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Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

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Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#11

Post by tristanthomas »

c1sc0 wrote: post #8

I'm not sure there is demand for this given that most people value convenience over security But these kinds of business models appeal to me personally though. Lately I've been wondering if "It's like X, minus the evil part" is a valid startup strategy. Reason is the whole Hacker News Cologne fiasco with Meetup.com. Some examples: Stripe is a less evil PayPal. (edit: I mixed up Parse & Stripe) App.net is a less evil…

That's what we are hoping! Because we aren't trying to be a massive company that does everything but instead a small, sustainable business, even if we don't have MASS market appeal we will still have an appeal for people like us that will fund the business.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#12

Post by slap_shot »

I would remove a lot of this copy that is referring to 'business model' - that's a term that you want to use with your business partners and investors, but not with your customers. I understand why you are bringing it up - to illustrate your transparency and commitment to privacy, but you should really just say that. Also, "We want customers, not users." sounds equally as bad.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#13

Post by brey »

c1sc0 wrote: post #8

I'm not sure there is demand for this given that most people value convenience over security But these kinds of business models appeal to me personally though. Lately I've been wondering if "It's like X, minus the evil part" is a valid startup strategy. Reason is the whole Hacker News Cologne fiasco with Meetup.com. Some examples: Stripe is a less evil PayPal. (edit: I mixed up Parse & Stripe) App.net is a less evil…

> Parse is a less evil PayPal.

Stripe? Square? not sure you mean Parse.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#14

Post by tristanthomas »

slap_shot wrote: post #12

I would remove a lot of this copy that is referring to 'business model' - that's a term that you want to use with your business partners and investors, but not with your customers. I understand why you are bringing it up - to illustrate your transparency and commitment to privacy, but you should really just say that. Also, "We want customers, not users." sounds equally as bad.

Thanks slap_shot. I guess what we are trying to do is explain to people like us (geeks) what we really mean by being sustainable and trusted. It annoys me when companies don't explain WHY they are something they claim to be.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#15

Post by easyfrag »

slap_shot wrote: post #12

I would remove a lot of this copy that is referring to 'business model' - that's a term that you want to use with your business partners and investors, but not with your customers. I understand why you are bringing it up - to illustrate your transparency and commitment to privacy, but you should really just say that. Also, "We want customers, not users." sounds equally as bad.

I don't know, "We want customers, not users." immediately made sense to me but I think I'm part of the target market which seems to be people who are aware of what "free" services do with your data and have at least some concern about it.

The real question is if the target market is big enough to build a sustainable business.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#16

Post by diminish »

tristanthomas wrote: post #10
casca wrote: post #7

"Trust" is a big offer. There are 2 main trust issues when I give my contact information to another company: 1) Will they keep as private as I would? and 2) Will they still be around in 5 years? Your model means that I can somewhat believe 1), but 2) means that I personally would not use such a service.

Hi casca, I totally understand and have actually stopped signing up for startups without a clear business model (even YC ones). I hope that our model means that we will be and if for some reason we aren't, because we make your data fully portable and completely yours, it would be very easy for you to move. Please feel free to email me at hello@columns.co if you want to discuss this further.

Could you please elaborate on privacy and security features you use, on storing and transmitting the contacts.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#17

Post by unwind »

As a somewhat meta comment, it kind of blows my mind that it's possible today to market a product on the grounds that you, as a customer, pay for it. "Look! We're not free!" is actually something the customer is expected to understand the implications of, and appreciate as a feature.

I do understand the implications, I'm not looking for explanations, I just think it's quite ... funny.

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#18

Post by anonymouz »

Somewhat tangential but related: I'm not familiar with data privacy regulation in the US, but under EU regulation most of the "trust" guarantees made by this startup would be legally mandatory.

Does anyone know: Under US law, would a company be legally allowed to sell personal data without my permission? Would it be allowed to retain my data against my express wish?

Re: Show HN: Address book storage you can trust.

#20

Post by tristanthomas »

anonymouz wrote: post #18

Somewhat tangential but related: I'm not familiar with data privacy regulation in the US, but under EU regulation most of the "trust" guarantees made by this startup would be legally mandatory. Does anyone know: Under US law, would a company be legally allowed to sell personal data without my permission? Would it be allowed to retain my data against my express wish?

One thing we want to combat against as well as direct selling of data which as you note is normally illegal is the use of your data within the company for other purposes (Google comes up as an obvious choice in selling advertisements against the information in your personal email, contacts and documents).
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