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Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

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Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#11

Post by koolba »

Interesting topic and I can see how this is a daily issue for some, but I don't get the startup angle. What's the eventual monetization angle? Referrals for hair stylists? Paid membership to get new lists of or customized styles?

Which of the pictures of the girl (linked to the dropbox share) is closest to her natural hair? The styles are so varied it's impossible to tell! On the aesthetic front (obviously IMHO) it's a toss up between Oct 2016 and Dec 2016 for best (though all look very nice!).

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#12

Post by pryelluw »

Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage...

Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context.

Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search IG for women of color with a good amount of followers. That stuff works like magic.

Edit:

If you email me I can introduce you to one such group that has a lot of active users and is led by a black lady. You can pivot from there.

---

Just realized my comment makes me sound like a huge dick. Not my intention. Im excited about the product and wish you the best of luck. I do feel strongly about marketing it (even if not my own project) and that made te words come out too strong.

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#13

Post by priscahazel »

erik14th wrote: post #7

Is there a plan to expand to a larger/more heterogeneous demographic?

We started with this specific demographic because we understand our unique hair challenges because of the nature of our hair and the niche but large market potential. That notwithstanding, depending on the data we collect and the value we could potentially provide to other demographics we may expand. But that is not a major focus for us now.

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#14

Post by benbowdene »

pryelluw wrote: post #12

Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…

I would assume they are announcing their launch in multiple places (forums, subreddit, Facebook, Instagram, etc), not just Hacker News. A decent amount of VCs check this site so it's not terrible to be here. Also, they are apart of YC which typically shares all launches on Hacker News.

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#15

Post by rockmeamedee »

Cool!

Sounds like you have many interesting problems, on top of the usual fun challenges of running a social network+cross platform app. Computer vision, recommenders for hairstyles, products, stylists, and probably many more. Then you have usage information about all of those you could use in a bunch of ways.

And you can monetise with simple, relevant, products ads, or get a commission off booking a stylist, or collaborate with a booking platform like TresseNoire (although that's NYC only for now I guess). So that's a lot more options than many YC backed startups.

A few questions. Feel free to ignore them if there are too many.

It says you're hiring engineers and designers on your website. Care to go to into more specifics about what kind of positions you're hiring for?

Semi-OT in the "only care about users" YC world, but just curious, what's your stack?

It says on your website that you're based in Ghana. Do you plan on going back there after YC, or staying in SV to make it easier to find tech workers+VC money, or have a foot in both places?

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#16

Post by John23832 »

pryelluw wrote: post #12

Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…

People show off apps and ideas here all the time.

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#17

Post by pryelluw »

benbowdene wrote: post #14
pryelluw wrote: post #12

Why are you launching here and not on a facebook group dedicated to such market? There are also instagram micro influencers (less than 10k followers) you could also leverage... Not being a hater but launching here seems silly from the POV of marketing. This seems like something that would get traction rather quickly if pushed in the right context. Trust me. Put ads on facebook with your target demographics and search…

I would assume they are announcing their launch in multiple places (forums, subreddit, Facebook, Instagram, etc), not just Hacker News. A decent amount of VCs check this site so it's not terrible to be here. Also, they are apart of YC which typically shares all launches on Hacker News.

A couple of hours here < a couple of hours working with influencers on social media.

Re: Launch HN: Tress (YC W17) – Online community for black women's hairstyles

#20

Post by ksenzee »

erik14th wrote: post #7

Is there a plan to expand to a larger/more heterogeneous demographic?

There's way less of a market in other demographics. For example, white women: we have less interesting hair. There simply aren't as many things we can do with it, because the structure of the individual hairs is less complex. Plus we have every women's magazine in the US and Europe assuming our hair is the "default." I'd say they know exactly what they're doing aiming at their own demographic.
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