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Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

zigzagcloud.com

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Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#11

Post by mitjak »

I'm not the target audience but wanted to chime in with a few things about the design and copy:

* Why is the iPhone 3 times larger than an iPad? I got a little confused the first time the site loaded trying to figure out what the giant black device behind the iPad is.

* "Signup Now". English isn't my native language but I'm fairly certain "signup" is a noun, and you want the verb or "sign up" instead

* "Zigzag Cloud has powered built-in analytics". Powered by what? Or is it "powerful"?

* Love the logo and the colour scheme of the site!!

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#12

Post by schappim »

Jimmyjacobson wrote: post #7

How do the users work? Is it like Dropbox where I can sign up for a free account and then have subscribers to the bigger accounts share with me or do I have a new account for every hosted plan I'm shared with?

Hi Jimmy,

Thanks for the question.

We have the concept of account owners/admins. The account owner can access Zigzag Cloud via a web interface and create further users and groups.

All users can access content via the iOS client, but only admins can access the web interface.

Within the web interface admins can:

* Upload new content * Tag Content * Create Users and Groups * Set access permissions to folders within the system * Do account admin-y stuff

Cheers,

Marcus (@schappi)

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#13

Post by encoderer »

Honestly, I hate the name. I know you probably thought a bit about it and accepted that such a unique name would have people who dislike it. So I'm sure this isn't news to you, but yes, I hate the name.

It doesn't roll off my tongue. Without checking for .com availability, I would personally find ZagCloud (preferably) or ZigCloud a far better option.

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#14

Post by schappim »

jasongullickson wrote: post #9
sunchild wrote: post #6

You ought to say more about security. I would never touch a document solution that doesn't include technical details about its security measures and credentials.

Right, this does look very interesting (and any sort of Sharepoint integration is going to appeal to the "enterprise" market) but in light of recent events I'm not even considering any "cloud" service that doesn't employ encrypted storage and extensive logging. If you did those two things you'd be safer than dropbox which is something else that lubricates sales to the business market.

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your comment. We encrypt on the server, in transport and on the device.

As you know, Dropbox doesn't have a users & groups permissions model, nor do they have encryption because they de-duplicate files on the backend.

We also have a beta of the web service which can reside on a VM behind the corporate firewall.

Cheers,

Marcus (@schappi)

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#15

Post by sixty »

I like the idea and the design is very good.

I think the landing page could do with an overhaul. The main issue is it's not immediately obvious what the product does. What exactly is "mobile file management", "content management" and "content distribution"? HN users could tell you, and if they didn't know they could probably make an educated guess but what about the office manager who currently uses email to share files?

To be fair, further down the page you have this:

"Zigzag Cloud is an easy to use Mobile File Management (MFM) System for business. Sync your documents, meeting notes, training material, or sales presentations to your team's iOS devices over the air without"

I think it could be simplified and moved to the top of the page. Something like:

"Zigzag cloud lets you share presentations, spreadsheets and other files with your team using ipad and iphone (coming soon)".

It would also be interesting to A/B test the wording, design and placement of the download button. I think you'd see more downloads if you ditched the 'learn more' button (make it a prominent link on another part of the page instead) and if you removed the popup for the download button - you've already told the user it's an iOS app and that only the iPad version is currently available. There's no need to repeat that info. I'd be tempted to try something simpler like "Download from iTunes".

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#16

Post by schappim »

Udo wrote: post #4

I think it's a great concept and the site looks professional. I'm not sure about the viability of the pricing plan though, but I don't have enough knowledge about the costs involved and the typical usage profiles to make a better suggestion. However, I did get the impression that your competitors (such as Dropbox) may offer more for less. One question though: on the front page you say that people can try ZigzagCloud…

Hi Udo,

You've got some great points. I love Dropbox (for better or worse my life lives inside it).

We excel in an environment where an organisation needs to push content out to their employees in a managed environment. For example pushing sales content out to staff.

Our security model allows you to push content out to staff, but manage how that content is used. For example you might have some sales content that an employee can view and open with a potential client, and you may allow that content to be shared with the client via email. You might have other content that is for internal use only, such as training content, this content can be watermarked 'confidential' and sharing is disabled.

We also force the iOS app to check in every 5 days to ensure that polices are maintained on the device.

In short, Dropbox is a fantastic personal consumer product. We're aiming at the corporate market, it's almost like a CMS for iPad.

BTW, you're right on the money with the "one month free" versus "free plan", we'll fix that right up!

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciated it.

Cheers,

Marcus (@Schappi)

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#17

Post by schappim »

swatthatfly wrote: post #10

There should be an option to buy additional storage space, if needed.

HI Swatthatfly,

Great point! We should really add that as an option. FYI we have found that for most clients the number of users has been the limiting factor, not the amount of storage.

I appreciate the feedback!

Cheers,

Marcus (@Schappi)

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#18

Post by sixty »

mitjak wrote: post #11

I'm not the target audience but wanted to chime in with a few things about the design and copy: * Why is the iPhone 3 times larger than an iPad? I got a little confused the first time the site loaded trying to figure out what the giant black device behind the iPad is. * "Signup Now". English isn't my native language but I'm fairly certain "signup" is a noun, and you want the verb or "sign up" instead * "Zigzag Cloud…

this is a classic hacker's critique. Let's look at your comments from a user's point of view:

> Why is the iPhone 3 times larger than an iPad?

Irrelevant. Users won't care.

> "Signup Now". English isn't my native language ...

Irrelevant. Users won't care.

> "Zigzag Cloud has powered built-in analytics". Powered by what? Or is it "powerful"?

Irrelevant. Users won't care.

> Love the logo and the colour scheme of the site!!

Relevant. Users will care :)

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#19

Post by jasongullickson »

schappim wrote: post #14
jasongullickson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, this does look very interesting (and any sort of Sharepoint integration is going to appeal to the "enterprise" market) but in light of recent events I'm not even considering any "cloud" service that doesn't employ encrypted storage and extensive logging. If you did those two things you'd be safer than dropbox which is something else that lubricates sales to the business market.

Hi Jason, Thanks for your comment. We encrypt on the server, in transport and on the device. As you know, Dropbox doesn't have a users & groups permissions model, nor do they have encryption because they de-duplicate files on the backend. We also have a beta of the web service which can reside on a VM behind the corporate firewall. Cheers, Marcus (@schappi)

Thanks for the info Marcus!

I've been looking hard for a service to replace Dropbox with and yours is the first I've found that provides encryption of the files on the server as well as an iOS interface.

Will you be providing an API for third-party applications? This is another area where Dropbox seems to dominate and is important especially for iOS users who can't use files stored this way unless they are accessible via an API of some sort.

Re: Please rate my startup: ZigzagCloud - A Mobile File Management System.

#20

Post by schappim »

nhoss2 wrote: post #3

It sort of looks like dropbox with a few extra features - I guess it is always good to have competition. But what is up with the pricing? I don't think too many people will pay $100 per month for 5gb

Hey Nhoss2,

Yeah dropbox is consumer, we're aiming at business. I love dropbox, but it isn't great when I need to push sensitive content out to a sales force or a board and know that I can yank access / enforce current versions etc when I need to.

Re: Pricing...

You're right, it's not cheap, but we hope it's good value for a select type of clients.

As an individual I wouldn't use Zigzag Cloud, but if I had a business I wouldn't use Dropbox.

Cheers,

Marcus (@Schappi)

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