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Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

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Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#21

Post by simplify »

I see potential in this. It's almost like walking into a room full of people all watching one TV. There's appeal to that; online video does have the watch-whatever-you-want feature, but a lot of times people just want to turn on a TV channel and watch whatever comes on.

If you really want to make this a startup, you should make it exactly that. Take control over the public rooms, feed them with quality content, and call them channels. Hire moderators to keep the content fresh. Show occasional commercial advertisements. I think the closer you make it to TV, the more willing people will be to sit through advertisements (random idea: sell to advertisers what people say during their advertisements). Voting is an ok feature, but you should limit that to private rooms.

I can see myself going to a "comedy central" channel and just watching whatever it has on, not needing worrying about what to watch next. Knowing that others are watching the same thing is pretty compelling.

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#22

Post by il »

ski2mi wrote: post #5

Repeat after me: A website is not a startup. It's bad enough that everyone with half a business idea calls it a startup, but now everyone with half a website prototype is joining in.

I think the word startup has lost all meaning at this point, but I would like to propose this definition: A startup is something you quit your job to work full time on. Until then, it's a side project.

If the OP is fully committed to working on this site full time for the next 3 years, he can call it a startup.

Otherwise, calling a side project a startup seems intellectually dishonest in view of those that are putting 100% effort into a website/startup.

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#24

Post by palewery »

ski2mi wrote: post #5

Repeat after me: A website is not a startup. It's bad enough that everyone with half a business idea calls it a startup, but now everyone with half a website prototype is joining in.

it is unfortunate that they didn't consult you before submitting. :(

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#26

Post by blantonl »

il wrote: post #22
ski2mi wrote: post #5

Repeat after me: A website is not a startup. It's bad enough that everyone with half a business idea calls it a startup, but now everyone with half a website prototype is joining in.

I think the word startup has lost all meaning at this point, but I would like to propose this definition: A startup is something you quit your job to work full time on. Until then, it's a side project. If the OP is fully committed to working on this site full time for the next 3 years, he can call it a startup. Otherwise, calling a side project a startup seems intellectually dishonest in view of those that are puttin…

In all fairness, many highly successful businesses started as side projects. In my case, I started my web site about 12 years ago as a side project, and this year I expect to exceed 1 million in revenue.

I'm not sure at what point during the evolution of my side project I went from side project, to startup, to established business.

Maybe a startup should be termed as "a business that is designed to make more money than it spends."

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#27

Post by shawndrost »

Fun stuff! It's like being the robot on mst3k. The site has a real soul to it... I find the jankiness of the design endearing, I love that you assigned me the name "renny", and I like the random touch of having my name tag appear when I click to vote. It's fun to move around! I think frozenhot is memorable, it's fine.

Main thing: how are you going to bring people here?

A few minor suggestions: make the vote countdown shorter, allow me to click the x on the popover ad, add a "this video sucks, skip it" button, fix the damn lagging. Maybe add a way for people to ping the screen for additional lulz.

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#28

Post by blantonl »

Couple questions after visting:

1) How does it work? 2) What does it do? 3) Why should I sign up for an account?

These are things that the front page should answer immediately. .

But most importantly, how do you expect to generate revenue from this project? Not having a clear answer to that question would probably eliminate this as being called a "startup."

Best of luck on your project!

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#29

Post by shawndrost »

mattdeboard wrote: post #9
iman wrote: post #2

Hey guys, I've been reading HN for a long time (since before it was called HN). I rarely comment or submit to HN, but I am really proud to finally submit my site here. Would appreciate any feedback you have! Thanks

Very cool, I registered. How does this differ from jtv? In addition, needs voting for room members for next video, or to change video. Is that implemented and I just missed it? Otherwise it's just... the Internet on rails. Could be very cool, needs some/a lot of aesthetic polish and features that make it actually social besides a chatroom and a "tweet this" button (ESPN has "tweet this" buttons as well as chatrooms w…

Say if I want to show a buddy this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L64c5vT3NBw, I click the bookmarklet on that page and it creates a Frozenhot URL that would take the user into a chatroom and spin up that video automatically.

Smart.

Re: Show HN: Launching my Realtime Social Video Startup

#30

Post by iman »

arkitaip wrote: post #10
iman wrote: post #2

Hey guys, I've been reading HN for a long time (since before it was called HN). I rarely comment or submit to HN, but I am really proud to finally submit my site here. Would appreciate any feedback you have! Thanks

It's sorta like youtube meets IRC, isn't it? :) Things that I wonder about: 1. where will you get the actual video content from? 2. I think that voice would be better for this type of stuff, atleast with friends. Typing is slow and not that interactive. 3. Have you thought about focusing on educational videos? Those strike me as the best candidate for group watching because discussing actually makes more sense than d…

1. The videos are embedded from youtube. They are hand selected.

2. Voice is an interesting idea, will think about it :)

3. This is a very good idea, and definitely something that is being considered.

4. The name doesn't really have any meaning. It was just a good domain that was available.

5. Yes, the design needs a lot of work. I'm looking for a designer now. When there are more people voting then it's a bit clearer how it works, but yeah, it could be improved.

Thanks!

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