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Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

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Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#21

Post by roti »

I don't think offering more information, or charging less, would solve your problem. If I had wanted more information, I'd buy a guidebook. As SHOwnsYou mentioned, it's about having (good) itinerary decisions made for me. The value isn't in the amount of information, but the judgment that went into filtering and digesting the over-info out there in other travel sites/books.

To complement that value, your design needs to give a sense of 'here's the distilled gem about this city' - it should just 'hit me'. Instead, I am presented instead with a rather drab plain page, which feels like it'd take forever to get through to gratification.

I'd echo suggestions to look into redesigning the page to make the visual impact, fast.

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#22

Post by LifeAfterCubes »

davidst wrote: post #11

Take heart: Without AdWords, Google itself was an idea that was amazing but a failing startup. You need a better revenue model than competing with cheap guidebooks. Here's one idea: Give it away but include coupons for each stop on the itinerary. It's Groupon for travelers. Consider offering an app so people can easily carry it with them and it will always be up-to-date with the latest destinations and deals.

Thanks! I mentioned this below, but we're running a small test with essentially this approach. We're giving away the itinerary for free and then trying to upsell/cross-sell other related services -- such as a San Francisco CityPass, tours and p2p experiences. If you'd like to take a look you can check it out here (you'll have to enter your email address to get the free itinerary) -- http://bit.ly/enWxWz

My concern with partnering with restaurants and retailers is that I feel like it's a slippery slope to disingenuous recommendations. Plus, why would a restaurant offer a coupon to a traveler (at least a coupon of value)? There's no chance of repeat business. Just some thoughts, would love to get more feedback, if you have any.

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#23

Post by cnorgate »

LifeAfterCubes wrote: post #12
cnorgate wrote: post #8

I think your business model might be wrong. As Iaks points out below, the $5 price point is not far from that of a used travel book. Perhaps offer the content free, then work with top restaurants and retailers on the 'tours' you recommend and get them to offer coupons / deals or advertising, of which you can get a cut. People touring a city will get hungry, and if you can point them to a great place, they'll thank yo…

We're running a small test with essentially this approach. We're giving away the itinerary for free and then trying to upsell/cross-sell other related services -- such as a San Francisco CityPass, tours and p2p experiences. If you'd like to take a look you can check it out here (you'll have to enter your email address to get the free itinerary) -- http://bit.ly/enWxWz My concern with partnering with restaurants and r…

Priority #1 is to remain genuine. That's what you stand for.

Restaurants might actually be more open to offering coupons to travellers - in a sense, those customers are not repeat business, so they shouldn't be worried about impacting their long term pricing with the local market.

Ultimately, I think you need to focus first on building enough value here with consumers - I don't like to suggest making things free, but in this case I think it's something you have to give away and monetize in other ways. There's nothing bad about that approach (Google does it), but it does require a higher volume of users for it to make sense.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#24

Post by AznHisoka »

There's little chance you'll make enough to survive selling $ itineraries... I suggest just pivoting and becoming a consumer travel website ala TripAdvisor, or GogoBot.. if you're not going into the ticket space, you need content, and lots of free content.

You also need to learn more about the amount of traction it will realistically take to make a good amount of profit. Even 1000 daily visitors won't do you any good with your current business model. How are you gonna get visitors? You can't just sit tight and wait.

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#25

Post by davidst »

LifeAfterCubes wrote: post #22
davidst wrote: post #11

Take heart: Without AdWords, Google itself was an idea that was amazing but a failing startup. You need a better revenue model than competing with cheap guidebooks. Here's one idea: Give it away but include coupons for each stop on the itinerary. It's Groupon for travelers. Consider offering an app so people can easily carry it with them and it will always be up-to-date with the latest destinations and deals.

Thanks! I mentioned this below, but we're running a small test with essentially this approach. We're giving away the itinerary for free and then trying to upsell/cross-sell other related services -- such as a San Francisco CityPass, tours and p2p experiences. If you'd like to take a look you can check it out here (you'll have to enter your email address to get the free itinerary) -- http://bit.ly/enWxWz My concern wi…

> Plus, why would a restaurant offer a coupon to a traveler (at least a coupon of value)?

Because it brings in business. I see restaurants advertising for tourists all the time. Look in any in-flight magazine or any of the free guidebooks that are given away in tourist areas. They're full of ads and coupons for tours, restaurants, museums and attractions. That's a business model worth investigating.

The downside is it's a real boots-on-the-ground business that requires a heavy investment in sales effort to make it work. The upside is that once you sign up a customer (assuming they have a positive experience) it is highly likely they will repeat. You could start with just one city and if it works grow it from there.

Good luck to you!

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#26

Post by AznHisoka »

anthony_franco wrote: post #17

The problem is that even though you have a great idea, that's only one part of the equation. To have a successful product you have to have four aspects: the market, marketing, design, features - in that order (got that from "Start Small, Stay Small". Everyone could say that the features in your product are amazing. But if you're in a market where customers don't pay, or if you're unable to reach them with the right m…

Personally, I think they solved the easy part.. and the hard part is left. Creating a product is easy these days, but getting traction is like black magic.

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#27

Post by LifeAfterCubes »

davidst wrote: post #25
LifeAfterCubes wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! I mentioned this below, but we're running a small test with essentially this approach. We're giving away the itinerary for free and then trying to upsell/cross-sell other related services -- such as a San Francisco CityPass, tours and p2p experiences. If you'd like to take a look you can check it out here (you'll have to enter your email address to get the free itinerary) -- http://bit.ly/enWxWz My concern wi…

> Plus, why would a restaurant offer a coupon to a traveler (at least a coupon of value)? Because it brings in business. I see restaurants advertising for tourists all the time. Look in any in-flight magazine or any of the free guidebooks that are given away in tourist areas. They're full of ads and coupons for tours, restaurants, museums and attractions. That's a business model worth investigating. The downside is i…

Fair enough -- I was thinking more along the lines of a Groupon type coupon.

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#28

Post by accomplice »

SHOwnsYou wrote: post #3

Keep contracting to pay the bills. As you guys save up some cash, hire a designer to make the pages prettier. So many people will disregard the praise for your site if it's ugly or they can't figure it out. Edit: A little more food for thought - I opened the page you linked, then went to the homepage, then closed the page. It just didn't appeal to me visually. It wasn't until I saw the comment about charging too much…

I agree with the Split test, but also while you are at it, run some landing page test. However, that means you have to have alternatives to test, so get the visual design stuff right and have a few versions to test with a specific conversion event in mind that is not "buy" As of now the page elements are so incongruous it's just baffling.

Quick question: why is this a website? this seems like information I would want on my smartphone so I could have easy access on the go.

Re: Ask HN: We were told our idea is amazing, but our startup is failing - what now?

#29

Post by mapster »

Iaks wrote: post #2

My immediate feedback is that you are charging too much. I can buy a travel book which details hundreds of things about SF for ~$20, used $10. I can get a Google itinerary for many places for free. Second, this seems like an impulse buy sort of item. ( i.e. I'm stuck visiting somewhere new but haven't had time to research it.) A mobile app that allowed quick access to new itineraries via gps look-up might make for a…

good point, but being on the webpage looking at a focused itinerary of a place I am going to is much more compelling than buying a one size fits all guide book. And for the cost of parking ($7.50), it seems well priced.
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