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I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

joshliu.co

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Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#31

Post by bobobjorn »

uniquejosh wrote: post #21
boreacrat wrote: post #19

I really liked your site, however while browsing a couple of things struck me as odd: 1. The yellow "we're in beta" alertbar. The alertbar usually tells you that the website is trying to do something fishy you don't want it to, like popups. 2. The inconsistent menubar. On the front page, if I just want to check out your site without signing up, there isn't one. When I click "Browse MinuteBox" a menubar shows up, but…

Hi there, Sorry, we are waiting for Paypal's approval of using their new API, Paypal X. Therefore, we are now only recruiting experts to join us. That is why there's no requests there just yet. Once we are ready to go, we will push it and let people to post requests and arrange sessions. Cheers Josh

Is it realy a good idea to lure in experts to find an empty page? I took the time to register and so on to take a look, but only to find empty listings, now i will most likely forget the site and never come back.

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#32

Post by maukdaddy »

Honestly, fuck them. It's a blog with dubious editorial standards anyway.

Focus on finding users, marketing, generating revenue, etc. If you're worried about TC then you're wasting energy that could be used elsewhere. Once you get a few paying users, find a PR firm to issue a release that can be forwarded to smaller blogs and new outlets.

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#33

Post by ebaysucks »

kloncks wrote: post #30

At least that’s the theory. In reality I think this site has about a snowflake’s chance in the white hot cauldron of a collapsing star, and it’ll probably be overwhelmed by porn merchants faster than you can say “charge for online video.” Assuming they find it. I don't remember reviews on TechCrunch being this harsh. Wow. There's constructive criticism. And then there's this.

What's wrong with being overwhelmed by porn merchants?

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#34

Post by uniquejosh »

bobobjorn wrote: post #31
uniquejosh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi there, Sorry, we are waiting for Paypal's approval of using their new API, Paypal X. Therefore, we are now only recruiting experts to join us. That is why there's no requests there just yet. Once we are ready to go, we will push it and let people to post requests and arrange sessions. Cheers Josh

Is it realy a good idea to lure in experts to find an empty page? I took the time to register and so on to take a look, but only to find empty listings, now i will most likely forget the site and never come back.

sorry, I put the note at the end of my post. We have not launched our website yet and that is why the site is empty. I was just sharing a post in my personal blog and did not really expect great responses like this.

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#35

Post by _pius »

I feel bad for the OP ... that was definitely a harsh review. That said, I notice that he called this a "Minimum Viable Product," which is a term of art from the Lean Startup methodology.

That very same methodology says you're not supposed to have some big TechCrunch launch with that MVP ... precisely because it is almost certainly not ready for primetime. The point of the MVP is to get it in front of real customers, learn, and iterate.

Taking concepts, decontextualizing them down to buzzwords, and then acting on them is a path to fail.

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#36

Post by btipling »

The stock photography on your FAQ has to go. Asap. In fact, the picture of the lady in the call center was recently used on a blog that makes fun of bad stock photography.

I think call center stock photography is probably one of the worst things you can put on a site.

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#37

Post by uniquejosh »

_pius wrote: post #35

I feel bad for the OP ... that was definitely a harsh review. That said, I notice that he called this a "Minimum Viable Product," which is a term of art from the Lean Startup methodology. That very same methodology says you're not supposed to have some big TechCrunch launch with that MVP ... precisely because it is almost certainly not ready for primetime. The point of the MVP is to get it in front of real customers,…

Totally agreed that it was one of my mistakes. It was wrong to get TC review so early. Another lesson learned. :)

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#38

Post by uniquejosh »

btipling wrote: post #36

The stock photography on your FAQ has to go. Asap. In fact, the picture of the lady in the call center was recently used on a blog that makes fun of bad stock photography. I think call center stock photography is probably one of the worst things you can put on a site.

Thanks for the comment. Will pass that to our designer.

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#39

Post by zecho »

uniquejosh wrote: post #11

Thanks for all the comments. Yes, I agreed that TechCrunch is not the place or only place to get validation. Probably it helps you to get the attentions from echo chambers. But, users are the real judge to decide if you are building a solid business or not.

I liked your lessons learned, but you should add a lesson 5:

/etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 techcrunch.com

Re: I got a bad review from TechCrunch, lessons learned

#40

Post by ldng »

leon_ wrote: post #28
callumjones wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree, TC Europe seems to be lacking any real support from the TechCrunch brand.

There's a TC Europe? (I'm from Europe and I didn't notice.)

It looks more like UK TC and there's even a France TC ! I think nobody know about them.

[edit] Well not only UK, first page just happened to be very UK oriented but if you read further there is a bit more diversity.

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