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Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

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Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#11

Post by entuno »

> After the campaign is launched, creators can begin receiving orders from their supporters, discuss details, create customized offers, and more. On an agreed-upon date, creators would complete their tasks, the supporter would confirm that the task has been completed, and creators would get paid.

So it sounds like of like Upwork/Fiverr/etc, but with a story about why the person is trying to raise money, and an end date/amount for their offer? As an end user, what is the advantage to me of using a smaller platform like this (with far less users) compared to one of the established ones that have a much larger number of potential buyers? And if I'm making decent money through your platform, why would I want to stop when I reach the $1000 goal (or whatever I set)?

And as a buyer, what kind of checks and verification do you perform so that I can trust the service I'm buying? If I hire a babysitter or a tutor, have you done background checks? Are you going to be liable (or get sued) when something goes wrong, or the builder I hire does a shoddy job? Can I get a refund if I'm not happy or the service isn't delivered? What happens if I don't pay - is the seller just left out of pocket or will you cover that?

If you're pushing the local angle (which quite a few of the examples you give are), can I easily see all the local services being offered without having to sign up? If you're trying to go down that route, then you might want to think about marketing locally and trying to get a load of people in your own local area involved, before trying to launch to the wider global market.

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#12

Post by petargyurov »

I was in your position a few years ago. I believed that my idea was great and that that meant I will easily be able to grow organically.

Couldn't be further from the truth. Sorry.

You've already recognised this so I won't dwell on it too much. What are your options from here: IMO, "guerilla advertising", AKA promoting your work on Reddit and Twitter communities. Don't overdo it. But without cold hard cash for marketing I don't know how far you'll get.

As for the actual idea... eh, I don't get it. At first I thought it's just crowdsourcing but then I read that people offer a service in return. Isn't that just... you know... a job? There was a similar idea that appeared on the UK show Dragon's Den (aka Shark Tank in the US), but it was more for getting a loan from family and friends.

I like the website design, very friendly and approachable.

PS: the example campaigns on your site are too obviously fake: way too much production value in those photos!

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#13

Post by krispetek »

pjc50 wrote: post #5

> there should be a way for people to raise funds quickly in those dark moments when they need it the most gofundme > an app that would enable people to raise funds by offering services to their community Taskrabbit? > creators can begin receiving orders from their supporters, discuss details, create customized offers, and more. On an agreed-upon date, creators would complete their tasks, the supporter would confirm…

> gofundme/Taskrabbit?

Yes, Taskwer has elements of both. As I said in my previous comment, it's different from GoFundMe in a way that campaign creators don't have to ask for donations, instead, they can offer services to people in their community. Taskrabbit gives taskers the ability to offer various tasks and people go there in a search of someone who will perform those tasks. Rating system is very important there and taskers with best rating will get most of the jobs and new members will have much harder time getting them. It takes quite a while to build a reputation and this is what I wanted to avoid with Taskwer. Taskwer is for people who need to raise funds quickly by offering services to their friends, friends of their friends etc, much more similar to GoFundMe in that way.

Thanks for advice on marketing, that is something I don't know how to do but I will have to learn obviously.

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#14

Post by jvalencia »

I see people posting on Facebook offering services in local neighbor groups. My suggestion would be to find your city's / neighboring city's local Facebook groups and post there. In particular, lower income communities are likely to have more scrappy business type of folks who sound like your target audience.

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#15

Post by brahma-dev »

krispetek wrote: post #3
josefresco wrote: post #2

Great web design. How is this different/better than GoFundMe?

Hey, thanks for checking it out. Well, it's different from GoFundMe in a way that people don't have to ask for donations; many people don't like that. Instead, they offer services in their community. Also, supporters, on the other hand, get something in return for their contributions, which I believe would incentivize them to support campaign creators.

You mention "services like tutoring, babysitting, pet sitting, transportation, home repair, and various other tasks they could carry out after their working hours.". Anyone looking for a babysitter will firstly need someone local and someone they can trust their baby with. And there already exist several services catering such needs. Your first users will all have to be from same neighbourhood for the app to be useful for any of them.

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#16

Post by SwiftyBug »

The site looks great! It shows that you've put a lot of time and effort in it. I have a few questions:

1. It's basically a marketplace of people willing to exchange a service for cash, right? How is that different from Craigslist?

2. Why the whole Kickstarter-like progress bar showing how much of the goal has been achieved? This works on Kickstarter because it generates a pressure on the supporters to support the project before the stipulated time ends. I don't see why that would be relevant here.

