Ask HN: Review My Startup: Skinnyo - Weight loss challenge community

Hi All,

I'm looking for feedback on a startup I have been working on for many months now...

Skinnyo started as a simple platform for creating challenges for friends and colleagues to motivate each other into losing weight but has grown and could now be considered a small social network with user reputation and updates of friends activity and support.

The site opened in late October and since then we have had over 4500 users join (many of whom through the chrome webstore) and around 800 are active regularly...

I am particularly looking for feedback on potential business models aside from advertising. The users we have so far seem to appreciate that the site is kept clean and simple unlike everything else in this space. And I am also interested in ideas for sustainable growth.

Any other comments would be great, and all feedback is appreciated.

Cheers

http://skinnyo.com

I really like the design, it's very clean and looks highly polished. Also I like the fast signup process. Business models might be a tricky one here. Can't think of one atm.

I agree, it's very nice. Who did it?

A simple business model that would be coherent with your current users would be let them mention what they do to loose weight, identify commercial elements (not just weight-loss powder, but also say, iTunes apps, or a organic walnut producer) to sell mentions, or better coupons to groups that pledge to follow a similar regimen. That way, you can have not only friends, but stranger who use the same technique to help you out.

Sponsoring would be a good idea if you fail to identify anything relevant automatically: let the users name a product that they use to loose weight, and associate their gains to it.

I'm not sure how competitive you want this too be (hopefully, not too much) but you might also encourage treats to your members. Let them tell they friends (on Facebook/twitter) about it, and their friends pledge a present if they reach certain goals and get a recommendation fee from those merchants. Maybe consider a two- or three-sided gift not too punish and burden too much those who failed: a trip to Paris below a certain threshold, a wine & walk tour of California below a higher threshold, and a sweat-your pants off in a Cheyenne lodge otherwise.

I really like the idea of pledging gifts... it isn't something that has come up in our brainstorms so far either.

I wonder how many people would need to pledge to build up enough for something the size of a holiday? Although a much smaller gift might not provide enough of a motivation...

Would the business model here to take a percentage of the pledges?