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Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#41

Post by MaxKeenan »

jamesmcintyre wrote: post #33

Needl looks really cool, congrats on the launch! Wondering if you could speak on a few topics in the spirit of hacker news / yc community: 1. Wondering if you've run into any friction yet where employers block the end-user from integrating with their apps? Just curious to what level that is or is not a common practice for enterprise users? 2. After using previous products that promise similar "search across all apps"…

To the first point -- certainly some friction here. In most cases the employee is able to integrate the app and flags arise to IT after the fact. Then the employee connects us with IT and we resolve the issue by going through a security questionnaire / showing our SOC II. The majority of our current users are SMBs, where they don't have significant IT oversight, we're one of the few products in the space that's truly self-serve.

To the second -- very good point and something we continue to experiment with. Our basic thesis is -- if your search is really good, people will learn to default to your app. For many of our users, the unification is less so the value and more so the better search quality, especially compared to Gmail and GDrive. Another good point that writing things as a question is often a worse user experience than just using Google search esque terminology. For our Ask Needl feature, you can still get value without writing an entire question. Ex: website total budget --> $1000-1500.

Our YC journey was certainly formative. Much of the advice given was counter-intuitive in the bull market of Nov 21 when everyone was spending and growing as fast as possible. My biggest takeaway was the focus on solving hard problems with small teams and only caring about what your users think of you. Would highly recommend - the culture is unparalleled.

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#42

Post by yuvalsteuer »

dang wrote: post #37
moneywoes wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he made a fake account to ask the question then replied with his original account?

No, I meant that (assuming I'm reading the data correctly) the exchange was orchestrated and not at all organic. I don't normally post publicly about these things but when people try to mess with another startup's launch thread, it gets my goat (YC-related or not), and to use manipulative tactics while doing it goes over my threshold for saying something.

I'm not sure of the data, I was linked this by a friend, I'm not really sure how a proprietary saas company ends up as the good guy, while we're trying to ensure the next big search platform remains open, end up as thugs.

It seems the main mods problem with what I did is plugging our github url, which made it obvious I diverted attention from needl's launch, mistake I made. I'm not deleting any comments, because I prefer context to mod interactions stand in broad daylight.

I'm truely sorry, I like this forum, mods here are awesome.

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#43

Post by yuvalsteuer »

dang wrote: post #40
yuvalsteuer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was not my intention at all, sunlight is the best disinfectant. I'm not saying you're accusing me of anything, but what would be a fair comment in you're eyes, I'll be happy to learn.

What would be fairest is to let a competing startup have their launch thread without trying to interfere with it. Each startup deserves its own day in the sun. If you're going to post, you certainly shouldn't do it more than once. Replying in multiple places to change the subject to your own promotion is in bad taste, and orchestrating exchanges with seemingly-unrelated other users is an outright abuse and the sort o…

My bad, thanks for letting me know.

I tend to see Needl as peers, not competition, sometimes peers behave in bad taste.

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#44

Post by dang »

yuvalsteuer wrote: post #42
dang wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I meant that (assuming I'm reading the data correctly) the exchange was orchestrated and not at all organic. I don't normally post publicly about these things but when people try to mess with another startup's launch thread, it gets my goat (YC-related or not), and to use manipulative tactics while doing it goes over my threshold for saying something.

I'm not sure of the data, I was linked this by a friend, I'm not really sure how a proprietary saas company ends up as the good guy, while we're trying to ensure the next big search platform remains open, end up as thugs. It seems the main mods problem with what I did is plugging our github url, which made it obvious I diverted attention from needl's launch, mistake I made. I'm not deleting any comments, because I pr…

Don't worry! as long it doesn't happen again, it doesn't need to be a problem.

Obviously I can't know what happened off the site, but to judge by what I'm looking at in the data at our end, this exchange was obviously not organic, nor was this the first evidence of collusion that I found.

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#46

Post by kmos17 »

Congrats on your launch, looks like a very useful tool!

Although I have to say the privacy implications are quite concerning before I'd consider using it personally or for a team.

You mention at rest encryption, how does that work with indexing the data and making search work?

Will you offer retention policies on data?

Any plans to include direct messaging platforms (if they offer api's)?

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#47

Post by zarathustra333 »

I really love the product. Would you be open to hiring an intern to work on the technical aspect but also dabble with the product? Im currently a 3rd year CS + Philosophy student in NYC. If its something you'd consider can I have your email and ill reach out with some more info about myself.

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#48

Post by ushakov »

dang wrote: post #40
yuvalsteuer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was not my intention at all, sunlight is the best disinfectant. I'm not saying you're accusing me of anything, but what would be a fair comment in you're eyes, I'll be happy to learn.

What would be fairest is to let a competing startup have their launch thread without trying to interfere with it. Each startup deserves its own day in the sun. If you're going to post, you certainly shouldn't do it more than once. Replying in multiple places to change the subject to your own promotion is in bad taste, and orchestrating exchanges with seemingly-unrelated other users is an outright abuse and the sort o…

Just to make it clear: I'm not involved in Haystack. I commented here and shared a link on their discord, so someone from their team could have an opportunity to answer

By the way, thank for helping our own startup, we are really grateful for all the attention and encouragement we have received from HN community

My apologies to you, Max and James. This is not how I expected things to turn out

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#49

Post by [deleted] »

kmos17 wrote: post #46

Congrats on your launch, looks like a very useful tool! Although I have to say the privacy implications are quite concerning before I'd consider using it personally or for a team. You mention at rest encryption, how does that work with indexing the data and making search work? Will you offer retention policies on data? Any plans to include direct messaging platforms (if they offer api's)?

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: Needl (YC S22) – Simple search across all your apps

#50

Post by mtmail »

zarathustra333 wrote: post #47

I really love the product. Would you be open to hiring an intern to work on the technical aspect but also dabble with the product? Im currently a 3rd year CS + Philosophy student in NYC. If its something you'd consider can I have your email and ill reach out with some more info about myself.

They have an email address on their website.
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