I read comments here, I watched the video. I still have no idea what this is actually for.
There is chat app, maybe someone can see your screen. I don't know.
Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
31–40 of 67 posts
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
When someone hides a measure of value for an ongoing service, there’s a concern that the actual value doesn’t measure up to the real value. I think that’s what’s going here, and it probably works because $5 is a small amount.
Hi! Founder here. See my comment above on the reasons why we haven't published a pricing page yet. We just started charging, and will add a pricing page soon. BTW we could charge 10X what we do. The reason for the $5 price is that we're more interested in learning about who pays and why, than revenue-maximizing. That price also allows us to be inclusive of our student customers and international customers, for whom a…
Yes, you could charge 10x more. You could charge N more (why stop at 10x, 1000x!), but would anyone pay?
You started at 5 USD and you're not publishing it because as you indicated earlier in the thread, you're price testing. I assume that means finding the price point the most people are willing to pay for the product. For a product with low marginal costs, getting data on what users want so you can keep expanding that pool is revenue maximizing.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#33TL/DR: Book appointments on your calendar to get work done and stick to them. Shut off notifications while you're in there.
I've been working from home for a decade now, and basically I think this is bonkers (no offense, I see the founder is here posting). With all the tools out there if you really want to do that pair up with a coworker and do it with an existing tool. I don't work in pajamas or do anything dumb but I have zero (0) interest in having someone I don't even work with having a video feed into my house. That's as a man, don't even get me started on how uncomfortable I'd be if I wasn't a cis / straight guy.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#34Video surveillance is not the solution to this problem. It's outright creepy. I think a simple chat group or a game can better serve the purpose of providing a virtual "office environment". I think highfidelity is working on something along those lines, but you can already use an opensimulator/secondlife space as realtime hangout place. I'm also critical of their "behavioral triggers". For example, "Pre-commitment" h…
Is working at a coffee shop "surveillance"? The experience on Focusmate is akin to working with a buddy at a library or cafe. As far as pre-commitment: I think you've got your behavioral triggers mixed up. Wikipedia has a good definition: "Precommitment refers to a strategy that an agent may use to restrict the number of choices available to him or her at a future time. The strategy may also involve the imposition of…
> Is working at a coffee shop "surveillance"?
Also, not even close. You notice when a creep is staring at you nonstop in person. Let me redirect you to the dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surveillance
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#35The "How it Works" section should be at the very top of the page, because it's the part that tells you wtf this service does.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
When someone hides a measure of value for an ongoing service, there’s a concern that the actual value doesn’t measure up to the real value. I think that’s what’s going here, and it probably works because $5 is a small amount.
Hi! Founder here. See my comment above on the reasons why we haven't published a pricing page yet. We just started charging, and will add a pricing page soon. BTW we could charge 10X what we do. The reason for the $5 price is that we're more interested in learning about who pays and why, than revenue-maximizing. That price also allows us to be inclusive of our student customers and international customers, for whom a…
> BTW we could charge 10X what we do.
So we can expect that the price will eventually increase to $50 a month when your company is transitioning out of its growth phase and into generating revenue.
Good to know.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#37I used Focusmate a lot and then dropped it. I think it serves its purpose well until you get used to it and then productivity starts dropping again. I also would like to highlight something which is not particular to Focusmate but rather a phenomena spreading to all these SaaS platforms: Focusmate is not free. It's a paying product that costs $5/month. There is absolutely no details of pricing on the home page. There…
Founder of Focusmate here. I'm sorry to hear the effect that not having a pricing page has had on you. Thanks for sharing your feedback. A few thoughts: 1) Focusmate IS free to use 3 times per week. Most of our users are on the free plan. You can use it in perpetuity for free. 2) We don't have a pricing page yet because we started charging 29 days ago, and because we're shipping product incrementally. (We are a 3-per…
At least you can make sure that the home page shows that it's only free for 3 sessions a week, then users have to pay, even if you can't/don't-want-to show the exact pricing.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#38I used Focusmate a lot and then dropped it. I think it serves its purpose well until you get used to it and then productivity starts dropping again. I also would like to highlight something which is not particular to Focusmate but rather a phenomena spreading to all these SaaS platforms: Focusmate is not free. It's a paying product that costs $5/month. There is absolutely no details of pricing on the home page. There…
Founder of Focusmate here. I'm sorry to hear the effect that not having a pricing page has had on you. Thanks for sharing your feedback. A few thoughts: 1) Focusmate IS free to use 3 times per week. Most of our users are on the free plan. You can use it in perpetuity for free. 2) We don't have a pricing page yet because we started charging 29 days ago, and because we're shipping product incrementally. (We are a 3-per…
> Focusmate IS free to use 3 times per week.
Better say that Focusmate is free to try. 3 times/week is so little to be any useful.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi! Founder here. See my comment above on the reasons why we haven't published a pricing page yet. We just started charging, and will add a pricing page soon. BTW we could charge 10X what we do. The reason for the $5 price is that we're more interested in learning about who pays and why, than revenue-maximizing. That price also allows us to be inclusive of our student customers and international customers, for whom a…
Yes, you could charge 10x more. You could charge N more (why stop at 10x, 1000x!), but would anyone pay? You started at 5 USD and you're not publishing it because as you indicated earlier in the thread, you're price testing. I assume that means finding the price point the most people are willing to pay for the product. For a product with low marginal costs, getting data on what users want so you can keep expanding th…
Where's all that negativity coming from? The founder is being transparent about his budding business and you're at him harder than hn was on Apple's stance on Hong Kong.
Re: Focusmate – Virtual Coworking Helps You Get Things Done
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi! Founder here. See my comment above on the reasons why we haven't published a pricing page yet. We just started charging, and will add a pricing page soon. BTW we could charge 10X what we do. The reason for the $5 price is that we're more interested in learning about who pays and why, than revenue-maximizing. That price also allows us to be inclusive of our student customers and international customers, for whom a…
> BTW we could charge 10X what we do. So we can expect that the price will eventually increase to $50 a month when your company is transitioning out of its growth phase and into generating revenue. Good to know.
If a service provides a useful value that people are willing to pay for at $50 then why shouldn't the service provider charge $50?