Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
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Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
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Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#2How about starting by getting some target users using it and seeing whether they spread the word and recommend it to their friends?
The rest is all very nice, but a bit OTT for an alpha launch. Not putting down your work at all, but anything that hasn't got real users yet is probably still a long way from being worthy of being officially "launched".
If you media-blitz and overhype it and it's not ready, you'll end up pulling a Cuil and losing most of your target audience on day 1.
Once you have a few hundred normal users who are telling you your product kicks ass, then think about marketing. Until then, focus on getting your product right.
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#3I'd do the early phases like this:
1.) Release to family members, trusted friends & people that have a stake in the project. Get their feedback.
2.) Release on news.YC. Get their feedback.
3.) Find some influential bloggers in your field. Don't release to them; instead, send them a personal e-mail asking for their feedback.
4.) Go to forums in your field, pick out some dedicated early users that are really into the space. Send them personal e-mails and get their feedback.
5.) Release to the blogs and forums you identified in 3.) and 4.) Pay close attention to feedback and iterate.
6.) Release on Reddit/Digg/the rest of your list.
I've been a part of a startup that tried the PR blitz thing and it failed miserably, because we didn't serve any useful purpose. Gotta make it basically good before people will pay attention.
There've also been several times when I've released on news.YC to a very ho-hum reception and then killed the project, or otherwise took it in very different directions. That's probably not the response you want to hear, but it's much better to kill a product without a market early than to keep improving it speculatively.
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#4First, fix your subscription news form.
"There has been an error submitting your email address. Please contact us at contact@onista.com."
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#5How about starting by getting some target users using it and seeing whether they spread the word and recommend it to their friends? The rest is all very nice, but a bit OTT for an alpha launch. Not putting down your work at all, but anything that hasn't got real users yet is probably still a long way from being worthy of being officially "launched". If you media-blitz and overhype it and it's not ready, you'll end up…
[deleted]
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#6How about starting by getting some target users using it and seeing whether they spread the word and recommend it to their friends? The rest is all very nice, but a bit OTT for an alpha launch. Not putting down your work at all, but anything that hasn't got real users yet is probably still a long way from being worthy of being officially "launched". If you media-blitz and overhype it and it's not ready, you'll end up…
I sometimes read things like this and wonder if I should honestly take them seriously or not.
Cuil did great on the PR front. Sure, their product wasn't all that wonderful, but getting that much attention even if lackluster is something most startups can only dream of.
We're in a similar situation to the poster, but since we're B2B our "testing" basically means working with two customers. We're planning on launching with as much hooplah as we can raise when our demo site goes live in the near future.
There's a lot of power in a launch; it's your chance to get it right and get some attention. At no other point early in the startup will you have as much momentum to getting PR attention. If you can pull it off reasonably it's a great chance to catapult your startup a good ways down the road.
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#7Hey, I Googled 'Onista' and found your recent Vimeo video: http://www.vimeo.com/1376104 as well as some introductions in various forums. Looks like you're building up the hype well.
My 2c after watching the video: I don't understand the instant negotiation. Is there a limit on the number of times I can submit a bid? If not, can't I just start really low and then increment by $1 or $2 until I meet the minimum? If there is a limit, what's stopping me from setting up multiple accounts so that I can discover the minimum, then bid that amount on my legit account? Since this seems to be a major differentiation point, I hope you've ensured there is no easy way to cheat the system ;)
Also, how do people pay each other? If you're relying on people to exchange money privately, how are you going to handle disputes?
One more thing about the video: your accent. I'd try to get someone without an accent, probably a woman. I think this would appeal more to your target audience.
How many people do you have working on this besides you?
As far as the Onista site goes, you've done a fantastic job with it. There seems to do and explore and the interface is intuitive and clean.
Wish you the best of luck in the coming weeks!
Matt
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#8You don't. Alpha tests are, by definition, internal-only.
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#9First, fix your subscription news form. "There has been an error submitting your email address. Please contact us at contact@onista.com."
Thanks for pointing it out. Fixed.
Moved to new server and missed recreating this table. This table was not part of the other schema.
Re: Ask YC: How do we announce the alpha launch?
#10Hey, I Googled 'Onista' and found your recent Vimeo video: http://www.vimeo.com/1376104 as well as some introductions in various forums. Looks like you're building up the hype well. My 2c after watching the video: I don't understand the instant negotiation. Is there a limit on the number of times I can submit a bid? If not, can't I just start really low and then increment by $1 or $2 until I meet the minimum? If ther…
Hey Matt,
Yeah, that video will be linked from our index page to show demo. Regarding accent, yes that is one thing we need to fix. I and my partners all are Indians (moved to US almost years back) and hence have heavy accent. I am trying to find somebody who does not have accent and willing to help us do the narration.
About negotiation process, buyer can attempt as many times as he wants to negotiate the price, but if it is accepted then it will be locked for that particular product for that particular buyer. We have written pretty smart algorithm for negotiation and it will be impossible for buyer to know the minimum because it keeps on changing based on demand, requests, popularity, and lot of other factors.
So far we are 3 working on this parttime. We all have fulltime jobs and are developing onista on weekends and evenings.