A few days back I launched restaurantmapper.com, a way to easily discover restaurants when you are on mobile. I personally use it a lot, because I find it easier than Google or FourSquare. But, the response I'm getting from people I've shared it with and on forums I've shared it is... non existent. No response. Please can someone tell me - what's going on? is my design really bad? am I solving a problem only I have? is it not clear what the product does? What is the issue... thank you.
Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
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Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#2clickable link: http://www.restaurantmapper.com
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#3Doesn't work in the USA
Clicked a few of the items you have listed on the left. I like the design.
We're always trying to find new restaurants and try new places so I would use something like this - but as an iPhone app - not really a website.
I dabbled in restaurant apps a few years ago and came to some conclusions:
More often then not, people make restaurant reservations or look for a restaurant to go to while at work - sometimes, people don't want to use work computers to do this (+ firewalls) so from their phone is best.
More often then not - picking a restaurant is pretty spur of the moment - "hey want to go out to dinner? sure - where? I don't know - let me look something up quickly" - and what is the device most of us have on hand? Our phone.
(completely based on personal research)
So - make an app, and possibly try another demographic.
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#4clickable link: http://www.restaurantmapper.com
Not, in fact, clickable.
Edit: I see you have form[0][1] for this, you don't seem to appreciate what's needed to make a link clickable. You need the "http://" on the front.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9680810
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9881349
Edit 2: I see you've edited it - good response.
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#5clickable link: http://www.restaurantmapper.com
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#6Immediate thoughts:
Why would I learn to use yet another tool? You already use it, you already know how to use it, but I would have to invest effort in learning its quirks.
Seems only to be focused on London, UK. Is this right? Didn't work on three of the other major UK cities I tried, which makes it useless for me.
How would I find out about it? What does it offer that I can't get from Google or FourSquare?
Why should I invest the time and effort, with the risk that in a week or two it will disappear?
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#7Immediate thoughts: Why would I learn to use yet another tool? You already use it, you already know how to use it, but I would have to invest effort in learning its quirks. Seems only to be focused on London, UK. Is this right? Didn't work on three of the other major UK cities I tried, which makes it useless for me. How would I find out about it? What does it offer that I can't get from Google or FourSquare? Why shou…
thank you for the feedback. yep it's only for London right now..
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#8I see you never responded to this comment:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9883697
Is that because you didn't see it, or didn't like it? Have you taken it on board and incorporated its advice?
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#9clickable link: http://www.restaurantmapper.com
Not, in fact, clickable. Edit: I see you have form[0][1] for this, you don't seem to appreciate what's needed to make a link clickable. You need the " http://" on the front. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9680810 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9881349 Edit 2: I see you've edited it - good response.
thank you, noted for the future. my mistake here.
Re: Ask HN: I use my own product, but others don't. Why?
#10I see you never responded to this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9883697 Is that because you didn't see it, or didn't like it? Have you taken it on board and incorporated its advice?
Hi Colin - I have read the comments on that link several times, and they were very helpful. I have tried to incorporate them.