with a basic web based conversion tool, and want to make something deeper that helps bloggers turn their blogs into podcasts, read by human-like voices, for cheap. Team: 2 We need help with: Finding customers. To date we've relied heavily on SEO. Would love to figure out inbound…

Some unsolicited feedback: 1) I typed "Hello" and pressed play, and was expecting it to play "Hello". Instead, it played, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." What happened? Either the product didn't work as it was supposed to, or there wasn't enough guidance from the UI (i.e., I clicked the wrong play button). I think your app could really benefit from progressive disclosure, which is all about minimizing…

yes, that play button is confusing to me too. It actually plays a sample of the voice you choose, not what you have typed.

I think the website should provide a sample of what a user has typed.

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#8

Post by wjossey » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 8:35 PM UTC

Eager Connect - https://connect.eagerlabs.com

Stage: Seed Stage

We Make: A eight session cohort program for new supervisors looking to improve their leadership and management skills.

Team: Four full-time, two part-time

We need help with: Scaling our program by figuring out a funnel for HR & managers to join. Our first program (this fall) looks like it will be full, so we're already looking forward to how we can build trust with HR departments and managers looking for help.

I'm the co-founder. You can email me directly! Email is in my profile.

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#9

Post by dbla » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 9:29 PM UTC

Climbalytics - https://www.climbalytics.com/

Stage: Bootstrapped, Public Beta

We make: A fitness tracker specifically designed for rock climbers.

Team: Three part time

Needs: Feedback

Re: Ask HN: Who is starting a startup?* (July 2019)

#10

Post by philipkiely » Wed, Jul 03, 2019, 2:46 AM UTC

kunle wrote: post #2

I'll go first: Building: easytts.com Stage: Bootstrapped, Pre-revenue We make: easy text to speech / text to voice conversion tools. Started with a basic web based conversion tool, and want to make something deeper that helps bloggers turn their blogs into podcasts, read by human-like voices, for cheap. Team: 2 We need help with: Finding customers. To date we've relied heavily on SEO. Would love to figure out inbound…

What do you use for the voices? On my blog, I use Amazon Polly and add a link and web player at the top of each article.