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Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

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Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#131

Post by JimDabell »

sasper wrote: post #101
JimDabell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I hear, Fi is by no means perfect, it's only available for a few phone models, and I'm not from the USA anyway.

What cell service is perfect? Fi is wonderful for a simple pricing structure and having service in 170+ countries as soon as you land. It allows me to use my phone in the few hours it takes from landing in a new country, to getting to my hotel, to getting to a cell provider to get a local SIM. It is only officially supported on Nexus and Pixel phones, which are great devices. You can get around the limitation by doin…

> What cell service is perfect?

"By no means perfect" doesn't mean "isn't perfect", it means "it's actually quite a long way away from being perfect".

I check in on the state of Fi every so often, and from what a lot of users are saying about it, it seems to be at best beta quality, and that's using the handful of officially supported devices. Perhaps in the countries you've been to with the device you use it's fine, but it doesn't seem anywhere near as reliable as picking up a local SIM.

Throw in the fact that it's not officially supported for most devices and that it's only available in the USA makes it a complete non-starter for me.

Also:

> if you insist on using a different device.

Having a device that Fi doesn't support isn't me being unreasonably stubborn like you seem to think. If Fi doesn't support the device that I use, that's Fi's shortcoming, not my own.

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#132

Post by dankohn1 »

I landed in Beijing Sunday and arranged a car from my hotel since Uber doesn't work here. I arranged via email for the Intercontinental to send an Audi for me and my colleague for CNY 780 (USD 114). Included in the price was an expediter service of a very nice woman who met us at the gate and accompanied us through immigration until she put us in the car.

In Europe, your service doesn't make sense either, because Uber to a hotel is so convenient and reliable.

I'm your target audience, but I don't think you've hit product market fit yet.

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#133

Post by avitzurel »

jpalomaki wrote: post #62
avitzurel wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a service like this. Domains mean nothing. If they spent more than the price of a .com domain it's a mistake. For consumer facing product, they find you one of two ways. 1. Social (Paid ads) 2. Google search (Paid ads) I am not talking about viral products or brands, I am talking about the average service (like this one). I saw many companies do this mistake, some paid 10K some paid 2m<, all made a mistake IMHO.

Think also about customers who have seen already seen your ad or read about the company somewhere, but did not have immediate need for the service back then. Good and simple domain name might help the end up to the web page right away. If they need to Google, they are exposed to all your competitors.

From what I've seen (and again, I might be very bitter about consumer facing products) the behavior is that even if they think they know your name they will still end up on Google. At which point whether you are solve.com or getsolve.com it matters very very little.

Like it or not, Google is the entry point and how consumers will find your service.

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#135

Post by shawnsheikh »

aloukissas wrote: post #134

The value-add over the $95/5 years of Global Entry doesn't seem to warrant the price.

Global Entry is a service that only works in the US, and it doesn't include a dedicated agent meeting you at the gate, luggage assistance, or assistance booking/finding your car.

We help with fast track immigrations and customs and safety when traveling international. On my last international flight, I landed and a guy grabbed my bag and started walking off yelling "fast track" hoping for a tip. If I wasn't already used to this is would've been alarming. Our mission is not just the speed of immigrations/customs but comfort and a hassle free experience when you travel.

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#136

Post by rsync »

jrbancel wrote: post #104
rsync wrote: post #77

How does this work, inbound, to the US ? When I return to the US (San Francisco) on first class or business tickets there is no segregation of lines/service - you queue up in the big line and wait your turn (45-60 minutes later) like everyone else. Other than diplomats, I see no mechanism for expediting immigration/customs inbound to the US and my (short, reckless) research suggested that expedited immigration/custom…

> I see no mechanism for expediting immigration/customs inbound to the US Global Entry [0], if you are a US citizen or permanent resident. It is life changing. Immigration takes under a minute at a kiosk and there is a priority lane at Customs. [0] https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-...

"Global Entry [0], if you are a US citizen or permanent resident."

Ok. But how are they (Solve) going to do it ?

Or is the US entry side of things not part of their product offering ?

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#137

Post by philipodonnell »

shawnsheikh wrote: post #19
mdekkers wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the quick quotes I have requested so far exclude fast track security and immigration, without an obvious way to add this service (USA, EU) and they run around $300 - which is a lot of money for a "meet and greet", and essentially have someone carry your bags for you, only to still be queuing up.

Hey there! We're still working on the wording and how we're crafting the message, but where we say we include Fast Track Immigrations and Customs we have access to a dedicated fast track line or the diplomat line. For airports where it says does not include, we usually have an expedited immigrations/customs. Another agent will go stand in line a head of time and you can cut in with them, or they'll know the immigrati…

> Another agent will go stand in line a head of time and you can cut in with them, or they'll know the immigration officer and simply walk you to the front.

No offense, and maybe I'm not the target customer, and my international travel outside the US/EU is limited, but this seems like the kind of behavior that's going to make other travelers angry.

Is "place in line holding" just more common in other parts of the world?

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#138

Post by shawnsheikh »

patrickg_zill wrote: post #130

Hopefully you will have better optimization of providers in the future, allowing for better pricing. For instance, arriving at SVO (Sheremetevo airport in Russia) you want $735 for meet and greet and transportation help. Yet local pricing for transportation into Moscow is no more than $75 for the one way trip (SVO is a bit outside of Moscow proper) and, well, very capable translators are available for what, $50/hour…

Moscow is definitely an outlier. Our services in Johannesburg, for example, are $140 for the first two travelers and $60 thereafter. As we continue to grow, we're pushing our suppliers to bring their prices down and we're deploying our own teams. The problem with airports like Moscow is that they are not doing enough bookings each week to operate at (minimal) scale - so they're up charging the limited amount of business travlers coming into the country that are using the service. Definitely something we're going to change.

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#139

Post by shawnsheikh »

clamprecht wrote: post #67

It's a good idea, and it reminds me of "handlers" in the general/business aviation world. When you land, they expedite your fueling, customs, immigration, overfly permits, flight planning & routing, and more. Back to normal travelers - I wish there were a free wiki that covered all this, since it seems like it's just a matter of having the right information. Like knowing which office to go in, what forms to have read…

We're actually working to provide our travelers with more information and want to build out more of these pages that help general travelers whether or not they're paying.

For our service, however, it's not necessarily just about finding the "right" counter or "right" service it's having your own personal problem Solver to help you through the airport. If you're a company and you're sending an employee on an international trip for the first time, you want that reassurance that your employee (often your most valuable asset) is safe and comfortable. After all comfortable employees are productive employees.

Re: Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time

#140

Post by shawnsheikh »

peteretep wrote: post #108

I do a lot of international business travel, mostly in business. 3 figures of flights last year. I would use this service, but you're about 2x as expensive as I'd pay for it. For example, you want £140 for landing at Suvarnabhumi. This gets me Fast Track immigration, but I already get that if I'm landing in business, and help with onwards transportation, but as per most airports, the place is swamped with good qualit…

We're definitely working to decrease prices as we grow. Similar to Uber Black when Uber first launched, the goal is to get a base service out in as many airports as possible, then learn and innovate in the industry to help bring prices down and help more people. We've already been able to drastically bring prices down in airports like Johannesburg where the services is now $140 for the first two travlers and $60 per traveler thereafter.
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