Providing this functionality by date would have been a major time-saver for us as we were planning our wedding. Tons of vendors we were interested in did not have availability for our wedding date, we would find out well after researching their portfolio and fees.
Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
11–20 of 49 posts
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#12This is a cool idea, there are lots of problems in this space. I worked on Rentabilities ( https://angel.co/rentabilities ) which we ultimately shut down after 3 years. We focused on product rentals, which is just a sliver of the things you need for a wedding. We ran into lots of issues being a marketplace. We were able to scale the demand side nicely with 150k long tail visitors each month (things like "backyard wed…
Have you written up this story in longer form? The problems you ran into are rather universal to any C2B marketplace.
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#13This is a cool idea, there are lots of problems in this space. I worked on Rentabilities ( https://angel.co/rentabilities ) which we ultimately shut down after 3 years. We focused on product rentals, which is just a sliver of the things you need for a wedding. We ran into lots of issues being a marketplace. We were able to scale the demand side nicely with 150k long tail visitors each month (things like "backyard wed…
Have you written up this story in longer form? The problems you ran into are rather universal to any C2B marketplace.
I've thought about writing a post mortem but could never bring myself to do it. After we decided to shut down I entered kind of a dark time of my life. I needed a break to really separate myself from the startup.
I might tear of small stories, though. In particular some of the things that did go well. Doing a whole write up is probably too much to bite off though.
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you written up this story in longer form? The problems you ran into are rather universal to any C2B marketplace.
I've thought about writing a post mortem but could never bring myself to do it. After we decided to shut down I entered kind of a dark time of my life. I needed a break to really separate myself from the startup. I might tear of small stories, though. In particular some of the things that did go well. Doing a whole write up is probably too much to bite off though.
I really encourage you to do so - so many mistakes can be avoided by learning from the experiences of others. Anyway thanks for sharing what you have of your experience.
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#15Providing this functionality by date would have been a major time-saver for us as we were planning our wedding. Tons of vendors we were interested in did not have availability for our wedding date, we would find out well after researching their portfolio and fees.
Thanks! Similar to Airbnb and host availability, we think we can offer an up to date calendar of when a vendor is available as we scale. It's really surprising how little of this information (availability in this case) is locked away, and not available readily.
Thanks for the input!
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#16This is a cool idea, there are lots of problems in this space. I worked on Rentabilities ( https://angel.co/rentabilities ) which we ultimately shut down after 3 years. We focused on product rentals, which is just a sliver of the things you need for a wedding. We ran into lots of issues being a marketplace. We were able to scale the demand side nicely with 150k long tail visitors each month (things like "backyard wed…
Wow.. Thanks for the insight here. I'll definitely take you up on some more advice as we get going.
Like you, we're finding that largely vendors need to be reached out manually through phone calls. Our first phase is to focus in on vendor silos that can be largely iterated via chat/email/photos.
We'd love to hear about what specifically failed when you introduced the bidding services. We're seeing that the pain we feel with on boarding vendors is the exact pain that couples go through over and over trying to iterate with vendors today. We're hoping that vendors that accept technology will be rewarded with more business.
In terms of booking fast, we're considering running this auction with some sort of time limit, but that will likely only happen when we feel like there are enough vendors looking at the auctions.
Re: Trusted Vendors - One surprising number we found was how few people actually use wedding planners (sub 20%). That means 80% of the time couples are going out there and having to make their own judgement on which vendors to trust for this one-time gig. It's pretty nerve wrecking for them. Similar to something like Airbnb hosts, we think that vendors need to reviewed, socially validated, and rated on response times.
I'll definitely keep in touch as we get past this version 1.0. I'll drop you a line as we go.
Thanks for your direction here!
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've thought about writing a post mortem but could never bring myself to do it. After we decided to shut down I entered kind of a dark time of my life. I needed a break to really separate myself from the startup. I might tear of small stories, though. In particular some of the things that did go well. Doing a whole write up is probably too much to bite off though.
I really encourage you to do so - so many mistakes can be avoided by learning from the experiences of others. Anyway thanks for sharing what you have of your experience.
Definitely agree w/ danieltillett, a post mortem of some sort could help a lot of startups in the C2B space. Although, I know how painful it can be. Thanks again for the help you've already given us.
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#18Interesting concept. I was married in New York last September so I think I understand the pain points. Getting married today probably isn't much different then it was in the early to mid 2000s. The vendors have simple websites and all sales processes involve multiple emails, phone calls or in person visits. My (now) wife and I both hated dealing with the vendor sales process. That said, one thing you may to to think…
Agree here, the only real innovation we've seen in this space came with web 1.0 (theknot.com, etc).
The way we look at WedWell is not to find you the cheapest vendor, but to provide the vendor that will allow for the best experience. The better experience comes with our technology and validated vendors. Our technology allows for quicker/easier iteration on the initial idea and for quick/easy payments for vendors.
I really like your idea of starting with a socially validated review system early. We're considering building that out, and may do so.
Thanks again, we'll let you know how we progress here.
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#19One barrier I see here is that the venue generally controls the available vendors in most cases. They hold all the cards and set the rules.
Re: Apply HN: WedWell - Vendors bid for your wedding
#20Interesting. I'm not yet married, but I've seen many friends struggle through this process.
Recently, I've tried some similar services that connect businesses (in this case home remodeling/contracting) to consumers and I've found that many of the service providers use it as an advertising platform and avoid actually fulfilling service through the site. Would you position yourself as a lead generation site or a total platform for the entire process?