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Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

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Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#31

Post by vs2370 »

tmaly wrote: post #29
vs2370 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

great idea..took note

I originally tried to start a startup related to recruiting. I interviewed 40 recruiters. I could not find any specific pattern, so I moved on to other things.

Ah I could see but this is a conscious effort not to make it for recruiters. But it would be great if you could share some more notes from your learning :)

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#32

Post by vs2370 »

cpach wrote: post #22

Some thoughts/advice: IMHO, what Linkedin really misses is a good community. I know there are different groups on there but my impression is that they are of really low quality and the UI/UX is really lacking. I never find it worthwhile to try discussing anything on Linkedin. As it is today, LI seems to be used primarily by recruiters and they are ”merely” middlemen. A ”Linkedin killer” should place the customer (i.e…

Thanks for your advice. I think none of the social networks got groups right. Groups is a trick thing. I think the first flaw is creating membership of groups. Instead I think people are more interested in topics(HN, reddit, twitter, etc). So I think the first step is to not have groups and instead encourage discussions around topics, links, etc.

Thats why the importance is to have a platform/features that are geared towards users.HN, reddit, discourse are great pointers btw to learn from.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#33

Post by vs2370 »

jpindar wrote: post #25
cpach wrote: post #22

Some thoughts/advice: IMHO, what Linkedin really misses is a good community. I know there are different groups on there but my impression is that they are of really low quality and the UI/UX is really lacking. I never find it worthwhile to try discussing anything on Linkedin. As it is today, LI seems to be used primarily by recruiters and they are ”merely” middlemen. A ”Linkedin killer” should place the customer (i.e…

I go to LinkedIn when I'm not looking for work. For some professions, at least, they do have great people and great discussions - but limited by the horrible UI/UX.

I do too. i like some of the pulse/blog post articles from influencers. But lesser so since they opened it to everybody the quality plummeted and now i see articles from people I did not even know I was connected. Some of them are job postings, real estate postings or a redirect to some other website.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#34

Post by pavornyoh »

tmaly wrote: post #29
vs2370 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

great idea..took note

I originally tried to start a startup related to recruiting. I interviewed 40 recruiters. I could not find any specific pattern, so I moved on to other things.

I said this before. The recruiters are not the problem as they are likely not going to give you a lot of info. for fear of losing out.

It is the users you have to talk to. I have spent countless hours talking to users and employers over the last 8 months as I am doing something similar to OP. There are so many changes they will like to see with some voiced out here in the thread. There are also many ways to monetize as the employers I spoke with are frustrated and willing to pay for the right service that yield results.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#35

Post by jpindar »

vs2370 wrote: post #33
jpindar wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to LinkedIn when I'm not looking for work. For some professions, at least, they do have great people and great discussions - but limited by the horrible UI/UX.

I do too. i like some of the pulse/blog post articles from influencers. But lesser so since they opened it to everybody the quality plummeted and now i see articles from people I did not even know I was connected. Some of them are job postings, real estate postings or a redirect to some other website.

True. And that's part of the bad UI - there's no good way to filter different types of content, and the group moderation system doesn't work too well.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#36

Post by Gustomaximus »

Here's my free idea to LinkedIn or any substitute - allow people to place a price per contacting them. Some people can leave it as an open platform. Others can say for $5 or $50 they will read correspondence. Some CEO can put their price at $1000+ or whatever they think an email is worth for reading. This solves the issue of not everyones time is worth the same, yet inmail credits are priced equally no-matter who you contact.

The business can clip X% of any earnings. Everyone is contactable at a price level they are happy to read emails as they are being paid to do so. Recruiters can still contact you but now they cant spam, or to do so has significant costs. Personally I'd be happy to pay a few bucks for the occasional non-contact message I send for business purposes as these usually have an expected payoff, and the person knows you're a bit more committed/serious too.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#37

Post by vs2370 »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #36

Here's my free idea to LinkedIn or any substitute - allow people to place a price per contacting them. Some people can leave it as an open platform. Others can say for $5 or $50 they will read correspondence. Some CEO can put their price at $1000+ or whatever they think an email is worth for reading. This solves the issue of not everyones time is worth the same, yet inmail credits are priced equally no-matter who you…

Thats a pretty new angle. I think the key is to make good quality messages somehow more valuable than mass messaging. Real currency is def one way to do so but might be a little too aggressive. One idea that I commented here was to only allow certain free messages. If your quality and response rate is at par then you pay less for extra messages otherwise more.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#38

Post by stevekemp »

I keep revisiting this idea myself. I figured a suitable prototype would just let you :

* Create a profile.

* Record where you've worked.

* Post small "updates". Which would be visible to "connections".

That would be the core of the service and the job-hunting stuff would be kinda-seperate.

The problem is twofold: scaling and getting users. If you have no users then the system is futile (I setup a dating site once, which struggled due to lack of users. You join? No users in your city? Never return). On the other hand if you suddenly have 50,000 users you system will struggle if you're doing it on the cheap with a simple virtual machine. You need to plan for rapid scalability but assume you'll get none.

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#39

Post by vs2370 »

stevekemp wrote: post #38

I keep revisiting this idea myself. I figured a suitable prototype would just let you : * Create a profile. * Record where you've worked. * Post small "updates". Which would be visible to "connections". That would be the core of the service and the job-hunting stuff would be kinda-seperate. The problem is twofold: scaling and getting users. If you have no users then the system is futile (I setup a dating site once, w…

Yes jotting down notes from this thread to build a MVP. Essentially I wish to target one particular vertical(engineers) or segment(students) of users. Also in case of engineers, let them import their github data or simply allow them to upload their work in files.

Regarding the lack of users, I agree that deserted website is not ideal. But I think it should initially go from a individual centric website and organically evolve into a community

Re: Apply HN: – Linkedin without the spam

#40

Post by amorphid »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #36

Here's my free idea to LinkedIn or any substitute - allow people to place a price per contacting them. Some people can leave it as an open platform. Others can say for $5 or $50 they will read correspondence. Some CEO can put their price at $1000+ or whatever they think an email is worth for reading. This solves the issue of not everyones time is worth the same, yet inmail credits are priced equally no-matter who you…

LinkedIn already charges recruiters to contact you. The last time I checked, the spot price for a LinkedIn InMail was about $10 per message.
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