3. What would make people come to Taskwer rather than any other classified advertisements platform that have a much larger use base and probably more competitive prices?

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#17

Post by krispetek »

petargyurov wrote: post #12

I was in your position a few years ago. I believed that my idea was great and that that meant I will easily be able to grow organically. Couldn't be further from the truth. Sorry. You've already recognised this so I won't dwell on it too much. What are your options from here: IMO, "guerilla advertising", AKA promoting your work on Reddit and Twitter communities. Don't overdo it. But without cold hard cash for marketi…

The idea is to give people a place where they could offer their services like tutoring, babysitting, home repairs, etc, services that they can provide after their work, like a side jobs to raise some extra funds for their cause.

Regarding example campaigns, yes, they are placeholder campaigns, just to show how they are supposed to look.

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#18

Post by logicalmonster »

1) The idea itself is fine, and for an MVP the site is attractive. Though the general concept should probably should be polished up significantly with more FAQs and explanations and many other things.

2) Your website seems optimized to do sort of a "startup elevator pitch" rather than focusing on the real usage that average people can get from it. Seeing stuff like "Kickstarter is for Projects Taskwer is for people" at the top does nothing for me, but "Raise funds for your education, business venture, emergency, rent, and more" is closer to the right message to focus on IMO.

3) I don't know what normal people would think of your website, but to me it seems glaring that the example stock images you use on this site aren't real users. From a technical/nerd perspective, it feels inauthentic and I'd rather see real phone photos than obvious stock imagery, even if stock photos technically looks nicer.

4) If you're committed to a free service, perhaps a .org domain might work better, though check on the legality and potential issues with that. That really hits home the message that you're not a mega-corporation, and potentially look into seeing if you can figure out non-profit status if that's something that you're genuinely serious about.

5) One glaring omission is the lack of an About page that tells us who you are. You're obviously somebody. Do I trust you with my info with no name attached to it? It would be great to tell the world who you are for the sake of credibility and some measure of assurance that you're not giving private info to a scammer.

6) Besides social media, I'd say to try and approach people on Craigslist begging for stuff to post their stories on your site and help guide them in posting the right way. Hell, you can even offer to write up and polish their content for free. There are also subreddits associated with personal poverty, finance, and other things you might want to see if you're able to reach out to people on.

7) Why are there no social media links on your site? You should consider a Facebook, X, Insta, YouTube, TikTok, Snap, etc to show off some credibility, as well as connect with people looking to raise funds for their projects.

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#19

Post by hluska »

krispetek wrote: post #13
pjc50 wrote: post #5

> there should be a way for people to raise funds quickly in those dark moments when they need it the most gofundme > an app that would enable people to raise funds by offering services to their community Taskrabbit? > creators can begin receiving orders from their supporters, discuss details, create customized offers, and more. On an agreed-upon date, creators would complete their tasks, the supporter would confirm…

> gofundme/Taskrabbit? Yes, Taskwer has elements of both. As I said in my previous comment, it's different from GoFundMe in a way that campaign creators don't have to ask for donations, instead, they can offer services to people in their community. Taskrabbit gives taskers the ability to offer various tasks and people go there in a search of someone who will perform those tasks. Rating system is very important there…

When you start to validate the idea, you’re going to keep hearing “we use in person networks to solve the problem”. I can’t see a good way through that objection while earning revenue. Can you?

Re: Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users

#20

Post by alaskamiller »

You built Patreon, even that stock photos carousel you have above the fold is ripped from patreon.com but the rest of isn't even built out.

So yeah, you niched down to say creators and IRL tasks, tossed in some sense of community activism.

Well, this is an example of how it really is about ideas and not just execution to reach success.

This is a great idea. Who hadn't thought of some utopian altruism in the middle of a global crisis?

But it's not a good idea. Because you don't have the means to get traction because it's a two sided platform play that without critical mass will not lead to further utility. And because it's merely but a singular use case out of multiple for the larger entrenched competitor.

You need more usage to even build your way into success and you don't have usage because... while this is a great idea it's not a good idea.

But now we're here.

You want to know what to do?

1. Highlight user stories.

Find the most interesting one, make content, share. Segment on a morning infotainment news? Blog articles on guest writing platforms? Sappy robot voice TikTok videos? Reddit?

2. Quit and add this to your portfolio.

Your friends and families don't want to be spammed with this. Don't be weird about it.

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