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Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

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Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#291

Post by cod3boy »

Veratyr wrote: post #211
noobhacker wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What grammatical or typographical errors prompt the advice to get someone to proofread the website? I'm asking because I see this advice quite often, and most of the times I can't find anything wrong. Could someone point out specific errors that I miss? Perhaps I need to get an editor myself.

"We help freelancers become more professional with automatic streamlined process for managerial tasks like client onboarding, signing NDA and requirement collection right from their personal website." "with automatic streamlined process" should probably be "an automatic streamlined process". I don't think the way it is now is technically wrong but it doesn't feel right. "Never delay your client to wait for an NDA." d…

Thanks for this! :)

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#292

Post by cod3boy »

Finnucane wrote: post #262
noobhacker wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What grammatical or typographical errors prompt the advice to get someone to proofread the website? I'm asking because I see this advice quite often, and most of the times I can't find anything wrong. Could someone point out specific errors that I miss? Perhaps I need to get an editor myself.

First, I'd remove the implication that the customer is not professional. Assume your customer _is_ professional, but needs help with some bureaucratic functions. The phrase "automatic streamlined process for managerial tasks like client onboarding, signing NDA and requirement collection" is pretty terrible and confusedly jargony. Who is signing the NDA? Unclear. Who is actually benefits from the service? Unclear. IS…

Been getting feedback for "professional" a lot. Thanks, will edit accordingly, we are working on an entirely new copy of the website.

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#293

Post by cod3boy »

garethsprice wrote: post #285

As an ex-freelancer, you're trying to do too much & don't have the credibility I'd want to turn over my business to your system. I have my own systems in place - my own website, my own contracts, etc. so why would I want to use yours? Will they be relevant to my market? It's like looking at a cable TV lineup where I might want 1 channel but have to subscribe to a bunch of others. $29 was a lot of money to me for a Sa…

The personal assistant is a real live human :) and exactly does like what you mentioned, answer simple ones and escalate complex inquiries.

Will consider the pricing plans, ideally, we are trying to reduce the friction in beginning and have the least number of plans.

Thanks for the rest of the feedback, will definitely go through them :)

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#294

Post by cod3boy »

martin-adams wrote: post #200
cod3boy wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noted, now that we are here, can you please take a look at this one too? We had an explainer as well :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23V3LmRUb4

After getting the gist from that video and from personal experience freelancing, I would say the major pain points for freelancers are: a) Clients being slow on delivery of requirements/content but once they deliver it, they want things done urgently b) Clients being slow to sign off stuff after delivery c) Late payments after a lot of chasing Documentation and NDAs can vary from client to client and is usually initi…

Will think about his more! Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#295

Post by cod3boy »

got2surf wrote: post #207
cod3boy wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noted, now that we are here, can you please take a look at this one too? We had an explainer as well :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23V3LmRUb4

That's a much better video - gets the point across quickly, and looks professional. I'd replace the "demo video" on your home page with that. As a side note, I thought the animated video was well produced. Would you mind sharing how you made it? (email in profile, if you'd prefer to do so off-thread). Thanks!

Made it on fiverr with this guy https://www.fiverr.com/joeguilar

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#296

Post by cod3boy »

degenerate wrote: post #192
cod3boy wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noted, now that we are here, can you please take a look at this one too? We had an explainer as well :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23V3LmRUb4

This is a MUCH better video for "getting" what the product is quickly. Show this one before anything else. But somewhere, please, explain what a "personal assistant" really means. If it's a real, breathing human being on call 24/7, say that. If it's someone that might be there, but will definitely get back to you within 6 hours, say that. Be transparent or nobody will bite... they are trying to calculate in their hea…

Its a real human being, will incorporate all these feedbacks soon, thanks for taking time to write :)

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#297

Post by cod3boy »

ImSkeptical wrote: post #210
cod3boy wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please take a quick look, here is the actual product in the show. I think we failed at showcasing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7wAeenBe-c

I watched/skimmed the first two minutes of this video. The lack of audio seems off-putting and amateur (so does the Big Head). It also seems a lot like a video of someone filling out a form. I feel like most people will be able to fill out a form without needing a video walkthrough and the video walkthrough doesn't really convey the usefulness of the product - which should be in the very beginning of the product. I'd…

Will work on the suggestions! Thanks. We had an explanation video, commented in another thread.

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#298

Post by cod3boy »

notyourday wrote: post #282
bowbles wrote: post #138

I’m one of the people who dropped off. Your chat person told me to try hiring your sample profile. When I went there, it was just a poorly made typeform. Your NDA process didn’t account for anything as simple as finding out what country the other person is in. Regions impact legal documents significantly. Everything else was basically the same. Overall, I think your premise of “I know we have a decent product” is fla…

That's because there's no product. There are two kinds of freelancers/consultants: 1. Successful ones - those that bill tens thousands of dollars a month/hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. This group knows how to open a bank account, how to invoice a customer, how to setup cron jobs for nagging a customer, how to setup per customer support phone numbers, how to talk to attorneys and accountants. For them ther…

:) Interesting comment. I was hoping we can serve both the groups, for 1, even when they are good at it, there is a lot of time expenses which can be reduced with Sieve. Thanks for the feedback, will definitely look more into this.

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#299

Post by cod3boy »

jondubois wrote: post #233

As someone who's done some freelancing as a software dev, I don't see much value in the product. None of the features offered by the product resonate with me. For managing appointments, I usually do it all over email. Most major email clients support calendar invites. Also, most freelancers already have a website and if not they can setup their own site very quickly with little effort. I think the product is in a ver…

I am not sure if there is always a first mover advantage in business. There is always an opportunity to improve/innovate and do things better.

Re: Ask HN: We didn't get a single person to pay for our SAAS – what could be wrong?

#300

Post by cod3boy »

retrac98 wrote: post #226

> It's not the product, I strongly believe we have a decent product. Check your dissonance. It’s the product. There are numerous things I could pick holes in here, most noteably that the product tries to do far too much and probably doesn’t do one thing brilliantly. Personally I’m not going to invest my valuable time in finding out if that’s true. The ask is too big. That said, nobody here is going to be able to give…

Thanks, will consider the feedback and work on this :)
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