Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams • Hacker News Board

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#111

Post by ponker » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 7:52 PM UTC

dsl wrote: post #109

achen187 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of our current customers wanted to try the experience without actually having to purchase and own a new expensive device. We really wanted to lower the barrier for anyone who wanted to give us a chance. We also handle all shipping/return costs -- we're trying to minimize any burden on the customers.

What happens when an employee has one stolen? or coffee spilled on it? How many free tablets can I get for $25/mo? What do you do when you realize someone has spilled coffee on 3 tablets, and now their credit card isn't rebilling and they aren't responding to email?

You can dream up all of these scenarios. But if you have a healthy business then a small number of people scamming you for Galaxy Tab's doesn't kill it.

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#112

Post by ponker » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

ryanSrich wrote: post #69

As the founder of a remote company this defeats the purpose for me. Benefits of remote: - No commute - No office politics - No forced schedule - Less meetings - More writing - Forced communication - No "assess in seats" culture In part, this seems to defeat at least: - No forced schedule - Less meetings - No "asses in seats" culture My hunch is that your market research consisted of only talking to companies that are…

"I will never purchase a tampon, therefore tampons are a terrible product with no purpose."

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#113

Post by redm » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 7:55 PM UTC

ponker wrote: post #110

redm wrote: post #108

Congratulations on the launch. I'm a remote worker, so I was keenly interested in this. I've been using a Facebook Portal for about 1.5 years as an always-on video device. It works great, so I love the idea. There's open water in this space, so it's great to see others entering it. For now, I don't see why I would ever use this over the Portal. The Portal HW has a high-quality build with a great speaker, and the auto…

What kind of company do you work at?

I work at all remote internet company; I use my Portal to connect to specific people though in an always-on environment. I find it helpful for all the reasons described in the OP and more. When I went from a shared office with a co-worker to a remote office with the same co-worker, I thought we would lose something. The always-on video fills a void. I can't recommend it enough for remote workers that work closely with another person. Sometimes a look or a glance can even accomplish a goal.

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#114

Post by ponker » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

edoceo wrote: post #73

achen187 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa that's a super cool setup, and one I haven't seen before. I'd love to learn more if you have a writeup anywhere? And how many teammates do you have? It seems like 10?

No write-up, I'll post one (or you can DM me). 7 core staff, 3-5 contractors and we let our clients in too. Most solutions breakdown for us because of our loose definition of "user"

please post the writeup instead of DMing!

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#115

Post by hackinthebochs » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:01 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #93

achen187 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From our experience, the best collaboration doesn't happen during planned meetings. It happens during spontaneous conversations and that's what we're trying to bring back.

I kind of get that, but none of the remote collaboration I experience is done through planned meetings. It happens during conversations we have spontaneously. It's just those conversations happen over Slack and then over video call. This isn't to say that I disbelieve your experience, but it still baffles me there are remote teams out there that fail to collaborate at a sufficient level with tools that already exist.…

The difference is when someone starts a call or an IM, its usually about something specific and so the expectation is that the conversation lasts just as long as it takes to resolve the specific issue. Spontaneity of conversation requires a culture of interaction without a specific aim. In an environment where you want to maximize such spontaneous connections, calls or IMs can't compare to always-on.

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#116

Post by jonathankoren » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

There was just a criticism of YC earlier this week about YC spinning out SaaS products for startup founders, and then this comes along right on cue.

This reads like a solution looking for a problem.

I have a screen. I have a camera. In fact I have two screens, three cameras, and four microphones on my desk right now. The hardware isn't an issue. But what really struck about this announcement was this passage:

> We talked to many teams that tried to hack together a solution with Zoom on an iPad. From the teams we spoke to, we learned that it's really hard to consistently get the team in the room at the same time. Users are constantly leaving the room for other meetings but for everyone still in the room, it seems like nobody wants to use it because it's empty. This causes a negative feedback loop where even more people leave the room and the hacked together solution quickly becomes useless.

The problem is people are clicking "leave", if you don't leave the call, you're still there. Even Sidekick doesn't solve this problem, because you are sending a nag notification to people telling them to join a room and just hangout. The innovation is nag notification.

Even your vanity metric of "our users are in their Sidekick rooms for 6 hours a day" is kind of meaningless when the device is always on by design. That's like saying "on average, our refrigerator uses use their device 24 hours a day" -- well you don't have an off switch. The real metric is how often people are actually talking on it.

You seem to figure that this is niche product at best. I know you're trying to replicate the drop by, but it's hard to see how this is better than the "Hey, join my call when you have a chance," slack. Even if you think that it is better, this experience is worse than the physical interaction, because everyone is within very close ear shot of every conversation. That doesn't happen in the physical world. We're physically separated, and the sound is attenuated. It's not when everyone is inches away from a microphone and amplified into everyone's ears.

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#117

Post by jcmontx » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:23 PM UTC

Sounds great. Is the hardware available for international teams or just US?

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#118

Post by jcmontx » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:26 PM UTC

ponker wrote: post #111

dsl wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when an employee has one stolen? or coffee spilled on it? How many free tablets can I get for $25/mo? What do you do when you realize someone has spilled coffee on 3 tablets, and now their credit card isn't rebilling and they aren't responding to email?

You can dream up all of these scenarios. But if you have a healthy business then a small number of people scamming you for Galaxy Tab's doesn't kill it.

Well, of course, that's the case for big corpo; but being a small startup with _limited_ budget, I think the bill can scale up pretty quickly.

Hopefully not, though, I truly like the product.

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#119

Post by redm » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

hackathonguy wrote: post #85

The way I see it, being "always on" is one of the worst things about office work. Always on is a constant distraction from doing good concentrated work. I think off by default is a far better paradigm for remote communication tools.

Have you tried the always on? I find it very productive. The difference is, it's muted when not actively discussing, so you get the presence without the distraction.

Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams

#120

Post by mirrormaster » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 8:33 PM UTC

Seems like anything can get funding these days. I love how they say this is better than running zoom or Google meet on an iPad. Give users a mediocre android tablet with similar software and charge 25 dollars per user per month!? The founders clearly haven't thought about the asynchronous nature of remote work and even companies want an always connected environment, I don't know why they would want this product!