Ask HN: Review my startup, TeamDoList.com

Since you're calling it a startup as opposed to just a project, I have to ask about business model. How will you make money off this?

I think you'll have a very, very difficult time monetizing this, as there are already dozens and dozens of free TODO apps. Unless you can carve out a die-hard niche that is 100% against signup and login forms, it will be difficult to compete with the others that are both free and easy to use.

I really like your project--very simple, and I believe this is something I see myself using. I think that the one major feature you may add is "private lists", it won't require that much work for you to implement, but you'll hit wider range of audience. Good Luck.

So, you're going to use it but adding a private list feature would make it even more useful to you?!

Nice, thanks so much!

Do you feel that adding those features makes it too similar to the competition? Asana? Basecamp?

I've had those features in my todo list for a while but just refrained to make this as simple as possible and let people take it where they need it :)

Thanks so much for your feedback and support.

I don't want to make you feel bad or rain on your parade but you must know there are hundreds of competing apps just like this. That's not to say yours can't be successful but if you'd like it to stand out you need to differentiate yourself somehow. Right now you've basically got a todo list app that lets you share lists via a public URL. It's very simple (that's neither good or bad, it just is).

So considering how simple the concept is, I think there are a few things to think about that would make this valuable and stand out from the crowd.

First, focus on convenience. There are a billion todo lists all approaching different aspects of the task management problem and approaching it in different ways. Your approach is my favorite of all - just a list that you can check stuff off of. Its perfect. But I won't use it unless its easier and more convenient to use than any other option. So I need an app (a mobile web site will suffice which I see you already have but can use improvement). I need a way to come back in case I forget the URL of my list. I just need to be able to whip out my phone/tablet/laptop/browser and be able to get creating/checking off/reading my todos in no more than 2 or 3 steps.

Once you get convenience down, then work on design. You're off to a great start. There no frills, its super simple and minimal and its really great but it doesn't have that intangible thing that makes it memorable. You're definitely on the right track and I wouldn't tell you to add anything but just to refine what you have. Focus on typography and UI interaction.

And if this is meant for teams then I think you'll need to create a login system and some more privacy. I don't always feel comfortable putting all my todos in public even if they're only available via a special URL. A lot of things can happen to a URL. I think its great that you have a lazy login system but to me the fact that I can't save my own account and come back to it later to see all my lists and all my tasks, and see who on my team is currently sharing tasks wit me makes this feel like a one-off app. Like something you use for a day then forget about. But if I could use the app, decide I like it, then create a permanent account I'd be much more likely to return in the future and be invested in the product.

I don't care how many trillion todo apps we have out there, there are never enough. I like what you're doing and I'd say focus on convenience and design and if you're serious about making this for teams then give people the option to create permanent accounts. I probably won't use this today or tomorrow or next week but I did sign up for mailing list and I'm definitely excited to see what you come up with in the future.