Ah - damn. It'd be great to have this in the UK.
I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
181–190 of 251 posts
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#182A lot of people from the US seem to forget that they're excluding the majority of customers by asking you to enter a zipcode that will only work in the US. It's incredibly annoying if you're part of that majority. With that said - good luck :-)
To see the next screen you could use the Whitehouse's Zip code: 20500
Since I grew up in the 80s and 90s I've always enjoyed using 90210 -- ahh for the days of bad hair and even worse acting! ;)
This looks like an awesome idea. I would absolutely be interested if I was in the US! (no chance of it coming to Belgium, is there, huh? :( )
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#183Cool. The logo needs some work.
Agree. The illustrations are nice but the logo could use improvement!
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being from outside US, I sympathize with that but: 1) It's a new service. It's reasonable to restrict your audience at first. Making it more international requires more work (shipping, billing, etc) which might end up being useless. It makes sense to test with domestic users first. 2) You should take a lot of care before shipping seeds internationally. Some countries (well, all countries I have flown to) have strict…
Totally agree with you that it makes a lot of sense for this kind of startup to focus on one country/region first. I do wish that startups would at least mention somewhere that they are aware of this. Something like "Sorry, US only for now" in the HN message, or a "I'm not in the US!" link on the frontpage with a message for international users, even if that message is simply that the company will focus on US custome…
Exactly – non-us folk (me) feel like you just don't care about their existence when you just ask for a zip code, or US phone number etc.
Bigger companies have pulled this off so many times, restricting their customers to the US for seemingly no reason, that we get irked by it now.
If there was a message saying how it's super complicated to send seeds abroad, then we'd understand and all would be well.
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#185Did you use any seed money to start this? ;)
Best of luck, it's a great idea with lots of potential.
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#186Also maybe add a note that it is US only? Or have an option for us folks in Canada? Otherwise, idea is great, I would sign-up for sure!
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#187A lot of people from the US seem to forget that they're excluding the majority of customers by asking you to enter a zipcode that will only work in the US. It's incredibly annoying if you're part of that majority. With that said - good luck :-)
Being from outside US, I sympathize with that but: 1) It's a new service. It's reasonable to restrict your audience at first. Making it more international requires more work (shipping, billing, etc) which might end up being useless. It makes sense to test with domestic users first. 2) You should take a lot of care before shipping seeds internationally. Some countries (well, all countries I have flown to) have strict…
Yea, I think many of us didn't understand why the Japanese never send most of their wares overseas until we started being entrepreneurs ourselves.
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#188FYI when I clicked the "Sign Up" button on the plans page, Chrome gave me the "invalid secure certificate" warning.
I love the idea though. Any chance you'll include Ireland?
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#189What a really really neat and extremely useful concept. I've put a link up on the homepage of ww to send you some traffic.
It reads "SproutRobot, helps you plant your garden! Go check it out if you are in the US.", hope that describes it well enough, if you want a different text let me know.
I don't do prayers but I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for you all day long ;)
Re: I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.
#190A lot of people from the US seem to forget that they're excluding the majority of customers by asking you to enter a zipcode that will only work in the US. It's incredibly annoying if you're part of that majority. With that said - good luck :-)
It only works in the US today, but how is that different from movies or ipads or any other product to be rolled out in the largest target market first?
It's non-trivial to scale this to 'planet wide' so until the home market is established and the concept tested there is no really good reason to scale it beyond the US, there are substantial costs associated with doing that.
Just the shipping alone for a biological product would drive you nuts.